Dani Sordo

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Dani Sordo
Dani Sordo: Leg 3 Telstra Rally Australia 2006.
World Rally Championship record
Nationality	Spanish
Active years	2003 - present
Teams	Citroën
World rallies	51
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	13
Stage wins	51
Points	139
First world rally	2003 Rally Catalunya

Daniel Sordo Castillo (born May 2, 1983 in Torrelavega, Cantabria) is a Spanish driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC).

[edit] Career

Sordo began in motocross when he was 12 years old, but also experienced success with hillclimbing, karting and touring cars. He first drove in a WRC event at the Spanish round of the series in 2003 in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII, finishing 18th overall. He won the Spanish Junior Championship that year, and retained the title in 2004, while also accumulating further international experience at the WRC events in Argentina (retired), France (13th) and Spain (20th).

In this last event, he switched from the Lancer Evo to a Citroën C2 S1600, and for 2005 he committed to a full season driving the C2 in the Junior World Rally Championship with Belgium's Kronos Racing team. He also switched co-drivers, now being paired with Marc Marti, the former co-driver of double World Champion Carlos Sainz. Victories in Sardinia, Finland, Germany and Spain brought him the Junior World Championship title.

Sordo at the 2006 Rally Australia.

These showings earned Sordo a subsequent drive in a Kronos Total Citroën-prepared Xsara World Rally Car as the team's third driver in the 2006 season, although the initial plan - latterly dropped - was for the Spaniard to combine a piecemeal World Rally Car programme with a simultaneous defence of the J-WRC title in the C2. His early results though, including successive podiums at the Rally Catalunya and the Rallye de France, proved sufficient to not only expand his compliment of contested events but also ensure promotion to the second driver berth from the Rallye Deutschland onwards, alongside Sebastien Loeb and ahead of team-mate Xavier Pons.

Sordo at the 2007 Rally GB.

Sordo finished the 2006 season with four podium places, 49 points and a fifth overall in the drivers' world championship. Citroën Sport then announced that Sordo will be their second driver for their 2007 season works team return. Sébastien Loeb would lead the team's push to win another title, this time using the C4 instead of Xsara^[1].

Sordo started the 2007 season with a second place at the 2007 Monte Carlo Rally and went on to finish on the podium six more times; in Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, Japan and Ireland. With 65 points, he placed fourth overall in the drivers' championship, behind his teammate Loeb and BP Ford World Rally Team's Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen.

Sordo continues with the Citroën Total World Rally Team for the 2008 season.