End of Day 2. Sebastian Ogier holds the lead going into the final day, but Sebastian Loeb is only 5.3 secs behind. Jari-Matti Latvala sits third with Dani Sordo fourth, Day 1 leader Petter Solberg fifth, Latvala's team-mate Mikko Hirvonen sixth, Matthew Wilson seventh, Henning Solberg eigth, Jari Ketomaa ninth & Federico Villagra tenth.
Sebastian Loeb's comeback drive from seventh to second has been hailed as 'one of the best comeback drives in history. Loeb gained almost 1 min 20 secs over the course of todays stages. "It has been in incredible day; flat-out from the start to the end and now we've made up the gap to first place," said Loeb. "We're five seconds behind Sebastien [Ogier] and everything is possible again. I'm really happy. I think I couldn’t do better," "It has been in incredible day; flat-out from the start to the end and now we've made up the gap to first place," said Loeb. "We're five seconds behind Sebastien and everything is possible again. I'm really happy. I think I couldn’t do better," added the six-time World Champion.
Sebastian Ogier capitalised on his third place road position. Scoring wins on both all-asphalt Super Specials, Ogier was the only driver to interupt Loeb's monopoly of stage wins.“We had a good morning and we tried to push hard but Sebastien has just been too fast,” said the young Frenchman.
Petter Solberg, still hunting for his first win since 2005, could do nothing about his leaderboard position as he was was doing the monotonous duty of road sweeping. Solberg has fallen to fifth, 53.6 secs behind the leader. “I knew before the start it was going to be tough but there was so much [loose] gravel on the road in the morning that there really was nothing I could do,”
Jari Ketomaa still holds his lead in the S-WRC over Championship leader Xevi Pons & has now extended it to 1 min 9.4 secs. “It was not perfect because we were struggling in the slow sections with understeer,” said Ketomaa. “I was at the limit and knew there was not much more time left in me but it has been a good day and I have got into a good rhythm.”
Barring disastar for the Finn, Pons' winning streak is about to come to an end. “It was not bad today and we have to remember that second place is still very good for the championship,” said Pons. “I had a spin this afternoon and Ketomaa has been pushing very hard but it is okay.”
Janne Touhino rolled the Fiesta S2000 yesterday on SS6 but has re-joined under SupeRally rules. Touhino is now over 23 mins off the lead.
Albert Llovera withdrew his Fiat Grande Punto S2000 today but will continue tomorrow.
Local driver Hayden Paddon is holding a 2 min 26 sec lead over Emma Gilmore. Keeping the local 1-2-3, Kingsley Thompson is third but is 5 mins behind Emma Gilmore.
Paddon said: “It was quite tough this morning. The car was oversteering quite a bit. We were trying to get some more grip from the rear, but I think it might have been due to the level of loose gravel on the roads. It was better through the afternoon, when the roads had been completely swept. It’s been another good day for us, but with a good lead in the Production class, we have to just keep our concentration through the final day.”
The local driver was embarrased on the Super Special when he was caught by Patrick Sandell & then Sandell promptly passed the Kiwi. Even on the straights, he was pulling away from me,” said Paddon. “I was quite surprised, I thought the Group N cars had more power - but it pulled away.”
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