Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb ended the second day of the WRC Rally Mexico with a commanding lead of over 55 seconds from Petter Solberg.
“It was a perfect day,” said Loeb. “No mistakes, I was on the limit all the time, trying to increase my lead. Now we have more than 50 seconds, it should be perfect, but we have to stay on the road and avoid any mistakes. That’s the plan.”
If things seemed straightforward for the world champion, who has won the last three Mexico events on the WRC, it was all to play for behind the Frenchman. Privateer Petter Solberg battled hard in his Citroën with the works-backed Citroën Junior Team C4 of Sébastien Ogier, with the former world champion still just edging the younger Frenchman by 2.7 seconds – though Ogier indicated that this was a tactical decision.
'Now we have more than 50 seconds, it should be perfect' – Sébastien Loeb
“We slowed down at the end just to be third tomorrow because it will be an advantage to be behind Petter on the road,” Ogier admitted. “We want to try and finish second. That’s the plan.”
Dani Sordo retired on stage 10, but there was hope that the Spaniard, team-mate to Loeb at Citroën, would be able to restart on Sunday and salvage something from the rally.
Also hoping to make the best of a bad job were Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen, neither of whom has been able to match the pace of their Citroën rivals, sitting fourth and fifth respectively at the end of play on day two.
“The second day wasn’t a lot better than the first,” admitted Hirvonen.
Keep up with the action at wrc.com
Comments
Add a comment