SS3: Loeb makes it three from three

Sebastien Loeb completed a clean sweep of stage wins on Friday morning by setting the fastest time through the Moselland test.

The rally leader had a trouble-free run through the 19km stage despite a damaged rear wheel on his Citroen, collected when he side-swiped a barrier on the previous stage.

Loeb’s team-mate Dani Sordo was second fastest through Moselland to hold second place overall. Petter Solberg set the third fastest stage time.

Sebastien Ogier was more than 20 seconds slower than Loeb though the stage. The Frenchman said the anti-stall system on his C4 WRC had failed, causing him to stop several times at hairpin corners.

Mikko Hirvonen lost third place to his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala after making a mistake at a junction and stalling near the start.

Stobart team driver Francois Duval ended the morning loop in eighth place after dropping time with a transmission problem. Duval’s Ford Focus RS WRC lost front-wheel drive 5km before the end of Stage two. He completed all of SS3 with rear-wheel drive only.

Standings after SS3: