Sola stops Loeb's winning streak

Daniel Sola ended Sebastien Loeb’s stage-winning run with a surprise fastest time on stage three of his home rally today.

The Spaniard, driving a Ford, finally ended a Loeb winning streak which included every stage of the Tour of Corsica and the first two of Rally Catalunya.

Loeb’s hopes of a second whitewash may be over but the world champion is well on course to take his 10th victory of the season, wrapping up Citroen’s manufacturers’ title in the process.

The Frenchman won three of the first four stages to establish a commanding 39.3-second lead over Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm, who made progress this afternoon.

The Finn was down in fourth after the second stage but Roman Kresta lost time on stage three to help Gronholm return to the podium positions.

He relieved Citroen driver Francois Duval of second on stage four with the second fastest time but Gronholm’s hopes of keeping Peugeot in the manufacturers’ championship fight are slim.

Citroen only need a third place this weekend to wrap up a world championship double and with Duval backing up team leader Loeb in third, that looks a near certainty.

Ford’s Toni Gardemeister is fourth overall, just ahead of Mitsubishi’s Gianluigi Galli, while Kresta has slipped to sixth. Mikko Hirvonen is seventh in a private Ford and Subaru’s Stephane Sarrazin completes the top eight.

In the junior championship, Daniel Sordo is on course to win the title.

The Citroen driver needs just two points to be certain of the crown but he leads from Marco Baldacci with Guy Wilks third. Kris Meeke is down in ninth after problems on stage one.