This year’s FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup officially kicked off today with a short super-special near the Portuguese resort of Estoril that got the ball rolling on the 2007 Rally Transiberico.
Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart’s Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (Spain) and Luc Alphand (France) completed the 7.43km test with the fourth and fifth quickest times under their belts, respectively 8.5 and 12.4 seconds behind the stage winner. It was an ideal start for the Franco-Spanish pair who had no qualms in letting former WRC stars Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae set the pace over this short appetiser which essentially served to establish the start order for tomorrow morning when the action begins in earnest.Tomorrow will see more than 90 starters tackle two attempts at a stage of approximately 200km in length before the evening’s overnight halt on the other side of the border in Badajoz, Spain. Crews start the selective sections at two-minute intervals, so dust is unlikely to be a problem over the narrow tracks, especially since today’s breeze is expected to continue. Nani Roma’The prologue went very well for us and the car was fine. No problems at all. Today’s run was very similar to a WRC stage, so McRae and Sainz were obviously very comfortable, but I’m more than happy to be starting tomorrow’s leg in fourth position on the road. I must admit I was thinking more in terms of perhaps third fastest today, but Barbosa put in a good effort to beat us by a few seconds. Even so, I feel reasonably confident for the rest of the weekend. Today’s narrow, twisty test was quite representative of what we will find tomorrow, although it was much, much shorter of course. Driving on sight against the clock for some 200km at a time will also call for much more concentration and improvisation than today’s test which we were able to recce before the start.’Luc Alphand’Like Nani, I was aiming for maybe one place better but where I am tonight isn’t bad at all. I was first on the road today and so I perhaps lost a little time sweeping a clean line through the loose top surface. This afternoon was also my first competitive drive since January’s Dakar, so today’s run was a good opportunity to bed myself in again. This evening’s gaps aren’t really significant; the main thing was to avoid making any mistakes and running fifth on the road tomorrow will enable us to see the lines of the cars running ahead of us on the stage…’Dominique Serieys (Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Team Director)’I really didn’t want Nani and Luc to have to start Friday’s stages in front and I told them that again this morning. I think where they are – in fourth and fifth places – is perfect. You have to remember that they haven’t driven the Pajero/Montero in anger since the Dakar at the beginning of the year, so it was important for them to find their marks again. They were very happy with their cars today and the important thing tomorrow will be to maintain contact with the front-runners and we’ll see in the evening where we stand. The stages to come are very long and anything can happen…’
