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SS2: Ogier closes on Loeb as Sordo flies

He is now 0.1s behind

By Franck Drui

30 September 2011 - 09:14

Sebastien Ogier has slashed Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb’s lead on Rallye de France Alsace to 0.1s after topping the times through the Ungersberg stage.

Ogier, who climbs ahead of Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala into second, was 3.6s quicker than Loeb with Dani Sordo a sensational second fastest in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC to move into fifth in the overall classification.

Former world champion Petter Solberg was fourth in his privateer DS3 WRC, with Mikko Hirvonen the fastest of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC drivers in fifth, 5.0s slower than Ogier. Team-mate Latvala was 6.3s off the pace.

By setting the seventh fastest time Briton Kris Meeke has moved up to seventh place in his MINI. Portugal’s Armindo Araujo remains in the top 10 in his semi-works MINI.

Standings after SS2:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	S. LOEB / D. ELENA	Citroën DS3 WRC	14m48.8s
02	S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+0.1s
03	J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+5.3s
04	P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON	Citroën DS3 WRC	+5.4s
05	D. SORDO / C. DEL BARRIO	MINI WRC	+6.1s
06	M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+7.3s
07	K. MEEKE / P. NAGLE	MINI WRC	+10.9s
08	M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+14.2s
09	K. RÄIKKÖNEN / K. LINDSTRÖM	Citroën DS3 WRC	+17.1s
10	A. ARAÚJO / M. RAMALHO	MINI WRC	+28.1s
11	D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+28.8s
12	E. NOVIKOV / D. GIRAUDET	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+32.9s
13	K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+36.2s
14	H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+38.1s
15	M. WILSON / S. MARTIN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+40.3s