Elena: Portugal crash not all bad

World title-winning co-driver Daniel Elena has admitted the result of last week’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal could have been a lot worse.

Elena and driver Sebastien Loeb crashed out of the Faro-based event on the opening night in their Citroen Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC.

But the exclusion of team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen mean they continue to head the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia, albeit by a reduced margin of four points over new second-placed pair Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson.

“First of all it was, a big crash for us, very bad,” said Elena. “But then you look and it’s okay for the points. This is only the fourth race, it’s very early in the season, so it’s not so bad.”

Asked about the plight of the Ford World Rally Team, which dropped a potential one-two result in the rain on day two, Elena admitted he was surprised at the demise of Jari-Matti Latvala and Solberg on successive stages.

“It was unbelievable what happened,” he said. “Incredible. You know, the drivers have just to drive to take points for the championships - don’t take the risk. And when Jari-Matti crashed then there is more risk, but then Petter crashed as well...”