Sebastien Loeb’s bid for a fifth-straight victory on Rally Guanajuato Mexico is on course after the French ace completed Saturday morning’s loop of four stages 19.7 seconds in front of Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier.
Loeb, running second on the road behind Ogier, was fastest through Saturday’s first Ibarrilla stage in his Citroen DS3 WRC. Although he was slower than Petter Solberg through the next two tests, he nevertheless had the edge on his younger colleague.
“It’s a hard battle with Sebastien,” said Loeb. “I really wanted to try to make a gap and it’s going quite well. He’s first on the road and is losing some time for that but everything is going okay.”
Ogier was tasked with clearing the road of the loose-surface gravel, which proved a particular hindrance on the twisty Duarte stage, the middle test of the loop. “We could not carry the speed on that stage but it has not been too bad apart from that,” he said.
Mikko Hirvonen, the world championship leader, maintains his grip on third spot in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC but is now 1m43.1s adrift of the lead. The Finn had hoped to gain time on the leading Citroens due to his more favourable road position, but the stage conditions were largely less slippery than expected and Hirvonen in fact dropped back.
“We’re surprised a little bit not to make up time,” said Hirvonen. “I don’t know why we can’t push any harder or take time. If we push harder we go wide and lose time. We try to do something with the car to see if we can improve but otherwise we have to be careful to avoid punctures.”
Jari-Matti Latvala is fourth in the second factory Ford after dropping time with a slow front-right puncture on Saturday’s opening test. The Finn also reported a gearchange issue, which he was hoping would be rectified in midday service.
Henning Solberg has climbed from sixth overnight to fifth following Evgeny Novikov’s retirement with a suspected oil leak prior to stage 13. Solberg arrived back into service in Leon nursing a large blister on his left hand and sore arms after his Fiesta developed a powersteering glitch.
Solberg’s younger brother Petter has fought his way up from 13th to sixth following a charging performance in his Citroen DS3 WRC. The 2003 world champion claimed a brace of stage wins but said he could have made up even more time but for a lack of working handbrake.
Mads Ostberg is seventh as he continues his recovery from a puncture on Friday. The Norwegian is comfortably clear of Super 2000 World Rally Championship Nasser Al-Attiyah, whose chief rival heading in to day two, Ott Tanak, crashed on Saturday’s first test, ending up 50 feet off the road.
It has been another disappointing day for Briton’s Matthew Wilson, who retired his Fiesta heading to the first special stage with a suspected electrical fault. Fellow Fiesta driver Dennis Kuipers rolled into retirement on stage 11.
Ken Block survived a spin on stage 13 having restarted on Saturday under SupeRally regulations and is now in 14th. Federico Villagra also restarted on Saturday after retiring on Friday. However, the Argentine’s pace has been masked by a brake problem in his Fiesta.
SWRC runners Martin Prokop and Juho Hanninen complete the top 10.
Saturday’s action resumes at 13:57hrs local time with the repeat of the Ibarrilla stage when ambient temperatures are expected to peak at 35 degrees centigrade.