Loeb speeds ahead of the rain

As Rally Deutschland leader, Sébastien Loeb was first on the road of SS7 Stein and Wein and stayed drier than those chasing behind.

Wet weather was expected for later in the day and thus all the squads went with hard tyres all way round. A mistake, and the gaps prove that. Second overall, Petter Solberg dropped over 21 seconds. Third place, Jari-Matti Latvala lost more than 25 seconds to Loeb. And the gaps kept expanding. Loeb’s team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen lost over a minute, seven seconds. It seems if the greatest driver in the sport also has lady luck on his side. Reports came in of three and four spins for some in the stage.

While Citroen has nothing but hard rubber on its DS3s, Ford did load a single soft spare in the boot of their cars, so they might have a small advantage on the next stage, but of course just in one direction and not the other.

SS7
1 Loeb
2 Solberg +21.4s
3 Latvala +25.4s
4 Sordo +41.4s
5 Neuville +45.6s
6 Hirvonen +1:07.4s
7 Ostberg +1:08.2s
8 Tanak+1:14.6s
9 Van Merkjsteign +1:39.1s
10 Arzeno +1:48.3s

After SS7
1 Loeb
2 Solberg +41.8s
3 Latvala +54.8s
4 Neuville +1:20.1s
5 Sordo +1:28.1s
6 Hirvonen+1:56.3s
7 Tanak+2:32.5s
8 Ostberg +2:36.9s
9 Atkinson +4:31.3s
10 Ogier +5:33.2s