Sordo picks 13th in Friday’s running order

Rally de Portugal qualifying stage winner Dani Sordo has opted to run as far down the start order as possible on Friday’s opening day of the competition.

The Spaniard, pictured above going fastest in his Citroen DS3 this morning, unsurprisingly chose to start 13th and last of the top priority drivers to take advantage of the best available road conditions.

The weather is expected to remain dry and warm for Friday’s action, leaving the Algarve stages covered in slippery loose gravel for the early starters. As the stones are swept clear, the abrasive roads become cleaner and faster and those further back in the start order have a distinct advantage.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision,” explained Sordo, “the roads will be dry and 13th place is simply the best place to be.”

Behind Sordo it was a case of follow the leader as the drivers made their start order selections in front of fans in the service park.

Second quickest Sebastien Ogier chose to run 12th in his Volkswagen Polo R, with his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala picking 11th.

All the remaining drivers chose the next lowest position available, meaning Ford Focus RS driver Dennis Kuipers has the dubious honour of running as first car through Friday’s stages.

Here is the list of today’s running order selections:

1: Dennis Kuipers
2: Michael Kosciuszko
3: Martin Prokop
4: Khalid Al-Qassimi
5: Nasser Al-Attiyah
6: Andreas Mikkelsen
7: Thierry Neuville
8: Evgeny Novikov
9: Mikko Hirvonen
10: Mads Østberg
11: Jari-Matti Latvala
12: Sebastien Ogier
13: Dani Sordo