Meeke holding sixth in Spain

IRISH drivers, Kris Meeke and Craig Breen will start today’s second leg of Rally Spain in sixth and 14th places respectively as Sebastien Loeb leads the way in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship.

Running first on the road proved to be an advantage as Loeb took an early lead of 7.4 seconds over Ford driver, Jari Matti Latvala. Even though the cars started at two-minute intervals, dust continued to give the crews that followed Loeb severe visibility problems. Sebastien Ogier, under strict orders to help his team-mate Loeb’s world title challenge, was quickest through the other stages of the loop as Loeb led Latvala by 5.3 seconds, Ogier was third with Hirvonen fourth, 36.5 seconds off top spot.

Local hero, Dani Sordo, who was expected to dominate, slotted his Mini WRC into fifth followed by the Irish crew of Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle. Norway’s Petter Solberg and Irish co-driver, Chris Paterson, made an early exit after ripping a wheel off the Citroen DS3 on the first stage. Waterford’s Craig Breen made a great start; seeded at 28, he was up to 12th overall and third in the Super 2000 category after the opening loop. He was quickest of the category and 10th fastest on SS2, Terra Alta, the longest stage of the day at 35km.

Running at four-minute intervals for the repeat loop, Loeb suffered from a loss of grip as his rivals gained time. Latvala pushed hard and moved ahead on SS 4. Ogier punctured and lost over two minutes when he had to stop and change the wheel with Hirvonen moving in behind Loeb, who was 16 seconds off leader Latvala. Sordo was enduring intercom difficulties.

Loeb regained the lead on the day’s final stage when Latvala spun and then punctured the front right wheel, Loeb will start today’s second leg (on sealed surface) with a 30.6 seconds advantage over Latvala, with Hirvonen third. Meeke is sixth. Breen is third in the SWRC category.