Dani Sordo says second place on the Acropolis Rally has given him a much-needed confidence boost after a poor run of results so far this season.
The Citroen Total Abu Dhabi team driver took the runner-up spot to Jari-Matti Latvala after a drama-free run in his DS3 World Rally Car. It was the 20th second place from 104 WRC starts for the Spaniard, who is yet to win a rally.
“After the crash in Portugal and the problems in Argentina and the mistake in Sweden, it was not an easy start to the season,” acknowledged Sordo, who was third on the opening round in Monte Carlo.
“Acropolis is a rally I like, with good grip, but it is also risky for the car and tyres. I didn’t want to take many risks with normal driving and at the end this [result] was pretty good.”
Sordo was fastest on just one of the rally’s 14 stages, but said not getting drawn into fighting Latvala for the lead was the right decision.
“Jari-Matti’s speed was very high, to do the same time would have meant taking many risks. At the end, the result is quite easy to take like this, but at the same time it’s good for me and for confidence for me.
“Now we have two weeks before the next rally - we try to stay in the good way and try to finish at the top."
“Dani produced a performance entirely in line with our expectations”, reflected Yves Matton, Citroen Racing Team Principal. “We asked him to secure the best possible result without taking any risks, and that’s exactly what he did, from start to finish."