Rivals to fight to the finish

The battle for victory on Rallye de France Alsace will go down to event-closing Power Stage after Sebastien Ogier completed the penultimate test with a narrow lead of 6.7s over Dani Sordo.

Citroen-driving Ogier has been locked in a close battle with the MINI of Sordo for much of the world championship qualifier based on the outskirts of Strasbourg. Although Sordo will struggle to cut Ogier’s margin on the final short street stage, the Frenchman’s fifth victory of 2011 is far from guaranteed.

“It will be close because Dani will be pushing hard and he has good speed,” said Ogier.

Sordo added: “All I can do is to keep pushing. It won’t be easy but we have to try.”

Ogier is running on hard compound Michelin tyres, which are ideal for the rally’s warm and dry conditions. Sordo, meanwhile, is using soft compound rubber and has admitted the choice is holding him back.

The Haguenau Power Stage is 4.20 kilometres in length and gets underway at 1308hrs local time. The stage runs through the streets of world champion Sebastien Loeb’s hometown and awards bonus points to the fastest three crews.