Friday wrap: Loeb grows Monte lead

Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb continues to lead Rallye Monte-Carlo following day three of the thrilling FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia 2012 season-opener.

Loeb, from the Alsace region of France, has been building his overall advantage ever since his closest rival Jari-Matti Latvala crashed his Ford Fiesta into retirement on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite his commanding margin of 2m12.4s over second-placed MINI driver Dani Sordo, Loeb said the treacherous conditions that greeted the crews on Friday’s second stage served as a timely reminder of the challenging nature of this rally, which he has won on five occasions in the past.

“It’s been a very difficult day,” said Loeb, who is chasing a ninth world title in 2012. “It was hard to make the right tyre choice this morning and I was not taking any risks because I really want to get to Monaco tonight so there could be no mistakes now.”

Ford’s Petter Solberg began day three on a high after winning the opening test to pull clear of Sordo. However, his choice of tyres lacked the necessary grip for stage 12 and he slipped back to more than one minute adrift of his Spanish rival.

And it got worse for the 2003 world champion when he broke his Fiesta’s front-left wheel rim cutting a corner too tightly nearing the end of stage 13. The Norwegian heads to the overnight halt in Monaco in third overall, 1m06.8s behind Sordo but only 23.8s clear of Mikko Hirvonen, who has impressed with two stage wins today in the second works Citroen.

Despite his gap over Solberg, Sordo says he has no intention of taking things easy over the event’s five remaining stages. “I need to keep pushing but at the same time not make any mistakes,” he said. “There are four stages tomorrow so anything can still happen.”

Evgeny Novikov is a solid fifth for the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team after another impressive showing by the young Russian. Francois Delecour is sixth with MINI driver Pierre Campana seventh and on course for his second top 10 finish in the World Rally Championship.

Ott Tanak is eighth with PG Andersson ninth and first in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship category for PROTON. Armindo Araujo completes the top 10 in his MINI with Czech Ford National Team’s Martin Prokop 11th.

Kevin Abbring in the sole surviving Volkswagen Motorsport Skoda Fabia is 12th but under orders to reduce his pace in order to reach the finish. Go Fast Energy’s Matthew Wilson is 13th with team-mate Henning Solberg 14th after he damaged his Fiesta’s right rear wheel on stage 12.

Craig Breen is 15th despite hitting a bridge in his SWRC-eligible Fiesta. Bryan Bouffier, who won Rallye Monte-Carlo when it ran outside of the WRC in 2011, is 16th in his Peugeot 207 S2000. Michal Kosciuszko from Poland continues to lead the Production Car World Rally Championship standings in his Mitsubishi Lancer.

The action resumes with the first run through the Moulinet-La Bollene Vesubie stage at 15:11hrs local time on Saturday.

Standings after SS13: