Monte Carlo Rally Day 2: Loeb maintains lead
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Loeb maintains lead after day 2
Sebastien Loeb has completed day two of Rallye Monte-Carlo with his lead of the FIA World Rally Championship presented by Nokia qualifier firmly intact following another impressive display in his Citroen DS3 WRC.
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Sebastien Loeb
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Loeb has been fastest on five of Thursday’s six demanding stages to open up a lead of 1m37.5s. After snow and ice caused havoc on day one, drier and milder conditions have prevailed on day two although several drivers reported a build up of mud on the stages making the road surface slippery.
“Today was easier than yesterday, more like a normal Tarmac rally but it was still tricky because it was very muddy in places,” said Loeb. “But I was feeling good so I tried to push. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and with the conditions suiting me today I tried to take everything I can.”
MINI driver Dani Sordo heads Ford’s Petter Solberg in a thrilling battle for second place. Sordo and Solberg have swapped position throughout the day but it’s Spaniard Sordo who will take a slender 3.4s advantage over his Norwegian rival into the third day of the rally.
Mikko Hirvonen is fourth in the second factory Citroen with Evgeny Novikov closing up in his M-Sport Fiesta. The Russian is 6.0s behind the Finn after a measured performance.
Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sebastien Ogier started Thursday’s final stage in an impressive sixth overall in his Super 2000-specification Skoda Fabia only to suffer a high-speed crash approximately five kilometres from the stage finish, thankfully without injury to neither he nor co-driver Julien Ingrassia.
French legend Francois Delecour is sixth overall with MINI’s Pierre Campana demoting Ott Tanak into eighth after the Estonian’s Fiesta stalled at the start of stage 10. Super 2000 World Rally Championship leader PG Andersson is ninth for Proton with Kevin Abbring completing the top 10 in his Volkswagen-run Fabia.
Armindo Araujo completed Thursday’s final stage with a left-rear puncture on his privateer MINI. Nevertheless the double Production Car world champion remains just outside the top 10. Martin Prokop is 12th for the Czech Ford National Team with Matthew Wilson 13th for the Go Fast Energy World Rally Team.
Wilson’s team-mate Henning Solberg is more than one minute behind the Briton after losing time this afternoon when a stone got stuck in his Fiesta’s brake caliper. WRC Academy Cup champion Craig Breen is 15th and second in the SWRC standings. Poland’s Michal Kosciuszko continues to dominate the Production Car World Rally Championship division in his Mitsubishi Lancer.
Friday’s action features three stages, the first of which, St Jean en Royans-Font d’Urle, goes live at 10:02hrs local time. Crews are due to reach the overnight halt on Monaco’s harbour front at 19:59hrs local time.
Leading positions after SS10:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2h45m56.9s
2. Dani Sordo Mini + 1m37.2s
3. Petter Solberg Ford + 1m40.9s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 3m40.4s
5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 3m51.5s
6. Francois Delecour M-Sport Ford + 5m19.9s
7. Pierre Campana Mini + 6m49.6s
8. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 7m00.6s
9. P-G Andersson Proton + 10m08.9s
10. Kevin Abbring VW Skoda + 10m31.4s
Ogier crashes out of Monte Carlo
By David Evans Autosport
Sebastien Ogier's sensational run on the Monte Carlo Rally has come to an end after the Volkswagen driver crashed out on SS10.
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Sebastien Ogier
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The Frenchman had run as high as third on the opening round of the World Rally Championship, despite driving a Super 2000-specification Skoda Fabia against the powerful World Rally Cars.
The former Junior World Rally champion had slipped down the field as conditions dried today and was down to sixth when he and co-driver Julien Ingrassia went off the road.
Following crews reported that the accident was a very substantial one, but that both Ogier and Ingrassia were unhurt.
Hirvonen finding his feet
Mikko Hirvonen's second morning of action as a works Citroen driver has got off to an encouraging start, with the Finn the big mover of the opening loop of day two stages in Monte Carlo.
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Mikko Hirvonen
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After damaging a brake when he clipped a wall yesterday, Hirvonen started the day back in sixth place. But he swiftly moved past Evgeny Novikov and Sebastien Ogier to arrive in fourth position, and though he rued his tyre choice at times this morning, he felt his relationship with his new DS3 was improving.
"It's alright, still a little bit too careful but I think I'm finding my way with the car," he said after SS5. "I can quite safely lift the speed a little bit. I definitely want to get a little bit higher.
"We'll see what's going to happen at the front. I just have to lift my pace and go a bit faster."
Though he has gained ground this morning, Hirvonen has not managed to shake off the man he replaced at Citroen, as Ogier continues to squeeze remarkable speed out of Volkswagen Motorsport's Skoda Fabia S2000.
The Frenchman was fourth quickest on SS7 - taking him back past Novikov for fifth and back to within 12.5s of Hirvonen.
"I think it's a fantastic time. We pushed like hell and had fun," grinned Ogier at the stage end.
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