Saturday midday wrap: Loeb on top as rivals hit trouble

Sebastien Loeb has moved another step towards his ninth ADAC Rallye Deutschland victory by completing Saturday’s trio of stages with a lead of 1m29.7s at the wheel of his Citroen DS3 WRC.

Loeb, who was fastest on stages seven and nine, had to give best to Dani Sordo through stage eight but was otherwise in control during the morning loop of tests held in damp conditions following rain.

“For sure we have done a good start today but it’s not been easy in the conditions,” said Loeb, winner of the FIA World Rally Championship on eight occasions. “It helped in the first stage when we did not have so much rain compared to the others but we have had three good stages with no problems.”

Sordo’s fastest time had put him into third in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC but a puncture on Arena Panzerplatte means he slips to sixth position heading to mid-morning service in Trier’s Messepark. “It was a really slow puncture at the beginning of the stage, we drive a little because we were not sure then after we decided to stop and change the tyre and after we don’t do very well,” said Sordo.

Petter Solberg and Thierry Neuville were also in trouble on the punishing 46.54-kilometre test, with Solberg breaking a right-rear wheel on his Ford Fiesta RS WRC when he slid wide on a tight left-hand bend and struck a rock 30 kilometres into the run. Neuville went off the road in his Citroen DS3 WRC and, like Solberg, won’t be able to continue. Solberg had been second at the time with Neuville holding fourth.

Their misfortune promoted Jari-Matti Latvala from fifth to second after the Finn had lost time - and third place - on stage eight, Peterberg, with an overshoot in the damp conditions. “Solberg was in a very good position, I’m very disappointed for him,” said Latvala. “We go for the podium, there’s nothing we can do about Loeb.”

Mikko Hirvonen is third in the second factory Citroen with Mads Ostberg fourth in his Adapta Fiesta and Ott Tanak up to fifth in his M-Sport example. Behind Sordo in sixth, Chris Atkinson is seventh for WRC Team MINI Portugal with Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sebastien Ogier in eighth.

Peter van Merksteijn is ninth despite completing Arena Panzerplatte stuck in fifth gear after his Citroen’s gear lever broke. Andreas Mikkelsen is 10th followed by Nasser Al-Attiyah and French youngster Mathieu Arzeno. Sepp Wiegand is the top German driver in 13th overall.

Michal Kosciuszko heads the Production Car World Rally Championship standings after a puncture slowed his team-mate Benito Guerra on Saturday’s first run. Subhan Aksa has impressed on his first asphalt rally winning his class on the first two stages. He moved into third when a puncture slowed Marcos Ligato’s Subaru Impreza.

Elfyn Evans survived a puncture on stage seven to maintain his grip on the WRC Academy leaderboard with Jose Suarez second and Brendan Reeves third. Alastair Fisher is in fourth after topping the division through Arena Panzerplatte, where a puncture slowed Timo van der Marel. John MacCrone was also delayed by a deflation.

The action resumes with the 26.54-kilometre Stein & Wein test at 14:43hrs local time.