Loeb ahead as Citroen dominates
Sebastien Loeb leads Sebastien Ogier by 7.4 seconds at the end of day one of Rallye Deutschland, with the Citroens over a minute clear of the rest of the field
A troubled afternoon for Ford saw Mikko Hirvonen sustain minor suspension damage when he clipped a wall on SS4, although he was able to effect repairs and continue. He remains third, 1m18.4s off the lead.
His team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala was badly hampered by an electrical glitch that left him struggling through the stages on three cylinders, dropping him six minutes off the pace.
At the front, Ogier closed to within 0.9s of Loeb by winning the afternoon's first stage, but the champion then stretched his lead again with quickest times on the next two tests.
Behind the top three, the Minis of Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke hold fourth and fifth places, with Sordo only 22s behind Hirvonen's Ford, and both ahead of Petter Solberg (Solberg Citroen).
Henning Solberg is seventh in the leading Stobart Ford, fending Kimi Raikkonen's Ice 1 Citroen and Dennis Kuipers, having his strongest run yet in the FERM Ford.
Leading positions after SS6: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1h18m21.4s 2. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 7.4s 3. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1m18.4s 4. Dani Sordo Mini + 1m40.3s 5. Kris Meeke Mini + 1m57.6s 6. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 1m59.8s 7. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 3m22.1s 8. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 3m25.5s 9. Dennis Kuipers FERM Ford + 3m31.7s 10. Armindo Araujo Italia Mini + 4m22.4s
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