Night stage to test crews in Greece

"It’s like being in fog and your vision is severely restricted"

By Franck Drui

18 June 2011 - 20:00
Night stage to test crews in Greece

Drivers are braced for a tough end to the second day of the Acropolis Rally when they tackle the Nea Politia night stage.

The 17.71-kilometre test gets underway at 21:33hrs local time and will take place under the cover of darkness.

Although most competitors in action in Greece have experience of driving at night, they fear dust clouds will restrict their vision, which is accentuated by running at night when there is also less wind.

M-Sport Stobart driver Matthew Wilson explained: “It’s a nice [stage] but whether we’ll see it or not with dust around that’s the worry. Okay we’re running in gaps of three minutes but whether it’s enough at that time of night I don’t know.”

To counter the restricted visibility, Wilson said he would probably switch off his Ford Fiesta RS WRC’s spotlights prior to the run. “You’ll run the bumper lights but knock everything else off,” he said. “It’s like being in fog and your vision is severely restricted but it’s the same for everyone except if you’re first.”

Petter Solberg could stand to benefit if the stage is affected by dust. The Norwegian is running first on the road in his Citroen DS3 WRC and will be anxious to recover the time he has lost during day two. “It could be good,” said the Norwegian. “Maybe we can get some of the time back.”

Sebastien Ogier will take a lead of 15.1s into the stage and admits he will have to push running fourth on the road. “We have to improve our lead because it’s not enough for the moment so we will have to push on the last one,” he said.

Mikko Hirvonen, who is fourth overall in his factory Fiesta, said: “The dust is a problem already in the daylight but if there is dust on that stage then it could be a disaster.”

His team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala added: “I like driving in the dark but if there is dust then it can be a problem.”

Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen said driving at night wouldn’t make any difference to him: “It’s the same for everybody so we’ll see.”

Super 2000 World Rally Championship frontrunner Hermann Gassner Jr added: “I drove now for two years with no night stage so it will be quite interesting.”

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