Duval tops Catalunya shakedown

The Belgian is tackling his second event in a six-rally programme in a Skoda Fabia WRC. He crashed out of January's Monte Carlo Rally, after running as high as fourth overall in the season-opener, but was on top form in the dry conditions of the WRC's first asphalt test.

Duval ended the session six tenths of a second faster than Ford's Mikko Hirvonen, with the Finn's teammate and countryman Marcus Gronholm in third. Petter Solberg was the top non-BF Goodrich runner in fourth, 1.2s off Duval's time.

After Monte Carlo, Duval's First Motorsport-run Fabia has been fitted with the correct transmission for the Catalunya Rally - he was forced to contest Monte Carlo with a centre differential with constant hydraulic pressure after Skoda failed to source the correct parts.

"I've done a day and a half testing, maybe 200 kilometres," said Duval. "I'm happy. The car feels better than in Monte Carlo. The only problem we had in the test was with the brakes. I couldn't get any confidence in them.

"We're trying different pads at shakedown today, but this hasn't really solved the problem. The time is not so bad though..."

Despite missing the last two rounds of the championship, Duval is hoping to challenge for points this week.

"Top six would be nice, but I think we can get some points, especially if we can carry on like this." he added.

Pos Driver             Make        Time
 1. Francois Duval     Skoda        2:29.0
 2. Sebastian Loeb     Citroen      2:29.2
 3. Marcus Gronholm    Ford         2:30.0
 4. Petter Solberg     Subaru       2:30.2
 5. Daniel Sordo       Citroen      2:30.4
 6. Xavier Pons        Citroen      2:30.9
 7. Stephane Sarrazin  Subaru       2:31.9
 8. Jan Kopecky        Skoda        2:32.8
 9. Mikko Hirvonen     Ford         2:33.4
10. Chris Atkinson     Subaru       2:33.5
11. Gilles Panizzi     Skoda Fabia  2:33.6
12. Jan-Matti Latvala  Ford         2:33.7
13. Manfred Stohl      Peugeot      2:35.5
14. Alexandre Bengue   Peugeot      2:36.9
15. Matthew Wilson     Ford         2:37.6

All Timing Unofficial