Dani Sordo wins 2013 Rally Germany

Citroën pairing Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio have shown great personal character to claim their maiden WRC victory. The Spanish duo have been dropped for next month’s Rally Australia, but fought out a gripping battle with Ford’s Thierry Neuville to win Rally Germany.

In truth the win came about because both Volkswagen’s crashed out of contention while leading the rally; Sebastien Ogier on Day 1, followed by Jar-Matti Latvala on Day 2. Neuville inherited the lead from Latvala but was unable to withstand the strong pace shown from Sordo all weekend, who took the lead late on Day 3.

Able to maintain the lead in the final day Sordo was elated with his first WRC win. “It’s fantastic to claim my first win after such a close fight,” he said. “We had no choice but to keep applying the pressure and in the end, Thierry was forced into a mistake. We didn’t get off to a particularly good start, but we all worked together to improve. We did the hardest part yesterday, but we had to maintain our form today and that’s exactly what we did. Now that I have my first win, I want some more!”

Ogier was able to claim the three points on offer in the power stage, so it wasn’t a total loss for him and Volkswagen. Although, Citroën managed to cut 29 points out of Volkswagen’s championship lead.

The WRC entourage hits our shores next month for Rally Australia (12–15 September).

Dani Sordo secures his first win with Citroën

25 August 2013 | Rallye Deutschland – Day 4

Leaders on the final morning of Rallye Deutschland, Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio sweated blood and tears on the fourth leg to secure their maiden World Rally Championship win. Citroën Racing thus claimed its twelfth consecutive win in Germany, the eleventh since the rally joined the WRC calendar.

Thanks to the third place secured by Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team has cut a large part of their rival’s lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship.

The situation going into day four of the rally was straightforward enough. With a lead of just 8/10ths of a second over Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo had to push all the way on the two runs on the 24.58km-long Dhrontal stage. As the roads were dry when the drivers chose their tyres, everyone went with soft-compound Michelin Pilot Sport tyres.

In the service park, all eyes were focussed on the green and red squares on the timing screens, which indicate the split times. The start of SS15 went well for Neuville, but Sordo fought back to win the stage by 2.2 seconds. “I made a minor mistake in the first few kilometres of the stage,” reported an out of breath Dani at the stop control. “It was very slippery, with quite a lot of mud towards the end. I concentrated and pushed hard to try and get ahead, but it’s going to go down to the wire!”

At the start of SS16, in which the Power Stage bonus points were up for grabs, Dani Sordo therefore held a three second lead over Thierry Neuville. In other words, not a lot! Quicker on the opening two ‘splits’, Dani could see his rival was slightly ahead of him by the half-way point of the stage. Tied with four kilometres to go, the two drivers were responsible for many a sweaty brow in the service park! In the end, Neuville faltered and went off the road, leaving Dani to win by 53 seconds!

“It’s fantastic to claim my first win after such a close fight,” commented the delighted Spaniard. “We had no choice but to keep applying the pressure and in the end, Thierry was forced into a mistake. We didn’t get off to a particularly good start, but we all worked together to improve. We did the hardest part yesterday, but we had to maintain our form today and that’s exactly what we did. Now that I have my first win, I want some more!”

A long way clear of the fourth-placed driver, Mikko Hirvonen wasn’t competing in the same race as the front two. Adopting a sensible pace, dictated by the split times, he drove in controlled fashion to the end to secure third place. On the podium for the first time since Rally de Portugal, the Finn enjoyed the moment: “Above all, I’m pleased that Dani has finally won his first WRC rally. Of all the WRC drivers, he’s the one who deserves it the most! My result means that the team has closed the gap in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, so the end of the season should be interesting. It’ll be my turn to win in Australia!”

“It’s a great day for the entire team,” concluded Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal. “Dani has competed in so many rallies with us that we are particularly pleased to have supported him in winning a round of the World Championship. This win ensures that Citroën maintains its unbeaten record in Germany and it equally shows that the DS3 WRC can also win without Sébastien Loeb. We were right not to give up; we’ll be pushing hard in the final part of the season and have every intention of fighting our corner right to the end!”

FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), Rally Germany – final results

1. Daniel Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (E/E), Citroën 3h 15m 19.4s
2. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (B/B), Ford + 53.0s
3. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/FIN), Citroën + 2m 36.1s
4. Martin Prokop/Michal Ernst (CZ/CZ), Ford + 8m 00.8s
5. Robert Kubica/Maciek Baran (PL/PL), Citroën + 9m 01.3s
6. Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (GB/GB), Ford + 9m 14.2s
7. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Anttila (FIN/FIN), Volkswagen + 9m 55.0s
8. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (NZ/NZ), Å koda + 13m 01.2s
9. Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson (N/S), Ford + 13m 28.1s
10. Evgeny Novikov/Ilka Minor (RUS/A) + 15m 17.9s

FIA World Rally Cahmpionship (WRC), Rally Germany – powerstage results

1. Sébastien Ogier/Julian Ingrassia (F/F), Volkswagen 15m 37.9s
2. Daniel Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (E/E), Citroën + 3.9s
3. Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (FIN/FIN), Volkswagen + 11.6s

FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), points standings – Drivers’ classification

1. Sébastien Ogier – 184
2. Thierry Neuville – 109
3. Jari-Matti Latvala – 98
4. Dani Sordo – 96
5. Mikko Hirvonen – 88
6. Sébastien Loeb – 68
7. Mads Østberg – 65
8. Martin Prokop – 49
9. Evgeny Novikov – 40
10. Nasser Al-Attiyah – 30
11 Andreas Mikkelsen – 26

Manufacturers’ classification

1. Volkswagen Motorsport – 262
2. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT – 236
3. Qatar M-Sport WRT – 129
4. Qatar WRT – 124
5. Jipocar Czech National Team – 51
6. Abu Dhabi Citroën Total WRT – 37
7. Volkswagen Motorsport II – 26
8. Lotos WRC Team – 20

*Note: Results sourced via Volkswagen Motorsport