Jordan Rally – Ford news after stage 9

The Jordan Rally finally started this morning after a 24-hour delay caused by the late arrival of teams’ equipment. The ferry transporting the cargo from Trieste in Italy to Haifa in Israel was initially delayed in departing, and then broke down twice en route before finally having to wait outside the port to dock while bad weather subsided.

The delays forced organisers to cancel yesterday’s opening leg and this fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship will now be decided over just two days. Today’s action covers 144.30km of gravel road competition in the dramatic landscape near the Dead Sea, including two passes over the marathon 41.45km Jordan River test, one of the longest in the championship calendar.

Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team completed this morning’s three speed tests in fourth and fifth. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila lie fourth in their Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car, just 9.8sec from the lead. Team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen are fifth in their similar car, the championship leaders first in the start order and losing time by cleaning loose gravel from the road surface.

Latvala set a consistent pace through all three stages, setting third fastest time on each. The 26-year-old Finn was delighted with the performance of Michelin’s new stronger gravel tyre.

"It’s a massive improvement," he said. "I’m not as concerned about hitting big stones because the tyres are stronger, and that is allowing me to cut corners without worrying about what is in the undergrowth. The first 10km of Jordan River felt hard fast. But the surface changed after that and my split times improved as the road became softer and cleaner, although I took some big risks."

Hirvonen was fifth through the opening 13.50km Suwayma and sixth in the 17.20km Kafrain, before ending the morning with sixth in Jordan River.

"There was so much loose gravel that in the twisty, downhill sections it felt like driving on ball-bearings," admitted the 30-year-old Finn. "As a result there was no traction. I think it’s more difficult cleaning the gravel with harder tyres. The road surface is so solid that they don’t seem to flex on the loose gravel like the previous softer tyres did, so it’s harder to be first on the road.

"I was also too cautious in the opening two stages and half the time I lost was down to my driving, and the other half was due to my start position. I altered the suspension ride height and damper settings to try to improve the grip, and for the final section of Jordan River my rhythm improved," he added.