SEBASTIEN OGIER HOLDS SLENDER LEAD AFTER OPENING SUPER SPECIALS
author: Andries vd Walt
Sebastien Ogier, the Junior Citroen TOTAL team driver in a Citroen C4, holds a slender overnight lead of Rally Japan after going fastest on Thursday evening's opening two stages.
The rally got underway at the Sapporo Dome Super Special, with drivers racing head-to-head over two passes of the 1.57km circuit, which included sweeping hairpin bends and
a table-top jump.
On the first pass, run as SS1, the Frenchman, driving for the Citroen Total team in Japan, was 0.5sec quicker than his closest rival Dani Sordo.
On the second pass he beat his nearest challenger, Kimi Raikkonen, by eight-tenths. Ogier will carry a two second lead into Friday’s competition, which is based on gravel forest tracks near the city.
Two time Japan winner Mikko Hirvonen holds second place, with Dani Sordo third and Jari-Matti Latvala fourth. Kimi Raikkonen, who crashed his Citroen C4 at Thursday’s Shakedown, is fifth.
Current six-time world rally champion driver, Sebastien Loeb in WRT Citroen C4, finished 6th overall.
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