WRC – Sébastien Loeb a tone above the others

Citroën WRT once again adopted the best strategy by choosing to use five hard tires against additional soft compounds for Jari-Matti Latvala who was hoping for the arrival of rain to catch the Alsatian. After two scratches achieved this morning, the eight-time world champion signed two more this afternoon. The leader of the event increases his lead to almost 30 seconds over the Finn. “The car is working well but I have to keep a good pace and maintain a good lead for tomorrow because we know there is a risk of rain. »

Jari-Matti Latvala bitterly regrets his mistake made on the first pass of Pays d'Ormont (SS10) where a spin caused him to lose almost 18 seconds. The Finn managed to stay at the pace set by the star of this event. “It could have been a very interesting fight if I hadn't made that mistake. I still learned a lot of things today and it will be important for the future…”

Mikko Hirvonen was only able to score one scratch which he shared with his compatriot (SS13 of the Massif des Grands Crus). The second Citroën WRT driver is 24 seconds behind the Ford driver. “Today was pretty good. I didn't manage to catch Jari-Matti but I'm happy with my performance. »

Since Petter Solberg's accident (video), fourth place is hotly contested between Mads Ostberg, Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville. The Norwegian currently has the advantage with four seconds ahead of the Mini driver, but the situation could quickly change. Thierry Neuville would be in fourth place if he had not received a 20-second penalty for clocking in two minutes late. The Belgian, who was quite upset against his co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul mid-stage, attacked hard in the second pass to come back to less than four seconds of the Spaniard.

Ott Tänak retained his seventh place by finishing the day 14 seconds ahead of Evgeny Novikov. Chris Atkinson and Martin Prokop complete the top ten ahead Sébastien Ogier and Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda). Hayden Paddon (Ford) quietly leads the S category-WRC ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi who took second place Craig Breen in the last special. Elfyn Evans wins WRC Academy while still the Rally of Spain on the category program.

The final stage of the Rallye de France-Alsace will include three stages, each contested twice. Sebastian Loeb will set off at 9:23 a.m. in the Cleebourg Vineyard (17km), before passing through the Bischwiller-Gries route (7,9km) and the Haguenau super special (5,7km), which represents a total of 61,2km timed. The Alsatian will win his ninth consecutive title in the event of victory, where a Manufacturers' title could also be added for Citroën. The rain could come to liven up this end of the event.