Sébastien Loeb from top to bottom

Taking advantage of a spin by Sébastien Ogier in Te Hutewai, Sébastien Loeb took the lead – for the first time – in Rally New Zealand this morning. But a new mistake in Whaanga Coast cost him almost 50 seconds. The Citroën driver is fourth.

Published on 09/05/2010 à 00:38

⁰ View comments)

On the arrival of Sébastien Ogier At the stop point of the first special stage of the day, we thought that Sunday morning mass had been said. The Citroën Junior Team driver had just lost around ten seconds with a spin. Sebastian Loeb inherited first position.

But in Whaanga Coast, the six-time World Champion also made a mistake, for the second time in the rally.

“I made a mistake in a very long right turn. The car understeered and I couldn't stay on course. We hit a tree. We had to stay off the road for around thirty seconds,” says Seb with an air of bad days.

But, still in the race, the championship leader is ready to go on the attack again: “We'll see what we can do against Mikko Hirvonen and Petter Solberg. Jari-Matti Latvala and Sébastien Ogier are a little far away? It will be complicated because it is difficult to make the difference in these stages. »

Sébastien Ogier regains first place two stages (40 kilometers) from the finish ahead of Latvala (+5??6), Solberg (+16??7), Loeb (+21??7), Hirvonen (+23? ?6) and Sordo (+31??4).