SS11: Loeb back in front in Mexico

Sebastien Loeb has retaken the lead of Rally Guanajuato Mexico after going 4.7 seconds faster than Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier through Saturday’s first stage.

Loeb’s advantage out front is now 2.4s over Ogier with Mikko Hirvonen still the top Ford Fiesta driver in third overall.

“It’s difficult to make a big difference but I’m trying hard and will keep pushing,” said seven-time world champion Loeb.

Running first on the road, Ogier had been expected to drop time but actually reported the stage conditions being less slippery than he had feared after setting the second fastest time. “It was quite slippery but the good news is we didn’t lose too much time,” said Ogier.

Mikko Hirvonen was far from happy after completing the stage with the fourth fastest time in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Running third on the road, Hirvonen had been expected to gain time on the factory Citroens but ended up losing ground. “I was going wide in the corners, I don’t know what’s wrong,” said the Finn.

Jari-Matti Latvala had been on course for a strong time only to pick up a front-right puncture five kilometres from the end of the stage. “It was a similar situation to what we had yesterday,” he said after completing the test fifth quickest.

Evgeny Novikov admitted adopting a cautious approach through the stage in his Fiesta as he looks to maintain his fifth place in the overall standings. “For me it was the most difficult stage,” said the Russian. “I don’t want to have puncture or problems so I took it easy.”

Henning Solberg had to tackle the stage with a powersteering leak and struggled through the run, going almost one minute slower than Loeb. Dennis Kuipers was also in trouble, rolling his Fiesta on the stage. Fortunately both Kuipers and co-driver Frederic Miclotte are reported to be uninjured.

Matthew Wilson has also retired after his Fiesta stopped 500 metres before the start of the stage with a mechanical failure. Wilson’s mechanics had worked through the night to replace various electrical systems following his retirement on Friday afternoon but their hard work will now be in vain.

Petter Solberg netted the second-fastest time in his Citroen DS3 WRC in his efforts to make up the time he lost on Friday afternoon with an electrical fault.

Standings after SS1: