Sebastien Loeb has regained his advantage in his efforts to win Rally d’Italia Sardegna for a fourth time by going fastest on Friday’s sixth stage.
The Citroen DS3 WRC driver now leads Mikko Hirvonen, in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, by 5.8 seconds with two stages of day one remaining.
“I had a good grip in this stage but I was pushing very hard because that is my only option,” said Loeb, who was 2.1s quicker than team-mate Sebastien Ogier. “This was a good stage.”
Hirvonen reported surviving a moment in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC: “I was lucky,” he said at the stage finish.
Mads Ostberg managed to rectify the brake problems that hampered him on stage five but said he was too cautious through the test. He remains sixth overall with Petter Solberg climbing ahead of Evgeny Novikov into fourth.
Standings after SS6:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 1h08m27.7s |
| 02 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5.8s |
| 03 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +29.1s |
| 04 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +33.5s |
| 05 | E. NOVIKOV / S. PREVOT | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +43.0s |
| 06 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +46.6s |
| 07 | D. SORDO / C. DEL BARRIO | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +1m14.5s |
| 08 | O. TANAK / K. SIKK | FORD FIESTA S2000 | +1m59.8s |
| 09 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2m06.5s |
| 10 | M. PROKOP / J. TOMANEK | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +2m14.2s |
| 11 | J. HANNINEN / M. MARKKULA | SKODA FABIA S2000 | +2m34.0s |
| 12 | A. ARAÚJO / R. MIGUEL | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +3m25.8s |
| 13 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m27.8s |
| 14 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m28.2s |
| 15 | K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m48.8s |