Friday midday wrap: Loeb leads in Germany

Sebastien Loeb heads ADAC Rallye Deutschland after Friday’s opening trio of stages as he bids to make it win number nine on the challenging asphalt event, round nine of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Despite overnight thunderstorms, the morning stages were largely dry with teams opting for a variety of tyre compound choices.

Loeb, from France, was fastest on all three stages in his Citroen DS3 WRC. He said: “I was careful at the start because it was muddy under the trees and I didn’t want to make a mistake. When it was dry I pushed a bit harder, but it was difficult. At the moment we have done three good stages, there has been no problem but there is still a long way to go.”

Petter Solberg is second overall in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 13.1s behind Loeb. “It’s not been a bad day so far but we have to try to improve,” said the Norwegian.

Jari-Matti Latvala, in third overall, said the settings of his factory Fiesta were too soft for the dry conditions and added that he would be stiffening up his car’s suspension in service. Mikko Hirvonen admitted that he struggled to find a good rhythm in his works Citroen. The Finn is fifth overall behind Citroen Junior driver Thierry Neuville, who has reported a minor gear change issue, but has otherwise impressed.

“My confidence on sections where have some dirt and gravel is not good, okay we can try some changes but I need to reset myself to see if I can go faster this afternoon,” said Hirvonen.

Chris Atkinson’s debut for WRC Team MINI Portugal suffered an early setback when two drinks bottles became detached, forcing the Australian to spend half off the stage trying to prevent them from getting stuck under his pedals. Dani Sordo is the top MINI driver in sixth position.

Mads Ostberg’s rally got off to a frustrating start when he overshot a junction after reporting a loss of brakes. Ott Tanak also suffered an overshoot on the opening stage and was forced to reverse. Evgeny Novikov stopped in the stage in his similar Fiesta after taking a wheel off his car. He is set to restart under Rally 2 regulations on Saturday.

After going off the road during shakedown on Thursday, Peter van Merksteijn promptly spun at the first corner on stage one. The Dutch driver then suffered from a loss of brakes on stage two. Paulo Nobre stopped on stage two after reports the Brazilian clipped a wheel. Martin Prokop’s car caught fire on stage three, putting the Czech out of the event.

In the battle for Production Car World Rally Championship glory, Michael Kosciuszko heads the class from team-mate Benito Guerra. Title contender Valeriy Gorban dropped out on the opening stage. Meanwhile, in the FIA WRC Academy John MacCrone has impressed by winning the opening brace of stages.

Following a 30-minute service halt in Trier, the second Mittelmosel stage goes live at 16:17hrs local time.