Loeb makes crucial move

Sebastien Loeb made a potentially decisive move in his quest for a ninth successive World Rally Championship title with a commanding first-day performance in Rallye Deutschland.

The Frenchman opened up a lead of 20.4 seconds over second-placed Petter Solberg while his Citroen team-mate and nearest rival for the title, Mikko Hirvonen, struggled to sixth place.

Loeb, alongside co-driver Daniel Elena, won four of the six stages, and said: “For sure I am happy. We are leading, that’s really good and we started to increase our lead a little bit.