Sordo claims maiden win in Germany

Dani Sordo secured his first WRC victory after almost 10 years of trying when he won an enthralling ADAC Rallye Deutschland today.

The Spaniard was the ‘nearly’ man of the WRC after 34 podiums from 106 starts. However, the 30-year-old came good to beat Thierry Neuville by 53.0sec following a final stage showdown that was only settled when the Belgian went off the road 3km from the finish.

Sordo, the 2005 junior world champion, started the final Dhrontal test in the narrow and twisty Mosel vineyards with a 3.0sec advantage in his Citroen DS3.

He stretched his advantage in the early part of the 24.58km stage, before Neuville fought back. The duo were tied at the final split point with just over 4km remaining, but Neuville’s hopes were dashed when his Ford Fiesta RS went off the road.

“It’s a great moment for me,” said an emotional Sordo as he embraced his parents at the stop line. “Thierry was pushing so hard. He was a little slower than me at first but then he was faster so I needed to push harder. I was so nervous at the start but this win is something I’ve dreamed of for many years.”

After the demise of early leader Sebastien Ogier, who broke his Volkswagen Polo R’s suspension after crashing early in the second leg, team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala led with Sordo and Neuville dueling behind.

Neuville had the better of Friday’s second leg to build a 19.0sec advantage. But the roles were reversed yesterday and when Latvala crashed, Sordo ended the penultimate day with a lead of just 0.8sec to set up today’s thrilling finale.

Sordo’s victory, after four-days and 371.86km of asphalt action in the vineyards and military roads of south-west Germany, means Citroen maintained its unblemished record here, having won every year since the rally entered the championship in 2002.

Second for Neuville, in his first full WRC season, extended a superb run of results which netted two seconds and a third before this event.

“I feel we proved a lot again, even if we did ultimately just miss out on the win,” said Neuville. “I decided we were going to go for it on the final stage, but coming out of the forest, I mistook one fast left-hand corner in the vineyards for another and we went off.

“By the time Nico (Gilsoul, co-driver) announced the pace note, it was already too late. Luckily we were able to rejoin the road and make it to the finish,” he added.

Mikko Hirvonen finished third in another DS3, 1min 43.1sec behind Neuville, to seal a strong weekend for Citroen. The Finn, for whom asphalt is his least favourite surface said: “It was a solid weekend. At the start I was happy with my pace and when I couldn’t keep up I eased off to secure my position.”

Martin Prokop matched his career-best result in fourth in a Fiesta RS. The Czech driver was 8min 00.8sec behind Sordo, but kept out of trouble as many more-fancied runners went off the road.

WRC 2 winner Robert Kubica and second-placed Elfyn Evans completed the top six, in a Citroen DS3 RRC and Ford Fiesta R5 respectively.

Latvala recovered from his crash to take seventh, having led an asphalt rally for the first time, with Hayden Paddon’s WRC 2 Skoda Fabia S2000 eighth.

Mads Ostberg was ninth in a Fiesta RS after crashing out of fifth on rain-soaked roads yesterday afternoon. The top 10 was completed by team-mate Evgeny Novikov, who recovered from a crash after only a handful of kilometres on Thursday evening.

Sebastien Ogier salvaged three points by winning the final Power Stage and the Frenchman holds a 75 point lead in the drivers’ standings over Neuville. Latvala is third, 11 points behind, with four rounds remaining.