Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb has distanced himself from the pack over day three’s five morning stages of Repco Rally Australia, but the lead is anything but secure as crews approach the final afternoon on the roads of the New South Wales Northern Rivers.
Despite winning just two stages this morning, the defending world champion has pushed out to an 11-second lead after 55km of competition.
“It has been a good morning, no problems. We are pushing very hard, Mikko is also pushing very hard. On some stages I went a bit wide. I am very happy with it; I hope we can keep it up for this afternoon,” Loeb said.
With the top three split by just 0.1 seconds overnight, it was no surprise to see this morning’s five stages won by four different drivers, with Hirvonen, Sordo and Latvala each taking a stage win.
So far three drivers share the most stage wins: Loeb, Latvala and Ogier have each won seven, though six of Ogier’s were on the tarmac of the Tweed Super Special.
Latvala’s luck ran dry on SS27 Castrol Edge West 1, the morning’s longest, when the Ford driver suffered his second puncture of the weekend just 3km into the 21.52km stage, losing about 45 seconds.
Teammate and championship leader Mikko Hirvonen continues to pursue Loeb and his intentions are clear:
“I am from now on going to be going flat out for the win - we have just got to keep our concentration up.”
There is still plenty of time, though Citroen’s Dani Sordo is breathing down his neck, just 3.8 seconds adrift.
Matthew Wilson’s fight for sixth with Stobart VK teammate Henning Solberg continues, the two even after the morning’s first stage and trading times since. Wilson currently holds sixth by 6.5 seconds.
Martin Prokop still leads P-WRC and is closing in on “non-registered” production car of Pirelli Star Driver winner Hayden Paddon in ninth, closing the gap from 13.3 seconds down to just 5.6 seconds.
Richard Mason has slipped to second P-WRC by 31.5 seconds, while Cody Crocker’s Subaru has pulled back four seconds on Mason but remains a clear third, 38.4 seconds behind Mason, and more than a minute in front of Japan’s Toshi Arai.
Neal Bates’ Toyota is back running today after fixing yesterday’s punctured radiator, as the only remaining S2000 specification car.
With five stages remaining, three drivers are still within a realistic shot at winning Repco Rally Australia. Five stages remain totalling 69km including the last and longest stage of the event, Repco 2 which will be covered live on television.
REPCO RALLY AUSTRALIA RESULTS After SS30
Pos Driver/car Time
1. Sebastien Loeb, Citroen 2h:19m:59.7s
2. Mikko Hirvonen, Ford +11.0s
3. Dani Sordo, Citroen +14.8s
4. Sebastien Ogier, Citroen +1:09.5s
5. Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford +1:48.0s
6. Matthew Wilson, Ford +3:59.4s
7. Henning Solberg, Ford +4:05.9s
8. Federico Villagra, Ford +5:54.3s
9. Hayden Paddon, Mitsubishi +12:14.9s
10. Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi +12:20.5s
P-WRC
1. Martin Prokop, Mitsubishi 2h:32m:20.2s
2. Richard Mason, Subaru +31.5s
3. Cody Crocker (AUS), Subaru +1:09.9s
STAGE WINS
Loeb 7
Ogier 7
Latvala 7
Hirvonen 4
Sordo 3
