Sebastien Loeb reigns over German rally
The rally season continued to provide some enthralling action all around the world as the latest race in the series took a decisive turn in Germany. Reigning World champion Sebastien Loeb showed his driving pedigree and skills once again tightening his grip on the German Rally. The Frenchman extended his lead to more than half a minute on Saturday in another exhibition of skilful driving that was a pleasure to watch for racing enthusiasts. The renowned driver who races for Citroen is chasing his seventh world title in a row.
He had a lead of 35.7 seconds ahead of team mate Dani Sordo of Spain besides gaining a significant two minutes 7.1 seconds advantage over compatriot Sebastien Ogier. The 36-year-old Loeb is perched at the top of the championship standings, as he displayed his prowess with a superb display on the second day with a lead of 9.5 seconds; he eased away after winning the opening stage of the competition.
On the other hand there was a real change towards the longest stage in the World Championship which resulted in Jari-Matti Latvala securing the third place in the overall standings in the series. Latvala lost control over his car that took a big spin nearly 10km from the end of the 48km Panzerplatte stage. The race was staged on a former military training ground, where the Finn driver was lucky to avoid hitting anything during his dramatic spin.
The car spun onto the grassy region with Latvala forced to reverse several times to get his car back on track. The move cost him vital seconds and saw his standings dip from the fourth place which is a total of 8.9 seconds behind Sebastien Ogier.
Ogier has taken the third spot in the standings following the setback for Latvala.
The track proved to be a challenging one for various drivers yet some of them made good use of the conditions as by registering the fastest time through Panzerplatte allowed Petter Solberg to take over from former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen and Matthew Wilson into the fifth spot.
Raikkonen ended the day in a disappointing sixth place after losing crucial 15 seconds of his time, as he overshot a junction which was placed at eight km from the end of stage 9. The overrun forced him to race through the remainder of the session suffering through a broken left-rear anti roll link. Subsequently the mechanics of his Citroen team failed to fix the fault in time at the service halt in Birkenhead. Unfortunately the ex-Formula One driver was left with no option but to continue driving into the Panzerplatte with a badly damaged car that hindered his progress big time.
It was generally a bad day for drivers from Finland as Ford’s team leader Mikko Hirvonen who was placed at the fifth spot on Friday, was forced to retire on stage 13 after his car went through a transmission problem. The carnival ends with the final race on Sunday with a special final stage given the title "Circus Maximus" in the oldest city of the country known as Trier.
Following are the results from the second leg classification in the German Rally on Saturday.
1. Sebastien Loeb (France) Citroen 3hrs 05mins 21.600secs
2. Daniel Sordo (Spain) Citroen +00:35.700
3. Sebastien Ogier (France) Citroen 02:07.100
4. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) Ford02:23.700
5. Petter Solberg (Norway) Citroen 05:16.000
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