SS9: Sordo flies on Saturday’s opener

Less than one second covered the times of the Rallye Deutschland top three through Saturday’s opener, with Citroen’s Dani Sordo getting a morning confidence boost for beating his rivals Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville.

“My confidence was good yesterday, now I’m really happy with the set-up,” said Sordo, the fastest of the trio by 0.5sec. “We changed a few things and although this wasn’t a perfect stage it’s a good start.”

The Spaniard holds third, 18secs adrift of second placed Neuville. Volkswagen Polo R driver Latvala was closest to Sordo’s stage time and extended his rally lead slightly to 7.4sec.

“All good, but the stage was a mix of small and big roads - in some places there was plenty of grip and in others it was really slippery,” said the Finn. “There was a sort of dust on the surface, perhaps from the lorries that use the roads. Luckily I was braking early enough.”

Neuville was just one-tenth slower than Latvala in his Ford Fiesta RS. “The times are quite close, everybody is driving well – it seems we are all awake,” the Belgian grinned. “I enjoyed it. No risks. Perhaps not smooth enough in some places but okay, a clean run. We continue like this."

Sebastien Ogier recorded the outright fastest time, but after his retirement yesterday he was way down the order, almost 14 minutes adrift of the leaders.

Mikko Hirvonen was fifth fastest to remain well cushioned in fourth overall, nearly 30sec behind Sordo. “The start was really bad, we lost 3sec in the first couple of splits, but after that it was good. I wasn’t really awake…” he explained.

Mads Ostberg holds fifth, 1m33s behind Hirvonen. The Norwegian recorded the sixth quickest time as he got used to the feeling of his car following set-up changes in service last night. “I think it’s a little bit better. I took it steady in the slippery sections, so lost time there, but we are closer in other areas,” he said.

Michal Kosciuszko did not restart today. The Ford Fiesta RS driver is on his way home to Poland to recuperate after jarring his back during yesterday’s competition.