Loeb on track for fifth Monte Carlo victory
The reigning four-time world champion, seeking a record fifth Monte Carlo victory, began the day with a 12-second lead in his back pocket after an impressive display on the opening two stages on Thursday.
The Citroen driver duly followed that up with five wins from six stages yesterday to establish a commanding advantage over team-mate Dani Sordo.
Loeb’s margin of victory was deceiving, however, after Sordo lost a lot of time in the afternoon with a suspected differential problem.
“I don’t know exactly what the problem was, but the car only had two-wheel drive,” Sordo admitted.
Mikko Hirvonen, contesting his first rally as Ford team leader following the retirement of Marcus Gronholm, was disappointed to find himself well off the pace in third, some 80 seconds behind the race leader.
However, Sordo’s woes meant Hirvonen ended the day within 30 seconds of the Citroen man.
“I’m definitely going to try and keep the pressure on,” Hirvonen said.
Hirvonen’s new team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala put on a spirited display following a puncture on stage one to sit ninth at the end of day two, albeit almost seven minutes off Loeb’s pace.
Subaru’s Chris Atkinson was impressive on his way to fourth place, posting times to rival the front runners on three of the stages and establishing a 14-second lead over fifth-placed Francois Duval (Stobart Ford), who had earlier closed to within striking distance of the Australian.
Atkinson’s team-mate Petter Solberg ended the day in sixth place after struggling with engine maladies for much of the day.
The Stobart Ford of Gigi Galli was seventh ahead of privateer Jean-Marie Cuoq (Peugeot), while a third Stobart Ford, that of Henning Solberg, rounded out the top 10.
But the day belonged to Loeb, who, on his favoured asphalt surface, looked imperious at times.
lIrish co-driver, Michael Orr and his Abu Dhabi, driver, Khalid Al Qassimi driving with the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, crashed out of the rally yesterday.
They began the day in 11th place and moved up one place on the morning stages. However, on Special Stage 6, their Ford Focus slid wide on the last right-hand corner of the 29km test and hit a bank.
They are hoping that the damage is repairable and if so, they will rejoin the event today under Super Rally rules.
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