Loeb dominant in Cyprus

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb increased his advantage in the Cyprus Rally by eight seconds after claiming another stage victory on the gravel roads around Limassol today.

The Citroen driver won five of the six stages on the asphalt on day one and his stage nine success today helped him increase his advantage with Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen moving up to second overall with Loeb’s Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo dropping to third.

In the first morning stage at Anadiou Dam Jari-Matti Latvala took first place in a time of 11 minutes 2.4 seconds, with Hirvonen 4.7secs behind in second and Loeb third.

Hirvonen responded on stage eight, winning by 1.5 seconds from Loeb in a time of 30:29.80 to leapfrog Sordo in the overall standings, but the Frenchman again underlined his class with victory on stage nine, the last of the morning session.

It came despite a spin in the muddy conditions at Orkontas, with the Frenchman admitting: “I’m not taking massive risks but I’m pushing hard and had a spin in a slow hairpin, but still that’s a really good time.

“I didn’t lose much – five seconds I think – but we are still faster because I was in a really good driving rhythm.”

Petter Solberg was fastest on stage 10 but Loeb finished just one place behind Hirvonen in sixth to extend his advantage over the Finn in the overall race rankings to over a minute.

Solberg ran fastest on stage 11 at Kourdali with Latvala a long way back in second, and Hirvonen’s fourth-place finish enabled him to at least rein in Loeb to within 49.8 seconds overall, with the final three stages taking place tomorrow.