Emilia Romagna GP || May 19 || 15h00 (Local time)

SS11: Loeb closes on Hirvonen with stage win

Relief for Latvala as Solberg and Ogier drop time

By Franck Drui

28 May 2011 - 17:00

Sebastien Loeb has claimed his third stage win of day two by going fastest on Saturday morning’s fourth test.

The Citroen driver is on a charge following his one-minute time penalty on Friday and was 7.7s quicker than leader Jari-Matti Latvala through the stage. As a result he’s 26.2s behind fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen with four stages of day two left to run.

“That’s a great stage,” said Loeb. “I will continue to push, which is the only thing I can do.”

Petter Solberg, in third overall, was hampered by a build up of dust in his Citroen DS3 WRC on his way to the fourth fastest time: “The door was not shut and I struggled in many places to see because the dust was so bad.”

But with second-placed Sebastien Ogier reaching the end of the stage with a damaged front-right tyre, Solberg’s gap to Ogier is down to three seconds.

Crews are now heading to Villa Carlos Paz for a regroup and a 30-minute service. Ford driver Latvala’s lead stands at 17.8s.

Standings after SS11:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	2h34m45.1s
02	S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+17.8s
03	P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON	Citroën DS3 WRC	+20.8s
04	M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+40.5s
05	S. LOEB / D. ELENA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+1m06.7s
06	M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+3m54.2s
07	F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+4m42.0s
08	M. WILSON / S. MARTIN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+5m31.8s
09	H. PADDON / J. KENNARD	Subaru Impreza	+16m55.5s
10	K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+17m48.1s
11	P. FLODIN / M. ANDERSSON	Subaru Impreza	+25m27.3s
12	M. KOSCIUSZKO / M. SZCZEPANIAK	Mitsubishi Evo X	+25m44.6s
13	D. TAGIROV / A. ZAVERSHINSKAYA	Subaru Impreza	+26m16.6s
14	A. KREMER / K. WICHA	Mitsubishi Evo X	+30m12.5s
15	N. FUCHS / F. MUSSANO	Mitsubishi Evo X	+30m54.0s