Sebastien Loeb pulls away on Acropolis Rally
Sebastien Loeb is pulling away in the Acropolis Rally lead after Citroen stepped up its pace on the second of Friday's three loops of stages in Greece
The world champion was a close second to team-mate Mikko Hirvonen on SS5, then won SS6, giving him a 10-second outright lead over Jari-Matti Latvala, who was not happy with his Ford's handling on either stage.
After his flurry at the end of the first loop, Petter Solberg has fallen back to fourth again, damaging his Ford in an impact with a rock after a crest on stage six.
Solberg did not lose too much time on the stage, which he completed with a puncture and a broken wheel, but is concerned about the potential for propshaft damage. He is now 1.8s behind Hirvonen in fourth.
Evgeny Novikov (M-Sport Ford) is resisting Mads Ostberg (Adapta Ford) for fifth, while Thierry Neuville's choice of two soft tyres on the muddy SS6 helped him to the second fastest stage time and brought the Citroen Junior driver closer to M-Sport's Ott Tanak in their fight for seventh.
Leading positions after SS6: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1h30m05.3s 2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 10.1s 3. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 15.0s 4. Petter Solberg Ford + 16.8s 5. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 1m15.6s 6. Mads Ostberg Adapta Ford + 1m20.6s 7. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 2m05.1s 8. Thierry Neuville Citroen Junior + 2m14.0s 9. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 3m15.8s 10. Sebastien Ogier VW Skoda + 3m28.8s
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