If any misfortune whatsoever befalls Loeb, this could be Dani's year. It's almost hard to imagine how amazingly cool a P1 finish in Spain would be for Sordo and Prodrive. Multiple MINIs on the podium would be a cherry on the sundae. I'm stoked.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OtQBm5WSRw]Qualifying Stage - 2012 WRC Rally de Espana - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]
Sordo's car. No damage, it was just so thoroughly stuck in the muck he couldn't get back to the road. Will return tomorrow under Rally2 rules.
How a wheel saved the day for Nikara (WRC.com) Friday wrap: Can Ostberg fend off the master? (WRC.com)
If nothing else, read the part I highlighted (bold). A View from the Engineer (WRC Team MINI Portugal)
An interesting turn of events today for Dani Sordo. He retired yesterday after getting stuck off road but was able to return today under Rally2 conditions. In fact, I think 3 of the other 4 MINI drivers did the same, all for different reasons of course. After strong showings on loose surface stages in the recent past Prodrive were hoping for rain in Spain, but the rain and loose surfaces of Day 1 proved anything but helpful. Fortunately for Sordo, he's a hard surface expert and after Day 1 Spain is all tarmac. Apparently according to split times Dani was on course to finish 2nd on the first stage (#7) but half way through the car dropped a cylinder. Since he could do nothing about it until reacing the mid-day service, he finished Stage 7 and also ran 8 and 9 on 3 cylinders. Given the resulting loss of power, his 7th place finish on 7 and 10th on both 8 and 9 were remarkable. The team didn't know the cause of the problem so they threw a bunch of parts at the car in the service: Afterward Prodrive said "it was a faulty injector - it would have been quicker to change the whole engine - but of course you are not allowed." It worked, the car was late to arrive at the Stage 10 start (nearly too late, almost excluded) but it was running on 4 cylinders again. Dani won Stage 10 then he won Stage 11! The only other stage today was Stage 12 (14.2km) which he finished 3rd, only 0.7sec out of 1st place on the stage. Unfortunately because of his retirement yesterday and the 4min 40sec in time penalties he received today he's running 18th overall. Still, with the car working well over 3 stages he has 2 wins and a 3rd...not too shabby, eh? Official reports to follow, below.
Saturday midday wrap: Loeb edges clear (WRC.com) Saturday wrap: Loeb on course as Latvala concedes defeat (WRC.com)