After another faultless performance on day two of Rally de Espana Citroen's Sebastien Loeb holds a 27sec lead and remains well on course to secure his fourth consecutive victory on this rally tomorrow.
On a day which featured the event's longest stage and some of its trickiest roads, Loeb employed the perfect strategy; going fast enough to keep a healthy lead, but adopting a more cautious approach as the day went on.
Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo completed Saturday's competition in second place, 27sec adrift of his team-mate, but with a 23sec cushion to the man behind him - BP Ford Abu Dhabi team driver Francois Duval.
Duval was fastest on Saturday's final stage but made up little ground on the Citroens during the day - slightly narrowing the gap to Sordo from 25.5sec to 23.7sec. Loeb's closest rival for the 2008 drivers' title Mikko Hirvonen ended the day fourth. The Finn showed improved pace on the afternoon's repeated stages but backed off on the slippery final test.
Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg holds fifth in his Impreza WRC2008, but spent the day defending a strong attack from Urmo Aava in sixth. Aava closed on Solberg steadily throughout the day, narrowing the gap from 13.7sec to only 1.4sec by the end of SS12.
Chris Atkinson rounded off the day seventh but like his Subaru team-mate, struggling to defend his position from the man behind. Stobart Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala is eighth - in the final points winning place - and will start tomorrow's final day just 3.4sec behind Atkinson.
Day 2 classification:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroën C4 WRC) in 2h49'22''8
2. Sordo-Marti (Citroën C4 WRC) + 27''50
3. Duval-Pivato (Ford Focus WRC) + 51''4
4. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Focus WRC) + 1'04''06
5. Solberg-Mills (Subaru Impreza WRC) + 3'06''9
6. Aava-Sikk (Citroën C4 WRC WRT Estonia) + 3'08'03
7. Atkinson-Prevot (Subaru Impreza WRC) + 3'42''7
8. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Focus WRC Stobart) + 3'46''1
Etc.
On a day which featured the event's longest stage and some of its trickiest roads, Loeb employed the perfect strategy; going fast enough to keep a healthy lead, but adopting a more cautious approach as the day went on.
Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo completed Saturday's competition in second place, 27sec adrift of his team-mate, but with a 23sec cushion to the man behind him - BP Ford Abu Dhabi team driver Francois Duval.
Duval was fastest on Saturday's final stage but made up little ground on the Citroens during the day - slightly narrowing the gap to Sordo from 25.5sec to 23.7sec. Loeb's closest rival for the 2008 drivers' title Mikko Hirvonen ended the day fourth. The Finn showed improved pace on the afternoon's repeated stages but backed off on the slippery final test.
Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg holds fifth in his Impreza WRC2008, but spent the day defending a strong attack from Urmo Aava in sixth. Aava closed on Solberg steadily throughout the day, narrowing the gap from 13.7sec to only 1.4sec by the end of SS12.
Chris Atkinson rounded off the day seventh but like his Subaru team-mate, struggling to defend his position from the man behind. Stobart Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala is eighth - in the final points winning place - and will start tomorrow's final day just 3.4sec behind Atkinson.
Day 2 classification:
1. Loeb-Elena (Citroën C4 WRC) in 2h49'22''8
2. Sordo-Marti (Citroën C4 WRC) + 27''50
3. Duval-Pivato (Ford Focus WRC) + 51''4
4. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Ford Focus WRC) + 1'04''06
5. Solberg-Mills (Subaru Impreza WRC) + 3'06''9
6. Aava-Sikk (Citroën C4 WRC WRT Estonia) + 3'08'03
7. Atkinson-Prevot (Subaru Impreza WRC) + 3'42''7
8. Latvala-Anttila (Ford Focus WRC Stobart) + 3'46''1
Etc.