SS6 : Ogier back in front

As Solberg slows

Sebastien Ogier has retaken the lead of a thrilling Rally Guanajuato Mexico after going fastest on the first repeated stage of the day.

Ogier, the Junior world champion in 2008, beat Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb by 1.2 seconds to open up a 0.5-second advantage in the overall standings as a technical problem dropped Petter Solberg out of third place.

But Ogier will be the subject of an investigation by the event stewards tonight after reporting that he accidentally skipped the regroup prior to midday service, driving into service instead. After realising his mistake he turned around and drove back into the regroup. However, he could be handed a time penalty for a possible infringement.

“I have to continue to drive fast as I have no choice,” said Ogier. “I found a good rhythm and think time is not so bad.”

Loeb reported losing half a second overtaking the stranded Petter Solberg, whose DS3 WRC suffered a dramatic loss of power and crawled through the test.

“It’s very close again,” said Loeb. “I think I lost half a second overtaking Petter but he was on the side of the road and was really fair.”

Solberg was at a loss to explain the nature of the technical glitch that has crippled his car. “I don’t know,” said the Norwegian at the stage end. “I can’t go on the throttle. It’s very bad when I think about the championship.”

Mikko Hirvonen, who is running first on the road, has inherited third from Solberg but reported that he was still cleaning the road of loose surface gravel.

“It’s not a lot cleaner, some places yes but in some places there is no line at all,” said the Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver. “It’s a small help but it’s cleaning again, for sure.”

Standings after SS6: