Sordo in the lead

Dani Sordo put his Mini on top of the times sheets on the opening stage of Rally Sweden 2012.

After a week of crisis where Pro Drive was relegated to factory support status from the BMW Group’s Mini brand, Spain’s Sordo beat the Scandinavians on the frozen tundra of the 3.99km trotting circuit super special at rally HQ in Karlstad.

Norway’s Mads Ostberg is second overall at 0.3 seconds, followed by Estonian Ott Tanak at 0.6 seconds. Petter Solberg went equal time with championship leader, Sébastien Loeb 1.2s adrift of Sordo. 2010 and 2010 Rally Sweden victor, Mikko Hirvonen came home sixth at 1.5s; followed by pre-event favourite Jari-Matti Latvala, who was slow of the line and is 2.2s down overnight. Local driver, Patrick Sandell in the second Pro Drive entry was eighth ahead of Martin Prokop in his Fiesta RS. Swedish touring car star, Richard Goransson did well to round out the top ten at 3.7 seconds.

TOP TEN SS1
1 Sordo+
2 Ostberg+0.3s
3 Tanak+0.6s
4 Loeb+1.2s
5 P. Solberg+1.2s
6 Hirvonen+1.5s
7 Latvala+2.2s
8 Sandell+3.0s
9 Prokop+3.1s
10 Goransson+3.7s

START ORDER DAY ONE
1 Paulo Nobre (BR) / Edu Paula (BR) Mini John Cooper Works WRC
2 Thierry Neuville (B) / Nicolas Gilsoul (B) Citroen DS3 WRC
3 Peter van Merkesteijn (NL) / Eddy Chevaillier (B) Citroen DS3 WRC
4 Richard Goransson (S) / Anders Fredriksson (S) Mini John Cooper Works WRC
5 Michal Solowow (PL) / Maciek Baran (PL) Ford Focus RS WRC
6 Nasser Al Attiyah (Q) / Giovanni Bernacchini (I) Citroen DS3 WRC
7 Armindo Araujo (P) / Miguel Ramahlo (P) Mini John Cooper Works WRC
8 Sébastien Ogier (F)./ Julian Ingrassia Skoda Fabia S2000
9 Jari Ketomaa (FIN) / Mika Stenberg (FIN) Ford Focus RS WRC
10 Henning Solberg (N) / Ilka Minor (A) Ford Focus RS WRC
11 Dani Sordo (E) / Carlos Del Barrio (E) Mini John Cooper Works WRC
12 Martin Prokop (CZ) / Zdenek Hruza (CZ) Ford Focus RS WRC
13 Patrik Sandell (S) / Staffan Parmander (S) Mini John Cooper Works WRC
14 Ott Tanak (EST) / Kuldar Sikk (EST) Ford Focus RS WRC
15 Petter Solberg (N) / Chris Patterson (GB) Ford Focus RS WRC
16 Evgeny Novikov (RUS) / Denis Giraudet (F) Ford Focus RS WRC
17 Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) / Mika Antilla (FIN) Ford Focus RS WRC
18 Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) / Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN) Citroen DS3 WRC
19 Sébastien Loeb (F) Daniel Elena (MC) Citroen DS3 WRC
20 Mads Ostberg (N)/ Jonas Andersson (S) Ford Focus RS WR