SS6 : Loeb takes stage win

Sebastien Loeb has rounded out the opening day of the Acropolis Rally by winning stage six in his Citroen DS3 WRC as Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier both slowed prior to the stage finish.

Anxious to gain a more advantageous starting position for Saturday’s stages, Hirvonen and Ogier both dropped time on the stage to slip behind Loeb who was running first on the road.

But their hesitation on the stage has ultimately enabled Petter Solberg to extend his overall lead of 51.6s prior to the overnight halt in Loutraki.

“We are second overall but second on the road and very far from Petter in front so it’s a problem,” said Loeb. “Ogier and Hirvonen made some tactics I think.”

Solberg, who has led throughout the day, feared he would lose time stuck behind Jari-Matti Latvala’s slow-moving Ford Fiesta RS WRC, which suffered a front differential failure prior to the stage start.

“I was driving a long, long time behind him,” said Solberg. “He could have stopped before, that was very bad. But the gap is good, I’m happy with that but I still lost time.”

Latvala was second overall prior to the stage start only to hit trouble on the road section heading to stage six.

“It was 500 metres before the stage when I noticed the differential was slipping and very heavily,” he said. “I barely got to the top of the hill and the start board. I checked the rear diff but I realised it was the front. I had nothing to do, no time to do anything and we came only with rear-wheel drive through the stage.”

Standings after SS6: