SS8: Loeb fastest on Saturday’s opening stage

And Henning Solberg’s day two got off to a bad start

By Franck Drui

12 February 2011 - 08:57
SS8: Loeb fastest on Saturday's

Sebastien Loeb has claimed his first stage win on Rally Sweden.

The seven-time world champion, starting ninth on the road in his Citroen DS3 WRC following a troubled opening day, was 0.1s faster than fellow Citroen driver Petter Solberg through Saturday’s first test.

“For sure we are trying but we have no chance to come back to the lead,” said Loeb. “I lost a little bit of time in the end but for sure we try to move up although I know it will be difficult to do better.”

Behind, Mads Ostberg’s advantage at the top of the standings over Mikko Hirvonen has been trimmed to 6.7 seconds. The Norwegian said it had been “really tricky” running first on the road and cleaning a line for the drivers behind.

“There was more snow [on the road] than I expected and it was really tricky,” said Ostberg, who was sixth fastest. “In some places there was lots of grip but then there was nothing and the road definitely cleaned a lot. I had a big impact after a dip but I tried to push because I know the guys are coming faster behind me.”

Jari-Matti Latvala said he’d touched a few snow banks in his works Ford Fiesta RS WRC on his way to the third fastest time. He remains fourth overall behind third-placed Petter Solberg.

Henning Solberg’s day two got off to a bad start. He was four minutes late leaving service due to a powersteering problem and then rolled out two kilometres into the stage.

Standings after SS8:

Pos.DriverCarTime
01 M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h27m10.0s
02 M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6.7s
03 P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON Citroën DS3 WRC +47.1s
04 J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA Ford Fiesta RS WRC +1m01.7s
05 S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA Citroën DS3 WRC +1m19.7s
06 S. LOEB / D. ELENA Citroën DS3 WRC +2m38.0s
07 P. SANDELL / S. PARMANDER Skoda Fabia S2000 +3m03.5s
08 P. ANDERSSON / E. AXELSSON Ford Fiesta RS WRC +4m32.3s
09 K. RÄIKKONEN / K. LINDSTRÖM Citroën DS3 WRC +4m33.7s
10 A. GRØNDAL / V. ENGAN Subaru Impreza STI +5m04.2s
11 K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR Ford Fiesta RS WRC +5m15.7s
12 M. WILSON / S. MARTIN Ford Fiesta RS WRC +5m41.1s
13 M. PROKOP / J. TOMANEK Ford Fiesta S2000 +5m59.2s
14 D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6m27.7s
15 H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6m49.9s

WRC

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