Sebastian Loeb continued his dominance of the Rally Bulgaria, extending his lead to 40.5 secs with one day left. Dani Sordo still holds second and Petter Solberg still holds third. The only change in the Top 10 is that Sebastian Ogier has displaced Mikko Hirvonen from fourth.
Early weather indications showed that rain was on the way, so the Citroen Total drivers Loeb and Sordo both went out with soft compound tyres, except that Sordo ran hards on the front through the loop of stages. But the rain failed to materialise, so Sordo lost 24.1 secs to Petter Solberg while Loeb's lead stayed intact.
Even after the tyre choice mistake, Loeb seemed relaxed about the situation: “Everything is perfect. The tyre was not the right choice, but it was the safe choice for me this afternoon. It made sense to do this. The tyre worked well, it was moving about and that changed the handling of the car a little, but it was okay, I could adapt to it.” he said.
Sordo was quite the opposite to Loeb's mindset, seeming slightly stressed: “Everything is perfect,” he said. “The tyre was not the right choice, but it was the safe choice for me this afternoon. It made sense to do this. The tyre worked well, it was moving about and that changed the handling of the car a little, but it was okay, I could adapt to it.”
Solberg seemed to be looking forward to the future fight over second, due for the next day: “I’m looking forward to the battle, it’s always interesting to fight.”
“We’ve got to remember that a podium result is the thing I am chasing here. I’m not going to go mad - but it’s been a good afternoon. We made some changes to the suspension at service mid-way through today and I have the real confidence in the car now. I could go fast before, but now I can fly.”
Jari-Matti Latvala was absolutely shattered at the end of the afternoon loop, siting that the power steering had gone and he had to fight with the car, which left him with no power in his arms at the end of the loop.
“In the long corners, I had no power in my arms to hold on to the steering wheel. It was better in the less twisty, faster sections. My priority now is to see the physio. It’s frustrating because I feel I was driving well - before this problem my times were closer to Mikko than on previous asphalt rallies.” Latvala said.
Hirvonen, still fastest of the Fords, was now 2:50.4 off the lead, but had a better time aboard his Focus than Latvala. P-G Andersson was still impressing in his Focus in 7th, with Wilson 9th and Henning Solberg 10th. Hungarian driver Frigyes Turan splitting the Focuses in eighth, where he had been for most of the event.
Ogier was on a charge after landing in a ditch after a misheard note caused him to go off. The Frenchman gained two places, passing both BP Ford Abu Dhabi Team drivers Hirvonen and Latvala, but was still 2:05.7 off the lead.
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