Chinese GP || April 21 || 15h00 (Local time)

Ogier clings on at Sunday’s midpoint

Henning Solberg retired because of a broken fan belt

By Franck Drui

30 May 2010 - 09:47

Sebastien Ogier rounded off Sunday morning’s loop of stages with his Rally de Portugal lead slimmed but intact. With only two more gravel stages and the Super special to go, Ogier has a 10.1sec over the hard charging Sebastien Loeb.

Loeb was the fastest driver through SS15, completing the stage 4.8sec quicker than Ogier and admitting to pushing to the maximum. Ogier, however, claimed he still had something in reserve.

Petter Solberg lost more time because of his car’s damaged steering rack and slipped behind Dani Sordo into fourth place. Mikko Hirvonen, the leading Ford driver, rounded off the morning loop in fifth, only 6.5sec behind Petter.

Stobart Ford team driver Henning Solberg retired 16km into the stage because of a broken fan belt. The Norwegian had been sixth.

Standings after SS15:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	Sébastien OGIER	Citroën C4 WRC	3h19m57.4s
02	Sébastien LOEB	Citroën C4 WRC	+10.1s
03	Dani SORDO	Citroën C4 WRC	+1m14.4s
04	Petter SOLBERG	Citroën C4 WRC	+1m16.6s
05	Mikko HIRVONEN	Ford Focus WRC	+1m23.1s
06	Matthew WILSON	Ford Focus WRC	+5m57.6s
07	Mads OSTBERG	Subaru Impreza WRC	+6m30.5s
08	Kimi RAIKKONEN	Citroën C4 WRC	+9m10.6s
09	Federico VILLAGRA	Ford Focus WRC	+9m22.8s
10	Khalid AL QASSIMI	Ford Focus WRC	+9m26.0s
11	Jari KETOMAA	Ford Fiesta S2000	+12m54.6s
12	Xavier PONS	Ford Fiesta S2000	+16m17.9s
13	Michal KOSCIUSZKO	Skoda Fabia S2000	+18m21.6s
14	Armindo ARAÚJO	Mitsubishi Lancer Gr.N	+18m50.7s
15	Bernardo SOUSA	Ford Fiesta S2000	+21m08.8s