Sordo reveals Germany frustration

Dani Sordo has revealed a feeling of disappointment after a puncture dropped him out of third place on ADAC Rallye Deutschland’s Arena Panzerplatte stage this morning.

Sordo, in a Prodrive WRC Team MINI John Cooper Works WRC, had moved into the final podium spot with the fastest time through stage eight, Peterberg. But the incident means he is down in sixth position on the FIA World Rally Championship qualifier, almost four minutes adrift of leader Sebastien Loeb in a factory Citroen.

“I’m really disappointed because we were in a good place and it was feeling pretty good,” said the Spanish driver. “We started to feel the car move a lot from the rear so we take a little bit carefully because we thought it was a puncture. But we had hard compound tyres on the front and soft on the rear and I thought the car was moving a lot for that but then it was moving more and more and more. The air went out really, really slow and we do a lot of kilometres but then after we changed the puncture.”

Had it not been for the deflation, Sordo could have climbed into second place following Petter Solberg’s exit with a broken right-rear wheel.

“I am sorry for him but it could have been better for this if this had not happened but this Baumholder stage is difficult for that,” said Sordo. “Now we need to try to continue and try for fourth position but no more.”