Loeb clears the penultimate hurdle

Sebastien Loeb will take a 17.7 second lead into the final stage of Wales Rally GB after a clean run through the penultimate challenge - the repeated 29km Resolfen test.

The Frenchman was fourth fastest though in his Citroen C4 WRC, but felt it was enough to give him some breathing space on the decisive eight kilometre sprint at Margan Park.

“I tried hard. I started fast, made no mistakes and kept a good rhythm from the start to the end,” said Loeb. “It would be nice to slow down a little in the last stage - it’s not my favourite. The first section is very muddy, so I hope I’ve done enough to be able to cool down a bit.”

Petter Solberg acknowledged his fight for the lead was over - especially after an off road moment near the start. “I went off in the third corner!” said Solberg. “I pushed very hard from the start then we went in a ditch for 50 metres. After that I backed off. I started to think, okay, we have to be smart here and finish. Now the position doesn’t matter - I’m still happy with what we’ve achieved.”

Jari-Matti Latvala was the stage winner, to move ahead of his BP Ford Abu Dhabi team-mate Mikko Hirvonen into third overall and secure provisional second place in this year’s FIA drivers’ championship.

Heading to the final stage, Latvala was a slender 0.3sec ahead of Hirvonen but wasn’t anticipating a last stage fight back from him. “That’s a question for [team boss] Malcolm [Wilson]. I’ll just keep going as I have been,” he said.