Ogier’s afternoon charge hits trouble

Citroen Junior team driver Sebastien Ogier bagged his first Rallye de France stage win on SS13, the first test after the midday service, but hit trouble on the stage which followed, losing 25 seconds with a broken front damper mount.

In contrast to the damp morning loop, conditions were almost dry for the afternoon repeat and slippery mud was not so much of an issue. Ogier, running third on the road, capitalised on the cleaner conditions to end Loeb’s run of stage wins and beat his namesake by 0.5sec.

But Ogier hit trouble in the closing kilometres of the very next stage, the 15km Ungersberg, when one of his car’s front damper top mounts worked loose. The problem affected his C4’s steering and cost him 25 seconds to stage winner Dani Sordo.

With two more stages to run before the end of day service, Ogier’s third place is under serious threat from the man now just 4.7 seconds behind him, Petter Solberg.

Sebastien Loeb was fourth fastest through SS14 to maintain an overall rally lead of 35.8 seconds.

Overall standings after SS14: