Loeb's off yesterday: “I thought it was a left-hander…†(best-of-rallylive.com) [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGwNQIY0bTM]Leg 1: Loeb's crash - 2012 WRC Rally Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]
A little perspective on today's drama, written before they started today: Rain, rain and more rain… (best-of-rallylive.com)
... and more drama: Solberg the latest driver to strike trouble as he follows Latvala's example and crashes out of lead (AUTOSPORT.com)
Sordo wins another stage, and by nearly a minute again! Sometimes it's best to be the first out on the road. Araujo is also doing well, 3rd on the stage! SS6: Trouble for Solberg in Portugal (WRC.com)
Ouch! Quote of the day: "... we had it on a silver tray and we have put the tray in the bin and then buried the bin." Ford technical chief Christian Loriaux furious with Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg over crashes (AUTOSPORT.com)
I can't wait to see video from today (will post when I find them), road conditions described as crazy. MINI drivers are taking advantage and moving up the standings. Even though Dani Sordo dropped out yesterday and had to restart under Rally 2 rules today, he won all 3 of the stages the first time through. They repeat the same 3 stages later today and though he will again be the first on the road those stages have been destroyed the first time through. Still, probably best to be first than last. To show how they've been climbing, here are the overall standings for MINI drivers as they progressed through Stages 5-7. Start of the day: 11th - Sandell 32nd - Araujo 43rd - Sordo After Stage 5: 7th Sandell 17th Araujo 31st Sordo After Stage 6: 4th - Sandell 13th - Araujo 18th - Sordo After Stage 7 (not all drivers have finished but these look fairly firm already): 4th - Sandell 11th - Araujo 13th - Sordo
Probably not, but anything seems possible given the conditions. If so, it would be Sandell. Sordo is doing great but he had to retire before the end of the day yesterday because he had an electrical problem and didn't have any lights...and all 3 full stages yesterday were run in the dark. He started today more than 12 minutes out. Even with 3 stage wins he's still 8min 45sec behind Hirvonen. Araujo went off the road yesterday and lost about 4:30, he's almost 6 minutes behind Hirvonen. Sandell has been consistent and gaining places because of others' mistakes/misfortune and though he's 4th he's more than 3min behind Hirvonen.
I've been trying to figure out why only 22 cars were shown as finishing the last stage run so far, #7. Apparently one driver, Craig Breen, was stopped on the stage in such a way that no one else could get past. The other drivers were rerouted back to the start and on to the mid-day service and will be given "notional" times, whatever that means. Another report says Stage 10 has been cancelled. Stage 10 was to be the repeat run of Stage 7 so I assume they've decided Breen's issue proves the stage is unusable. That leaves 2 stages left to complete the day rather than 3.
Things got bad ... Bad weather halts Rally of Portugal (AUTOSPORT.com) ... and then they got worse: Friday's remaining stages cancelled (WRC.com)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00iWnCS8o50]Super Stage - 2012 WRC Rally Portugal - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]