Sordo wins two stages on the way to a sixth-place finish
The Minis of Dani Sordo and Armindo Araújo finished sixth and eighth in the WRC Rally New Zealand. Sebastian Loeb of Citroen won; it was the eight-time world champion’s fifth win in seven rallies so far this season.
The New Zealand finish was the best for Araújo and his co-driver Miguel Ramalho since they came across the line seventh in Mexico earlier in the year. They had finished both Rally Argentina and the Acropolis Rally under the WRC’s Rally 2 rules, which allow a competitor to resume competition after dropping out of the rally. Their teammate Paulo Nobre and his co-driver Edu Paula finished seventeenth in New Zealand.
Sordo and his co-driver Carlos del Barrio, whose Prodrive Mini team is not running the entire season, had finished second in Monte Carlo and eleventh in Portugal. Sordo won two stages in New Zealand.
Neither Araujo nor Nobre have finished ahead of Sordo in the rallies in which they have gone head-to-head. Their team, WRC Team Mini Portugal, is the official factory team, having displaced Prodrive after Monte Carlo. Prodrive remains as the constructor and developer of the car.
The next WRC event is Rally Finland in August.—Brian S. Morgan, motorsports editor, bmwcca.org
