Loeb closes in on victory

Sebastien Loeb dominated the first day of Rally Germany to leave the world champion closing in on his sixth win of the season.

Citroen driver Loeb had to wait 10 weeks for the chance to avenge his Acropolis defeat by Marcus Gronholm but he went about it in devastating fashion today.

Five stage wins from eight left him clear out front and odds on to extend his 29-point championship lead.

Citroen were in a class of their own today and won every stage, with youngster Dani Sordo taking the honours when Loeb missed out.

He was rewarded with second place at the end of the first day, 42.7 seconds adrift of team leader Loeb.

Afternoon rain shook up the order and caught out Marcus Gronholm, Loeb’s main threat in the title race.

The Ford driver had overhauled Petter Solberg for third in the morning but lost ground with 12th place on stage six to drop to fourth, behind Toni Gardemeister’s privateer Citroen.

Solberg, who crashed his Subaru in testing yesterday, kept on the road today but was only fifth by the end of stage eight. He was happy just to be competing after his heavy accident.

The Norwegian said: “I am so grateful to everybody who helped get the car ready. It is an incredible job and the car is going very well.

“Okay, we took some time on the first two stages to make some little adjustments here and there but in general it is pretty good.” Manfred Stohl was sixth in his OMV Peugeot with Mikko Hirvonen seventh in the other Ford. Andreas Aigner’s Red Bull Skoda completed the points positions.

English rookie Matthew Wilson must hope for a spate of retirements on the remaining two days if he is to add to his points tally.

The Stobart Ford driver lost time this morning and ended up well outside the top 10, trailing Loeb by 11 minutes.

There was more disappointment for British hopes in the junior championship when Kris Meeke threw away the lead.

The Ulsterman had enjoyed a healthy advantage before losing two minutes on stage four and he was down in 10th place at the end of stage seven.