Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) takes the lead after the first pass through El Priorat

(10/11/2012)

Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). RallyRACC 2012

The rain that fell during the night left the tarmac roads of the 48 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA’s second day completely wet. Under those conditions, even with fog in some areas, the start of the day was completely different than yesterday, when the rain and mud were the main protagonists. Thanks to his stage win in El Priorat, where Mads Ostberg (Ford) had an off, Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) took the lead of the overall standings, which he reinforced at Riba-roja d’Ebre.

In the first pass through La Mussara (20.48 km), it was Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) who set the fastest time, 7.1 seconds ahead of Loeb. Ostberg did not lose too much in front of the French driver, only 2.3 seconds, which allowed him to keep a margin that looked enough to reach the Service in the lead. But the minute lost by the Norwegian at El Priorat due to an off and Loeb’s win, placed the Citroën Total driver in front. Also increasing his distance over the second placed, Latvala, to 16.3 seconds. Loeb won also the Riba-roja d’Ebre stage, reinforcing his lead of the race.

Except Ogier (Skoda) all the drivers who had retired yesterday returned to the race today. Among the, the local idol Dani Sordo (Mini), who had engine problems at El Priorat. Everything stays the same as yesterday in the rest of categories: Craig Breen (Ford) leads the SWRC ahead of Per-Gunnar Andersson (Proton); Benito Guerra (Mitsubishi) took the first position after the difficulties suffered by Marcos Ligato (Subaru) and Yeray Lemes (Mitsubishi) in the PWRC; and José Antonio Suárez dominates Pontus Tidemand in the WRC Academy.

After the Service in PortAventura, the afternoon’s loop will be exactly the same as in the morning: another pass through La Mussara, El Priorat and Riba-roja d’Ebre. After the Salou podium, the Rally will go back to PortAventura for the final service of the day from 18:12h.

RallyRACC Provisional Classification after three stages of the second day (SS9)
1-Sébastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (Citroën DS3 WRC), 2h.29’17”2
2-Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), at 18”9
3-Mads Ostberg-Jonas Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), at 47”9
4-Mikko Hirvonen-Jarmo Lehtinen (Citroën DS3 WRC), at 55”9
5-Ott Tänak-Kuldar Sikk (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), at 1’22”9

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