Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) leads Rally GB after the second day of racing. The Frenchman secured his 8th title in-a-row after his championship rival Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) was forced to retire.
Loeb stood in front of provisional classification on Thursday only for seven tenths of a second ahead of Mikko Hirvonen. But the Finn was able to challenge the world champion on Friday morning, and moved up to the lead after ESS6.
But, on the next stage, Hirvonen damaged his car after a spin. First, he lost about four minutes with a suspension and a radiator broken. Then it became official that the Ford driver would not be able to be back in race, even with super rally regulations, as his engine was too damaged to be repaired.
That gave automatically a 8th title in-a-row for Sébastien Loeb. On Friday evening, the Frenchman was still leading the rally, but he was only 1.1 second ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala’s (Ford), who has no more obligation to help his team mate Mikko Hirvonen, and aims to fight for victory now.
Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta) and Petter Solberg (Citroen DS3) are in fight for the third position. Both Norwegian drivers are separated by only eight seconds, after Solberg lost time when he went off in the first day of the rally on Thursday. Sebastien Ogier (Citroen) was already out of the race when he went off in the very first special stage of rally GB. He was back on Friday on super rally regulations.
Rally GB – Classification after day 2:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroen DS3 Wrc) in 1h23’18”3
2. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 1”1
3. Ostberg-Andrsson (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 1’13”5
4. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 1’21”3
5. H. Solberg-Petrasko (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 2’51”7
6. Tanak-Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 3’46”0
7. Raikkonen-Lindstrom (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 3’47”0
8. Meeke-Nagle (Mini Cooper Wrc) + 3’51”3
Etc.
Loeb stood in front of provisional classification on Thursday only for seven tenths of a second ahead of Mikko Hirvonen. But the Finn was able to challenge the world champion on Friday morning, and moved up to the lead after ESS6.
But, on the next stage, Hirvonen damaged his car after a spin. First, he lost about four minutes with a suspension and a radiator broken. Then it became official that the Ford driver would not be able to be back in race, even with super rally regulations, as his engine was too damaged to be repaired.
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| Sebastien Loeb, 8 times world champion with Citroen. (Photo: WRC) |
That gave automatically a 8th title in-a-row for Sébastien Loeb. On Friday evening, the Frenchman was still leading the rally, but he was only 1.1 second ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala’s (Ford), who has no more obligation to help his team mate Mikko Hirvonen, and aims to fight for victory now.
Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta) and Petter Solberg (Citroen DS3) are in fight for the third position. Both Norwegian drivers are separated by only eight seconds, after Solberg lost time when he went off in the first day of the rally on Thursday. Sebastien Ogier (Citroen) was already out of the race when he went off in the very first special stage of rally GB. He was back on Friday on super rally regulations.
Rally GB – Classification after day 2:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroen DS3 Wrc) in 1h23’18”3
2. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 1”1
3. Ostberg-Andrsson (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 1’13”5
4. P. Solberg-Patterson (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 1’21”3
5. H. Solberg-Petrasko (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 2’51”7
6. Tanak-Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 3’46”0
7. Raikkonen-Lindstrom (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 3’47”0
8. Meeke-Nagle (Mini Cooper Wrc) + 3’51”3
Etc.