Ogier edges Raikkonen in practice rally

Sebastien Ogier continued his winning run behind the wheel of a Citroen C4 WRC when he claimed victory on last weekend’s Rally della Lanterna, a national event in Italy he was using to prepare for Bulgaria’s forthcoming World Rally Championship qualifier.

However, the Rally de Portugal winner left it late after snatching victory from Citroen Junior Team stable-mate Kimi Raikkonen on the final special stage to win by 5.7 seconds from the former Formula One world champion, who settled for an impressive second overall.

Raikkonen, who was starting his first asphalt event in a C4 WRC, showed well from the start by building up a 30-second margin over Ogier on the Genoa-based rally. But Ogier, who lost time on the second stage by making an incorrect tyre choice for the slippery conditions, gradually reduced the Finn’s advantage with a succession of fastest stage times, and had closed to within two seconds of the Red Bull-backed driver heading into the final test.

“Kimi was very fast today and it was very difficult to catch him because this morning we made a wrong tyre choice and lost 30 seconds,” said Ogier, who won seven of the nine special stages alongside regular co-driver Julien Ingrassia. “I can complement him [Raikkonen] because he did a very good rally for his first time on Tarmac in the Citroen C4 WRC.”

Despite losing out on victory, 30-year-old Raikkonen was far from downhearted at the finish after winning his first special stage on a rally when he topped the times on the 9.350-kilometre Torriglia test by 8.8s from Ford Focus driver Marco Silva.

“It was a great rally,” said Raikkonen. “Unfortunately we lost the first place in the last stage, but for us it was the first time we drove the car on Tarmac and we gained a lot of experience. We didn’t lose to such a bad guy [Ogier], either."

Ogier and Raikkonen will return to action on Rally Bulgaria, round seven of the WRC, from 8-11 July. Ogier is currently second in the drivers’ standings to six-time title-winner Sebastien Loeb. Raikkonen holds 10th in the table