Rally Portugal / Round-up
Citroën
RK M-Sport World Wally Team
Though Mads Østberg is performing well with another podium finish, at Citroën they do look a bit
worried. After Meeke’s very good
Monte result the number of points
he scored in the last three rallies is
one! The team is still second in the
FIA Team’s standings but there is
a huge gap to the VW Motorsport
team. And in order to score in this
list both drivers have to perform
well.
If you want to finish first, you first have
to finish, we said last month. Unfortunately that still applies to Robert Kubica. On Friday he went off and lost
a wheel. On Saturday he again went
off, this time trying to get back onto
the road he demolished his clutch and
internal damage prevented him from
coming back the next day. Two crashes in one rally is a bit too much. And
the Pole agreed: “I think I must somehow reset myself and try to approach
rallies the way I did at the very beginning, twelve months ago.”
Hyundai
18/42
The Korean team made
a huge effort and came
to Portugal with three
teams: Neuville and
Hänninen in the regular
team and Dani Sordo in
the ‘N’ team. Sordo was
fastest of the lot, scoring
two scratches that even
brought him in the lead
of the rally; a premiere
for the Hyundai team.
Unfortunately a broken
driveshaft on the last day
threw the Spaniard (then
in fourth place!) out of
the rally. The other drivers also had their share
of trouble. It’s important
for the team that two cars
made it to the end. (Neuville in 7th and Hänninen
in eighth) But more important was the fact they
could gain some more
valuable information and
have even been able to
see the positive result of
changed settings.