Loeb’s victory hopes are dashed

The battle for the lead of Rally Sweden has been turned on its head after eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb went off on the seventh stage, Kirkener 2.

The Frenchman slid into a snowbank and had to wait for spectators to push him back onto the road.

Earlier on, Loeb spoke about the difficulty of this specialised snow event: a rally he has only won once: "It’s very tricky," he said. "Mikko [Hirvonen] is ahead and it is not easy for me. I would be happy with second or third place here, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to push to try and win."

This time though, he pushed a little too hard. As a result, he lost nearly two minutes and currently lies in 11th place - just ahead of his former team mate Sebastien Ogier, in the Volkswagen Motorsport Skoda Fabia S2000.

Luckily for Loeb his Citroen is undamaged but his fortunes on snow events remains mixed. During the 2007 Rally Norway, the Frenchman went off twice.

The news is not all bad for Citroen though as Mikko Hirvonen leads the rally from Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala.