Loeb leads with Ogier in hot pursuit!

This morning, Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena took advantage of slightly better road conditions that their team-mates and went into the lead in Rally Guanajuato Mexico. Despite being first out on the road, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia have been quick enough to keep the gap down to under twenty seconds.

Since the start of the 2011 Rally Guanajuato Mexico, the Citroën DS3 WRCs have scored a clean sweep with fourteen fastest times out of fourteen! This has helped Loeb to snatch first place, and he is in front of Ogier at the half-distance mark: they have more than a minute in hand over their closest pursuers.

Ogier, who led the event at the end of the first day, had the tough task of opening the roads this morning: “I did my best but we didn’t have the same weapons as the others. When the road is quick I manage to find enough speed, and I don’t lose too much time. On the other hand, when it’s twistier – as in the second stage – we do a lot of sweeping and the grip level goes off. I hope I can keep Sébastien (Loeb) in sight during the second loop.”

Loeb was second out on the road, and he took advantage of slightly more favourable conditions to go into the overall lead in the rally at the end of the first stage (the 29-km Ibarrilla special). “In the quickest stages it‘s difficult to open up a gap. The second one was much more difficult, but I found a good rhythm. I’ll have to keep pushing as we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Sébastien (Ogier) has been very quick so far – but that’s no surprise!”

Petter Solberg, who was lying thirteenth yesterday evening, has moved up the time sheets thanks to two fastest times. He was in sixth place when the cars went into the service park.

This afternoon, the crews will again cover the three long stages already run this morning, and their return to the service park is programmed for 17h11. The day will finish with two more night super specials in Léon.