Brazil WRT Rallye Deutschland leg 2 summary

Mechanics does not let Daniel Oliveira to breathe

Daniel Oliveira, Carlos Magalhaes, MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS S2000

Photo by: Brazil World Rally Team

The Brazilian driver suffered a broken half shaft after taking the start in the first stage

Shortly after breakfast, Daniel Oliveira and Carlos Magalhaes had to work hard to achieve arrive to the end of Rally Deutschland’s the second day. An unexpected half shaft break in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC forced the Brazilian-Portuguese duo to put aside their aspirations to overcome Friday’s classification to take a pace that would allow them to return to Trier. More alert to any unexpected noise from the front left of his car almost than listening his pace notes during the first four stages, Daniel lost no more than four positions. In the evening, however, Daniel Oliveira dropped their times on the order of half a dozen seconds per kilometer, climbing to 24th position before the last day.

Daniel’s word: "It is not normal at all to break something just a few kilometers from the start in the first stage of the day. I noticed a vibration, but I thought I had stepped on something or that the floor was wet, but soon after this I had a spin for no reason and then another. First, we were lucky not to have an accident and second, at least, the half shaft did not go off. But I had to cover four stages before come back to Service Park, so we decided to go calm disconnecting even the bang-bang system to pamper the mechanics at the same time ".

Third leg: With little more than half the mileage than the first two days, the route of Sunday in Deutschland Rally returns to Mosel’s vineyards with a double loop to two tricky stages as Daniel Oliveira could confirm on the first day. Power Stage will be an exceptional one hold around Porta Nigra, the old Roman fortress and the adjacent streets of Trier, totaling 4.37 km.

On the top: Yesterday continued the fratricidal struggle between the two Citroën drivers Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, who came to be separated by only 1.4s, until the seven times world champion suffered a puncture in the last and famous Panzerplatte stage losing around 1m 15s. A similar incident in Mikko Hirvonen’s Ford Fiesta allowed the Spanish driver Dani Sordo to put a foot on the provisional podium with his MINI.