Photo by: Andre Lavadinho
The Sun shined in Australia for Oliveira as the BWRT driver cleared the second leg
Daniel Oliveira and Carlos Magalhaes made their way through Rally Australia’s second leg in a day which underwent without any major trouble except for a minor situation that cost some time to the BWRT crew members.
The action of this 10th round of the FIA World Rally Championship headed south of the event's Coffs Harbour base today to the Nambucca valley. The rain gave the crews a break and in drier conditions they were able to speed up with better grip through the ten stages scheduled for the second leg.
Daniel re-started the rally under Super Rally system after yesterday’s retirement and rapidly gripped the car’s handling to set some good split times on the first two stages of the day.
However, midway on SS13 Valla (14.84km) Daniel went off after a small bridge and got stuck in a ditch, where remained stopped for a while after he got his car back on the road. Fortunately, the MINI John Cooper Works WRC had no serious damage and after he lost some minutes Oliveira bounced back and recovered his pace on the next stage before returning the car to the Service Park.
On the second loop, Daniel enjoyed many kilometres of a trouble-free run which helped to build up his speed and confidence. He shaved some seconds off the first passes through the stages and returned to Coffs Harbour to tackle the Super Special in high-spirits as the second leg was coming to an end.
Daniel’s word.
“Today’s conditions were much better than yesterday. The roads were pretty dry; however, there were still some very tricky places, particularly in the corners under the trees where the road remained quite damp. We had a good start until SS13 where after passing through a small bridge the damp wooden gave very little grip. The car was not damaged but we got stuck in a ditch for several minutes. For the second loop we had the car fully checked and we drove well and had no problem. I’m really happy since I drove many kilometres today and that gives me confidence. I hope to continue rallying this way tomorrow”.
The final chapter.
The final day of action will take place near Coffs Harbour, with three stages scattered around the event’s base which will be tackled twice in identical sections. The last leg will be the shortest one with 98.82 kilometres; however, the drivers must beat the Plum Pudding stage, the longest speed test of this rally of 30 kilometres.
Ford on command.
Rally Australia will be decided between Ford’s Finnish team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen. The first one claims a 22.7secs. lead over his countryman whereas Petter Solber (Citroren) comes in third position 59.5 secs. adrift.
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