Saturday midday wrap: Loeb heads Latvala

Overnight pacesetter Sebastien Loeb continues to top the RallyRACC-Rally de Espana leaderboard in his Citroen DS3 WRC at the midday halt in Salou. However, with Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala edging closer the Frenchman can’t back off just yet.

After winning Saturday morning’s opening brace of all-asphalt stages, Loeb - unbeaten in Spain since 2005 - was able to stretch his advantage out front to 36.0s. However, Latvala narrowed that margin with the fastest time through stage nine, when Loeb reported a more cautious approach due to a slightly damp road surface.

With the morning tests repeated this afternoon, Latvala will continue to try to eat into Loeb’s lead as he attempts to take points from the Frenchman, currently equal on points with Latvala’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen in the battle for the world title.

“It was not foggy, but there was some humidity in the first part,” said Loeb at the completion of stage nine. “There are a lot of stones by the side of the road and you have to be very precise.”

Latvala, who has impressed throughout the morning, said: “The grip was good and I had a good feeling on the last stage. But it has to be all the time this way if I want to pressurise him.”

Hirvonen is third overall but lacking the potency to close up to the top two. “I really try as hard as I can but this is as fast as I can go now,” said the despondent Finn.

Sebastien Ogier started day two in fourth following a puncture on Friday but any hopes the Citroen driver had of catching Hirvonen were dashed when he suffered a rear puncture on Saturday’s opener, which dropped him behind the factory MINIs of Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke.

Ogier overtook Meeke on stage eight but is almost 1m20s behind Spanish ace Sordo, who has set several strong stage times in his John Cooper Works WRC. Meeke is intent on finishing rather than trying to match his team-mate’s encouraging pace.

Overheating brakes have hampered M-Sport Stobart’s Mads Ostberg, while a vibration slowed Ostberg’s team-mate and fellow Norwegian Henning Solberg, who is more than one minute behind Ostberg in eighth position and suffering from a fever.

Evgeny Novikov is ninth in his first rally in a Citroen DS3 WRC, despite intermittent powersteering problems. Tenth-placed Matthew Wilson has reported understeer issues in his Fiesta.

Peter van Merksteijn’s Citroen was undamaged after a high-speed spin into a ditch four kilometres from the start of stage nine. He drops to 18th. Armindo Araujo said he needs to undertook more testing in order to increase his pace behind the wheel of his Motorsport Italia MINI. The Portuguese is 16th overall.

Volkswagen Motorsport pair Yeray Lemes and Christian Riedemann have both endured troubled mornings. Spaniard Lemes picked up a front-left puncture hitting a rock on stage nine, while a powersteering issue slowed Riedemann. Nevertheless, both drivers are on target to finish as part of Volkswagen’s WRC acclimatisation programme.

Nasser Al-Attiyah has stretched his lead in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship as Craig Breen’s hopes of a podium were dashed when his Fiesta suffered a broken right-rear driveshaft seven kilometres into the opening 45.97-kilometre test. Juho Hanninen is on course for his first SWRC title in his Red Bull Skoda.

Michal Kosciuszko, in a Mitsubishi Lancer, has slashed Patrik Flodin’s advantage in the Production Car World Rally Championship to 2.9s. Flodin said his Subaru Impreza was simply not proving to be fast enough.