Citroen's
Daniel Sordo will start the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, the second round in the 2008
FIA World Rally Championship, on the back-foot after his team had to change his engine.
Sordo was robbed of an almost certain second place finish on the Monte two weeks ago when his C4 WRC suffered turbo problems on day 3. That incident forced him out and although he eventually finished and scored the final manufacturers' point it was little consolation for the Spaniard. The problem has now had a knock-on effect for round two as well though and as Monte Carlo and Sweden were paired, the engine change means he picks up a 5 minute penalty.
"When we got back to the factory, inspection of the Monte engine revealed that it had suffered more than we had initially thought following the turbo problem that occurred on the third day," Citroen boss, Olivier Quesnel told the team's official website prior to the start.
"Given that the engine which competes in Sweden will go on to contest the Rally Mexico [round 3], too, we deemed it preferable to change engines in order to make sure that Dani and Marc [Marti - his co-driver] were given the best chance possible."
Sordo meanwhile finished the shakedown in twelfth, 1.7 seconds off the pace set by
Chris Atkinson. Despite the time though, he was reasonably happy with his final preparations for the event.
"So long as the conditions were still icy, we were able to profit fully from our car and tyres," he reflected. "It wasn't so nice, though, when the surface began to cut up. When it gets like that, there's not much you can because it's impossible to get out of the ruts.
"Even so, it was still a good morning and we were able to see how our C4 WRC reacted in a variety of different conditions."
