After calling him useless yesterday, I’ve been thinking more about Dani Sordo. I still think Citroen could fill their second works car in the World Rally Championship with a better driver, but I’ve come to the conclusion that, actually, he’s probably adequate now.

Sordo moved up to the top Citroen team in 2006, the same year that Mikko Hirvonen was taken on by Ford. So that seems like a reasonable comparison to start with.

Sordo actually enjoyed the better start to 2006, appearing on the podium as soon as round four. Hirvonen, on the other hand, endured a more typical new driver start to the season, picking up points in only two of the first six rallies.

Sordo then went downhill, with only three points finishes in the final seven rounds. Meanwhile Hirvonen improved no end, picking up eight podiums, including six in a row, and one of them a first place.

Since then Hirvonen has maintained that consistency, with only one non-points finish in 2007 and 2008 combined, and six victories in that time. Sordo failed to take points in nine rounds, and is still yet to win a rally.

We need to look at this in context though. Hirvonen deservedly inherited the position of Ford’s number one driver when Marcus Gronholm retired at the end of 2007. The pairing of Gronholm and Hirvonen secured the manufacturers’ title for Ford in 2006 and 2007.

But Jari-Matti Latvala hasn’t been a consistent second driver for Ford, so Citroen took the 2008 manufacturers’ championship, and currently lead in 2009. So Sordo wasn’t as good a second driver as Hirvonen, but he’s better than Latvala.

Citroen are probably happy with Sordo for that reason: not because he’s exceptional, but because he’s currently adequate when paired with Sebastien Loeb.

The only problem for Citroen is that Latvala could improve beyond Sordo. With two rally wins to his name, Latvala could do just that if he can only get some consistency. His raw pace also suggests that Latvala could eventually assume first driver duties for Ford.

There’s little chance of Sordo doing the same for Citroen. But while Loeb is around, Sordo is adequate. So I’ll leave him alone.

Maybe it’s time to move on to Matthew Wilson, who is far from adequate. But that’s for another time.