Loeb keeps comfortable lead over Ogier in Monte Carlo Rally
Sebastien Loeb continues to maintain a comfortable lead over Sebastien Ogier in the Monte Carlo Rally, as Evgeny Novikov flew on Thursday morning's snow-covered stages
There was little to choose between Loeb's Citroen and Ogier's Volkswagen on the loop. Ogier was quickest on SS5, had a quick spin on SS6, then virtually matched Loeb on SS7.
The gap between them stands at 1m17.9s, with Loeb having built a margin on Wednesday afternoon.
But the fastest man of the morning was Qatar M-Sport Ford driver Novikov. A close second to Ogier on Labatie d'Andaure, Novikov then won the next two stages.
That brought Novikov past Jari-Matti Latvala's VW and Mikko Hirvonen's Citroen, and to within 7.6s of third-placed Citroen driver Dani Sordo.
All the Fords have been rapid in the tough conditions. Juho Hanninen challenged Latvala for sixth before a scare on SS6, while Mads Ostberg is making up time after a penalty for being late into service following electrical problems on Wednesday afternoon.
Leading positions after SS7: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2h29m49.4s 2. Sebastien Ogier VW + 1m17.9s 3. Dani Sordo Citroen + 2m18.0s 4. Evgeny Novikov Qatar M-Sport Ford + 2m25.6s 5. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 2m29.7s 6. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 2m54.8s 7. Juho Hanninen Qatar M-Sport Ford + 3m20.5s 8. Bryan Bouffier PH Citroen + 4m17.0s 9. Mads Ostberg Qatar M-Sport Ford + 4m35.4s 10. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 10m04.2s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments