SS3: Loeb closes in on leader Hirvonen

Citroen Total World Rally Team ace Sebastien Loeb has claimed his first stage victory on Rally d’Italia Sardegna to close the gap to overall leader Mikko Hirvonen.

Running at the head of the field and cleaning the loose gravel surface for the drivers behind due to the fact he tops the world championship standings, Loeb had feared he would lose more time on the run, but instead reported the stage being cleaner than he had expected.

“There was not so much road cleaning in this one, the line was still here from the recce. I had a good feeling,” said Loeb.

Mikko Hirvonen was 10.2s slower than Loeb through the stage in his Ford Fiesta, which means his overall advantage has been narrowed to 0.3s.

“It looks like Sebastien found another gear,” said Hirvonen. “It was slippery in places and I went wide in a few places. It’s still early in the rally.”

Sebastien Ogier and Petter Solberg both matched Loeb’s stage time in their Citroens. Ogier conceded that he’s not entirely happy with the “feeling” he has with his car, while Solberg said his efforts to rectify a turbo boost pipe problem following stage two, meant he couldn’t change his tyres before the stage. “We were struggling a lot,” said Solberg.

Henning Solberg reached the flying finish with black smoke bellowing from his Fiesta following a rear impact. Both the Norwegian and his co-driver Ilka Minor were able to vacate the stricken car but it’s not clear whether they will be able to continue to the next stage.

There was disappointment for MINI driver Kris Meeke, who is understood to have gone off the road two kilometres into the stage. However, there were no such problems for Russian Evgeny Novikov. The Russian was fourth fastest to cement third overall, 8.4s adrift of Hirvonen.