Loeb closes in on Italia title

Sebastien Loeb moved a step closer to victory on Rally Italia this morning by cementing his comfortable advantage over world championship rival Petter Solberg.

World champion Loeb extended his overnight advantage by seven seconds on stage seven – the first of the day – and despite losing ground on the next run, he remains in control.

Subaru driver Solberg hit back on stage eight to take 2.5 seconds off Loeb’s lead but the Citroen driver is still on course for victory, holding a 36.2secs advantage at the top.

Harri Rovanpera is battling to give former world champions Mitsubishi a podium finish and is locked in a scrap with Peugeot’s Markko Martin for third.

The pair are more than 90secs off Solberg but just 10.5secs separates third-placed Rovanpera from fourth-placed Martin.

Ford’s Toni Gardemeister is not completely out of that battle, 12.5secs down in fifth while Marcus Gronholm is fighting to recover from his mistake yesterday.

The Peugeot driver lost more than a minute – and the lead of the rally – when he rolled on stage three, but he has been clawing back positions with a vengeance since then.

After eight stages the two-time champion is sixth but just 2.2secs behind Gardemeister.

Henning Solberg is seventh while Manxman Mark Higgins is on course for world championship points after moving his privately-entered Ford into eighth spot this morning.

The junior world championship field did not compete on stage seven, leaving Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke in his overnight third with Darlington’s Guy Wilks sixth after a string of punctures yesterday.