Sordo gifted Jordan lead

A sequence of unlikely events conspired to keep Citroen’s Dani Sordo at the head of the Jordan Rally standings at the end of day two.

Sordo’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb was forced into retirement this morning after a collision with Conrad Rautenbach, handing the lead of the race back to Sordo, who had finished fastest at the end of leg one.

Spaniard Sordo was then overhauled by the BP Ford cars of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala in the first of this afternoon’s stages before the Finnish duo slowed on the final stage of the day to let the Citroen man back on top of the order.

The Ford duo’s antics were driven by their determination not to be first on track tomorrow, meaning Sordo carried an 8.5second lead over Latvala into the final day.

The battle lines were drawn for what promised to be a thrilling battle tomorrow, and with championship leader Loeb unlikely to score points, the leading trio will fancy their chances of overhauling the Frenchman’s five-point lead at the summit.

Loeb exited the rally in bizarre fashion at the end of stage 11 after he had established a 34.1second lead thanks to three stage wins this morning.

As Loeb made his way along an access road leading away from the stage, the Frenchman crashed his C4 into the PH Sport-Citroen of Rautenbach, eliminating both cars on the spot.

Loeb said: “We had just come out of the 11th stage and were heading for the following test when we collided with another car.

“It was a narrow road and there wasn’t room for two cars. It’s an unfortunate blow which has put an end to our run for today.

“The team will now do all it can to make the necessary repairs and, if it’s worth it, we will re-start under the SupeRally ruling tomorrow.

“I am obviously very disappointed for everyone in the team because our day had started well. We had moved into the lead and our C4 was going so well.”

Following Loeb’s retirement, the Fords steadily pulled away from the Citroen of Sordo after the Spaniard had won stage 12, opening up a sizeable lead before each eased off heavily on stage 16.

Hirvonen said: “Tomorrow is a long day and everything is very open, so it’s going to be a good fight.”

Subaru’s Chris Atkinson led the chasing pack, albeit around two minutes from the leading trio, while Rautenbach’s team-mate Urmo Aava was fifth.

Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg were next up, and the Briton was satisfied to be leading the Stobart Ford charge this weekend.

Wilson said: “I’m just trying to stay neat and tidy in the stages as it is so easy to over-push on this surface and lose time.

“We had a problem with the intercom at the start of stage 11 and the volume control wasn’t working for most of the stage but again today my times have been consistent and I’m not having to push very hard for them.”