Loeb’s lead up to 14 seconds

News after SS18

By Franck Drui

14 November 2010 - 10:45
Loeb's lead up to 14 seconds

Another stage win for Sebastien Loeb on the Margam Park stage enabled him to extend his rally lead to 14.3 seconds, while Petter Solberg’s challenge was dented by a rock strike.

Solberg completed the 8km stage as Loeb’s closest rival, 2.8sec adrift, but with his Citroen C4 WRC sporting a bent left-hand front wheel and a cut tyre.

“I hit a rock and thought I had a puncture,” explained Solberg. “I’m trying, and that’s all I can say, but the conditions are getting very bad out there. First on the road seems like a better place to be, but that’s the way it is. It’s not over yet. I’ll keep the pressure on.”

With just a repeat of the morning’s stages left to run, Loeb denied that victory was in the bag. “It’s never enough to be safe,” he said. “If you lose rhythm you lose time so we’ll continue to push until the end.”

Mikko Hirvonen set the third fastest time, two-tenths quicker than his team-mate Latvala, to return to the midday service 3.4sec ahead of him in the overall standings.

Overall standings after SS18:

Pos.DriverCarTime
01 Sébastien LOEB Citroën C4 WRC 2h53m28.0s
02 Petter SOLBERG Citroën C4 WRC +14.3s
03 Mikko HIRVONEN Ford Focus WRC +1m45.3s
04 Jari-Matti LATVALA Ford Focus WRC +1m48.7s
05 Dani SORDO Citroën C4 WRC +2m19.6s
06 Henning SOLBERG Ford Focus WRC +6m18.3s
07 Matthew WILSON Ford Focus WRC +8m05.1s
08 Kimi RAÏKKONEN Citroën C4 WRC +9m54.6s
09 Mads OSTBERG Subaru Impreza WRC +11m58.0s
10 Andreas MIKKELSEN Skoda Fabia S2000 +12m40.5s
11 Khalid AL QASSIMI Ford Focus WRC +14m57.8s
12 Xevi PONS Ford Fiesta S2000 +18m17.1s
13 Craig BREEN Ford Fiesta S2000 +19m00.6s
14 Patrik SANDELL Skoda Fabia S2000 +19m26.4s
15 Michal KOSCIUSZKO Skoda Fabia S2000 +20m21.0s

WRC

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