Sebastien Loeb completed stage five of Wales Rally GB and admitted it’s becoming “impossible” to fight against the factory Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg.
Latvala was 10s faster than Loeb through the repeat of Hafren Sweet Lamb, which was more slippery than on the first pass following a recent rain shower. Loeb, in a works Citroen, is now 15.3s adrift of first place in third after he slipped behind Solberg in the overall classification.
“It was much more slippery than on the first pass,” said Loeb. “When it’s like this it’s difficult to fight with the Ford. They are very fast now and it’s impossible to fight with them.”
Latvala said: “I really enjoyed it. The road is very slippery, more challenging to drive than on the first passage. The car is very good to drive.” Team-mate Solberg said: “It worked very well, nothing special at all. It was a very tricky stage and Jari had a fantastic time. The car worked very well.”