Corsica - IRC news before Day 2

Mattei starts first on day two in Corsica

Jean-Dominique Mattei will be the first driver to tackle the five stages that form day two of Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse, round four of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 privateer will leave the overnight parc fermé in Calvi at 07:00hrs on Friday followed two minutes later by ŠKODA Auto Deutschland’s Sepp Wiegand.

Jean-Marc Manzagol goes third on the road in his Peugeot 207 S2000 with M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 driver Julien Maurin fourth.

Bryan Bouffier, an IRC event winner in 2011, runs fifth in his Delta Rally Peugeot with Jan Kopecký sixth at the wheel of a factory Fabia.

Mathieu Arzeno is next for Saintéloc Racing with leading Corsican Pierre Campana, who is third overall, eighth on the road following his maiden stage win in the IRC earlier today.

Dani Sordo goes ninth in his MINI John Cooper Works S2000 with rally leader Andreas Mikkelsen starting 10th for ŠKODA UK Motorsport after event organisers reversed the top 10 positions.

Friday’s first stage, the 27.53-kilometre Le Fangu-ND de la Serra stage goes live at 08:27hrs local time.

Sordo expects tough battle for IRC glory

Dani Sordo admits he has a big battle on his hands if he is to claim a debut victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge on Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse.

The Spaniard, in a MINI John Cooper Works S2000, trails overall leader Andreas Mikkelsen by 1.8s following a thrilling start to the island event on Thursday.

After reaching the end of stage three, Sordo said: “I try my best but it’s hard because the others are pushing really hard. Everything is okay although there was a bit of understeer today and the car was not always quite so precise in the corners and there was also a bit of oversteer in the slow corners. In some places I had more grip than I expected so I need to understand my pacenotes more. But I am happy for today.”

Sordo has previous experience of competing in Corsica but has never tackled a round of the IRC before.

Love of the sport prompted Delecour’s IRC return

François Delecour says his love of rallying was one of the main reasons why he has returned to Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse following an absence of 10 seasons.

Delecour, who claimed a stage victory in last season’s IRC, is competing on the island event for the first time since 2002 in a Renault Mégane RS.

After Thursday’s three special stages, the 49-year-old legend is 24th overall, fourth in the IRC 2WD Cup category and fifth in the IRC Production Cup classification after losing time with an intercom problem.

He said: “I’m here because I am still loving rally, this is my life. My last time in Corsica was in 2002 with the Mitsubishi and for sure I have done the rally many times, 12 or 13 times. Now in this Renault Mégane Group N it’s completely different and maybe not so easy to be in the lead against more than 20 Super 2000 cars.”

Of his impressions of his Automeca-run Renault, Delecour said: “The best thing about this car is the chassis – it is incredible.”

Al-Ketbi pleased with Corsica performance

Rashid Al-Ketbi says he has every reason to be positive despite a puncture dropping him down the order on the opening day of Giru di Corsia-Tour de Corse.

Al-Ketbi is embarking on a 10-event campaign in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge with the Skydive Dubai Rally Team this season.

After three stages in Corsica, where he has never previously competed, Al-Ketbi has slipped to 38th overall. Despite the delay on Thursday’s final run, the ŠKODA Fabia driver has been pleased with his performance.

“My times compared to the other drivers are improving since Spain and that is the most important thing,” said Al-Ketbi. “The puncture today was disappointing because I did not hit anything and loose nearly four minutes but I am still here so thanks for that.”

Aigner impresses on return to international action

Andreas Aigner is making the most of his return to international competition after completing the opening day of Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse leading the IRC Production Cup for Subaru.

The Austrian is contesting five rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge starting with the island event this week. After Thursday’s opening trio of stages Aigner, who is co-driven by Daniel Ertl, heads the Renault Mégane RS of Emmanuel Guigou by 28.5s.

“First of all I’m very happy to be here back in an international championship again,” said the Stohl Racing driver. “We just had a short test in Austria for 80 kilometres but we can’t compare the surface to the Corsica roads. We just had the shakedown yesterday with four runs and found quite a good set-up, not a perfect one, but we have a few days left to improve a little bit on the set-up and I’m confident and after today I’m happy.”

Aigner’s fellow Impreza R4 exponents, Toshi Arai from Japan and Finland’s Jarkko Nikara, are also well placed in the IRC Production Cup battle with Arai third and Nikara fourth. However, Romanian Marco Tempestini was forced to retire his Impreza with a technical issue after the second stage.