Loeb takes early lead in Spain
World rally champion Sebastien Loeb continued his dominant asphalt form on the damp opening stages of the Rally Catalunya as he opened up a 17-second lead over Citroen teammate Francois Duval after just two stages
The Frenchman, who won every stage to capture victory in last weekend's Rally de France, was 10.1 seconds faster than Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm in the first Catalunya stage in Querol and 7.3 seconds faster than Duval in the second stage at El Montmell.
Ford's Roman Kresta caused a minor surprise to end the second stage third fastest overall, as the Blue Oval aimed to build on Toni Gardemeister's second placed finish in Corsica.
Gronholm ended the second stage fourth overall in the classification, after a disappointing drive through El Montmell which was 19.8 seconds adrift of Loeb's best.
Gardemeister was fifth overall at the end of Stage Two, ahead of Subaru's Petter Solberg and Mitsubishi's Gigi Galli.
Peugeot's Nicolas Bernardi had his rally get off to a disastrous start when he made a mistake after opting for a rain-biased tyre - which proved unsuitable as the rain did not fall as heavily as he had hoped.
He slid off the road on Stage One on his way to setting the ninth best time, and was 47.1 seconds adrift in stage two.
Standings after SS2:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Loeb Citroën 26:43.5 2. Duval Citroën + 17.6 3. Kresta Ford + 25.9 4. Grönholm Peugeot + 29.9 5. Gardemeister Ford + 37.5 6. Solberg Subaru + 38.9 7. Galli Mitsubishi + 51.0 8. Hirvonen Ford + 54.8 9. Bengue Skoda + 59.6 10. Sarrazin Subaru + 1:16.4 11. Bernardi Peugeot + 1:23.4 12. Rovanperä Mitsubishi + 1:26.1 13. Atkinson Subaru + 1:40.6 14. Schwarz Skoda + 1:43.2 15. Kopecky Skoda + 1:43.6 16. Wilks Suzuki + 2:45.0 17. Boland Ford + 3:41.6 18. Katajamaki Suzuki + 3:43.9 19. Martinez-Saco Subaru + 4:05.3 20. Weng Mitsubishi + 5:00.2 All Timing Unofficial
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