Monte-Carlo: Loeb in the lead, Latvala out

Sébastien Loeb had started the day off perfectly. Author of the best time on the dry Moulinon special? Antraigues, the Alsatian however ceded his leadership in SS2, Burzet? Saint-Martial, because they were less well fitted with tires than their rival Jari-Matti Latvala on roads this time covered with snow. During the afternoon loop, Loeb once again took the scratch in Le Moulinon? Antraigues, coming back 30 seconds behind the Finn from Ford. Then the latter fell back into his faults, sending his Fiesta into rollovers in the last special of the day. Thanks to this retirement, the Frenchman has returned to the top of the hierarchy, and now has a lead of 1:04?? on the Mini John Cooper Works WRC by Dani Sordo.

The Spaniard will thus present himself tomorrow morning as the first outsider of the Citroën Racing spearhead. Author of the 2nd, 8th, 4th and 3rd times of the day, Sordo will nevertheless have to be wary of Petter Solberg. Having made better use of his tires in SS2, like Latvala, the Norwegian only conceded a small second to the Mini driver. At the foot of the provisional podium, the performance of the day is to the credit of Sébastien Ogier. On the snow of SS2, the Frenchman climbed to 3rd place and occupies provisional 4th place on the evening of this first stage, at 2?21?? of Loeb, but 5??4 ahead of the Fiesta WRC of Russian Evgeny Novikov. The first day, in addition to Latvala, was difficult for Mikko Hirvonen and Thierry Neuville. If the Finn's Citroën encountered brake problems which handicapped his driver in SS 3 and 4, the Belgian's DS3 stopped in SS4 due to mechanical problems.

On the French side, finally, note the provisional 7th place of Frenchman Delecour (Ford Fiesta WRC), 2nd fastest time of SS4, and 8th of Pierre Campana (Mini JCW WRC). As for Bryan Bouffier, the winner of the 2011 IRC edition, he lost 9" in the last special and is in 25rd place with his Peugeot 207 S2000 at 16:05??6 from Loeb.