Dani Sordo has set the fastest time in the qualifying runs for Rally de Portugal and has chosen the final seeded starting position for the opening leg.
The top four drivers were covered by less than a second with the Spaniard fastest in a Citroen DS3 over the 4.98km Vale do Judeu stage, 0.7s ahead of championship leader Sebastien Ogier in a Volkswagen Polo R.
Ogier’s team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala, was just one-tenth of a second slower and Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta) completed the top four, another tenth of a second behind.
As expected Sordo chose the final 13th position of the A seeded stars. With the stages dry and covered in loose gravel in places, Sordo is set to make the most of the cleaner line.
“The roads will be dry tomorrow,” said Sordo.
“We’ll see, but I am happy with this start so far – it was an easy decision to make.”
The rest of the drivers followed Sordo’s lead, with Sebastien Ogier running as penultimate car and Jari-Matti Latvala third from the back.
Thirteenth quickest in qualifying, Dutch driver Dennis Kuipers will run first on the road in his M-Sport Ford.
Plenty of interest in the rally will focus on former F1 driver Robert Kubica who will be steering the Regional Rally Car version of the Citroen.
Here is the Citroen video from the qualifying runs
Citroën WRC 2012 – Rallye du Portugal… by citroenracing
