SS17: Ogier edges Loeb in Australia

Sebastien Ogier has continued his impressive charge on Rally Australia by recording another fastest stage time on the world championship round.

Ogier, driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, was 0.8s quicker than team-mate Sebastien Loeb who, like Ogier, is battling to make up lost ground following his exit on day one.

Petter Solberg completed the stage with cosmetic damage to the front of his privateer Citroen after he made a small mistake. As a result he was 0.8s slower than Mikko Hirvonen who continues to occupy second place behind leader Jari-Matti Latvala in the overall classification.

The Ford driver said he was a bit more cautious through the stage in his factory Fiesta: “I just took it maybe a little bit too careful this stage,” said Latvala, whose lead has been trimmed to 22.9s. There is no need to push too hard so I took a sensible approach on that stage because it was very slippery.”