Team-BHP - Rally of Jordan

Jordan will be the first arab nation to host a world rally round. Located just below the northern Jordan city of Amman, Rally HQ and the service park promise a spectacular welcome for crews. Based on the banks of the Dead Sea, it is the lowest point on earth at 408 metres below sea level. Most of the rally is run below sea level, making for a stark contrast to the altitude of the last two events in Mexico and Argentina. The roads that wind through the Jordan Valley reach as low as 400 metres below sea level, and the only altitude section in the Rumman forests rises to just over 1000 metres, past the biblical site of Mount Nebo. The rally comprises 21 stages and 351 competitive kilometres of hard-packed sandy roads on which crew s will use Pirelli’s hard compound Scorpion gravel tyre. The normally loose surface has been bonded and hard-packed over the last two years to create the rally’s stage route and provide crews with a very hard surface on which to compete. Whilst the first few cars to run will inevitably experience a loose covering of sand, surface deterioration should’t be an issue, even as temperatures reach towards 40 degrees Celsius.

It does mean however that if crews run off line the surface will be far looser and grip reduced significantly. Whilst there is a lot of run-off in the barren desert landscape which may give crews the confidence to push harder in the knowledge there is more chance that mistakes will go relatively unpunished, off-road excursions may still prove costly with soft sand and interspersed rocky outcrops. The stages offer their own unique challenges in accurately judging distances and defining the roads amid the vast expanse of desert.

Just two weeks after Rally Jordan, crews will commence a flurry of European events with three rallies in five weeks, the hardest stint of the season. Jordan will be a crucial event for teams in setting the tone of their performance in this mid-year period, and so everyone will be looking to step their performance and consistency up a gear. Those who are strong in Jordan will carry more momentum into the European events.

1. D Sordo/M Marti ESP Citroen C4 1hr 16min 53.7sec
2. S Loeb/D Elena FRA Citroen C4 1hr 16min 54.8sec
3. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 17min 02.2sec
4. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 1hr 17min 07.1sec
5. C Atkinson/S Prévot AUS Subaru Impreza 1hr 18min 01.7sec
6. U Aava/K Sikk EST Citroen C4 1hr 18min 53.0sec
7. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 1hr 19min 46.4sec
8. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 16.0sec
9. F Villagra/J Perez Companc ARG Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 52.9sec
10 K Al Qassimi/M Orr UAE Ford Focus RS 1hr 20min 58.1sec

Dani Sordo (Citroen) led from the start, the Spaniard winning three stages to lead team-mate Sébastien Loeb by 1.1sec. The Frenchman also claimed three stage wins. Behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi duo, Chris Atkinson (Subaru) held fifth with Urmo Aava (Citroen) an impressive sixth. The remaining four places in the top 10 were all claimed by Focus RS cars, headed by Stobart's Matthew Wilson in seventh. Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki) retired after going off on the opening stage while team-mate Toni Gardemeister stopped with engine problems after stage 2. Petter Solberg (Subaru) retired from fifth with broken front suspension after stage six and Stobart driver Gigi Galli (Ford) retired from sixth after the same test. The Italian slid into a bank, damaging the rear differential cooler and exhaust, and the differential seized in the high temperatures. He will restart tomorrow under SupeRally rules.
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rallye-info.com

Watched the rally,last night!
This rally is so unforgiving and the terrain was slippery and so new to the drivers.

It was unfortunate for Loeb to crash into a teammates car,headon during transport.
Petter Solberg had a problem when he was leading in the rally.

Latvala was the leader on the final day until his suspension gave up. They tried to work on it on the roadside when the jackstands slipped and fell on the guy working under it. He must have felt the 45% weight distribution before the others came to his rescue.
On the end of the 2nd day, Ford came up with this team strategy to let Dani Sordo to start first on the loose gravel on the 3rd day so he could sweep clean for the Ford cars to do better times. Paid off very well.
The leaderboard saw so many changes throughout the rally unlike the weekend's F1 GP.
Finally, Mikko won with Dani coming second. Chris Atkinson was a distant 3rd and was on the podium only because of Loeb, Petter and Jari Matti Latvala's misfortunes.