Tour de Corse : Citroen / JWRCTonight Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke lie in first and second position respectively after the first leg of the Tour de Corse - Rallye de France.
The Kronos Racing team-mates have achieved a one-two on today`s four stages to the great satisfaction of Citroën`s Customer programme team.
"With such an event format including only long stages, we know the situation can become very difficult if the cars don`t have the right set-up straight away," explained engineer Alexis Avril. "We were looking forward to see what would happen in the first kilometres and we felt more confident quite quickly."
He added: "One thing is to be noticed on the reliability side : Kris experienced some brake problems at the end of the first loop. But we found the cause of it . With his `left foot braking` technique, the front brake callipers were overheating. We`ve modified the brake balance with more at the back and Kris also managed that really well by changing his driving style. The second loop went well after that. "
Dani Sordo, who was crowned Spanish Rally Champion twelve days ago, was really happy, exactly like his elder Sébastien Loeb: "Four stage wins out the four possible really pleased me. My C2 is working perfectly and I`m enjoying driving here on these fantastic stages. I was a bit cautious on the first passage as I was expecting very dirty roads with mud from the WRCs running before us. On the second loop, I followed Kris` pace thanks to the split times, while paying attention not to drive too much in the inside of the corners as our tyres aren`t fitted with the ATS system. Tomorrow I will try to do exactly the same thing."
Even if Kris Meeke had to be satisfied with second fastest times, he wasn`t disappointed tonight. He was rather happy in fact: "Today, I only conceded two tenths of a second per kilometre to Dani who is really fast and has driven much more than me on asphalt and who had competed here last year. I think it`s not that bad ! Tomorrow I think I will push a bit harder after getting into the tarmac mode today. However, I keep in mind that like in Germany, I shouldn`t make a mistake."
Tags:
tour-de-corse,
corsica,
jwrc,
citroen-c2,
dani-srdo,
kris-meeke,
