The third day of this opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship is the longest of the event. Drivers face 132.78km of competition, divided between six speed tests in the Ardèche mountains to the north-west of the rally base in Valence. Forty-three of the original 47 starters left the town in darkness shortly before 06.00 for the opening loop of three special stages. Ten of those are competing under SupeRally rules having retired earlier in the event.
Clear skies and icy patches greeted drivers on the opening uphill 19.37km Labatie d'Andaure - Lalouvesc test. BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, lying third in a Focus RS World Rally Car, were fourth fastest there and also on the classic St Bonnet stage that followed. His fortunes improved on the final test of the loop when the 27-year-old Finn was third, and climbed to second overall following the retirement of Dani Sordo with an engine problem.
"Dani has retired so that has helped me and I really want to keep this position now," said Hirvonen. "Two points more for second would be good but there is still a long distance to go. I tried hard on the opening stage but I couldn't match Dani's pace so I eased off slightly and kept the pressure on him. I stalled the engine at the start of the last test but that only cost a few seconds."
Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila suffered a hydraulic problem on the opening test and had to drive the rest of the loop using the manual gearchange system and without the normal differential performance. "I only had front-wheel drive and it was difficult to drive," said the 22-year-old Finn. "The car was sideways a lot and the brakes were locking and at times it was very difficult to control. It was hard work but we will fix the problem in service and then the game will be back on again." Despite losing about 50sec, Latvala remains ninth and in the manufacturers' points.
Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr restarted under SupeRally rules in 26th position after breaking the suspension on their Focus RS last night. They climbed to 24th, despite spinning on the final stage and dropping about 20sec. "I've been trying to rebuild my confidence after last night and that was hard this morning because the first stage was frosty and foggy in places," said Al Qassimi.
