SS3: Loeb crashes out

Sebastien Loeb’s lead of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia is under threat after the French ace went off the road approximately seven kilometres from the start of stage three of Vodafone Rally de Portugal.

Loeb was running second on the road in his Citroen DS3 WRC and posted the third fastest time on stage two. Although both he and co-driver Daniel Elena were uninjured, their car is understood to have ended up some distance from the road. It has been reported they will not restart under Rally 2 regulations on Friday.

Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest through the stage in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 2.7s quicker than Ford team-mate Petter Solberg. It means the Finn now heads the Norwegian by 0.5s in the overall standings.

Mikko Hirvonen was third fastest in his Citroen, 3.5s down on Latvala. Ott Tanak said he lost time when he forgot to switch on his full lighting display on his M-Sport Fiesta. He was fourth quickest with Thierry Neuville a strong fifth and Evgeny Novikov sixth.

Adapta Fiesta driver Mads Ostberg suffered a front-right puncture early in the stage and was almost 25s down on Latvala with the seventh best time. Dani Sordo did not start the run in his Prodrive MINI.