The crews entered in this year’s Rallye Deutschland had a final chance to test their cars and fine-tune their set-up in this morning’s shakedown.
They made several passes on a six-kilometer stage located close to the service park.
Looking to further improve on asphalt – his teammate Loeb’s favorite surface – Sébastien Ogier signaled his intentions, setting the shakedown’s fastest time. He was 1.4s quicker than Loeb and Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen.
Jari-Matti Latvala was only 0.2s down on his teammate. Petter Solberg completed the top five.
The start ceremony will be held tonight in Trier but the crews will tackle the first stage tomorrow morning.
Shakedown results:
1. Sébastien Ogier – Citroën - 3.36,3
2. Sébastien Loeb – Citroën - 3.37,7
3. Mikko Hirvonen – Ford - 3.37,7
4. Jari-Matti Latvala – Ford - 3.37,9
5. Petter Solberg – Citroën - 3.38,6
6. Henning Solberg – Ford - 3.38,7
7. Mads Ostberg – Ford - 3.39,0
8. Kris Meeke – Mini - 3.39,1
9. Kimi Räikkönen – Citroën - 3.39,3
10. Daniel Sordo – Mini - 3.40,1
11. Armindo Araujo – Mini - 3.42,0
12. Patrik Flodin - Mini - 3.43,5
13. Matthew Wilson – Ford - 3.43,7
14. Dennis Kuipers – Ford - 3.44,1
15. Peter van Merksteijn – Citroën - 3.46,4
16. Aaron Burkart – Ford - 3.47,5