The roads are flowing, meaning that they are also very fast, but are characterised by the constant dance of hard acceleration and heavy braking, cars teetering on the edge of adhesion.
After a ceremonial start at the Place Austerlitz in the centre of Ajaccio on Thursday evening, competitors embark upon sixteen stages totalling 359.02 kilometres.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb extended his lead in the race for the 2008 drivers' title to 12 points following his victory on the Rally Catalunya last weekend.
Now classified with 96 points to the 84 notched up by
Mikko Hirvonen, the Frenchman could take the title in France, assuming he wins and his Finnish rival fails to finish higher than seventh.
In the Manufacturers' Championship, the
Citroen Total WRT took its third 1-2 finish on round 12 and strengthened its lead over
BP Ford Abu Dhabi - the gap up from 20 points to 27 points. Citroen too could sow up the honours in Corsica, assuming things fall favourable for the French outfit.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
Citroen Total WRT:
[
Sebastien Loeb, car #1 and
Daniel Sordo, car #2]
Sebastien Loeb:
"It's good to be in this situation [with a good lead in the drivers' series]. But I will go to Corsica as I go to every rally, to try and fight for the victory. The Fords were good on the second and third day in Spain. Maybe they were looking for the setting or rhythm [on day 1]. I think it will be closer this weekend."
Dani Sordo:
"We were as fast as we could be in Spain and the only thing that stopped us from winning was having Sebastien in front. He's a very fast driver. We needed a little more time than him to adapt to the Pirelli tyres. I hope I'll be able to get closer in Corsica. I will try and go faster there. I like the roads in Corsica. They are twister, there's more grip and it's more technical. I have confidence with the new tyres now - they worked really well last weekend. We'll see what happens."
BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT:
[Mikko Hirvonen, car #3 and
Francois Duval, car #4 and
Khalid Al Qassimi, car #17]
