Ogier takes lead after Loeb punctures

Date published : 20 Aug 2011 - 16:52:04

Sebastien Ogier has taken the lead of Rallye Deutschland after his Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb lost over a minute with a puncture on the final stage of day two.The two Citroens had been cruising in one-two formation until the second run through Panzerplatte, when Loeb sustained the damage to his left front tyre."In a straight I saw a few rocks on the road and I think it came from that because I was taking it easy. What can we do?" said Loeb.The eight-time event winner's misfortune has given Ogier a 1m11.3s lead heading into the final day. Not only has Loeb never lost the German round since it has been in the world championship, he has also been unbeaten on all-asphalt World Rally Championship events since 2004.Dani Sordo continues to hold an outstanding third for Mini, and is edging away from fourth-placed Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen. In another blow for the works Ford team, the recovering Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out of 10th on SS13.Punctures hit both Kris Meeke (Mini) and Petter Solberg (Solberg Citroen) during the afternoon, but they remain fifth and sixth.Despite remaining very negative about his driving on the event, Kimi Raikkonen is seventh, recovering from an earlier spin in his Ice 1 Citroen to get back ahead of Henning Solberg (Stobart Ford). Dennis Kuipers had been in front of both and impressing in seventh until his FERM Ford sustained a puncture on Panzerplatte.Leading positions after SS14:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Ogier Citroen 2h44m43.2s 2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 1m11.3s 3. Dani Sordo Mini + 2m10.2s 4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 2m43.3s 5. Kris Meeke Mini + 3m33.2s 6. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 3m42.3s 7. Kimi Raikkonen Ice 1 Citroen + 5m53.2s 8. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 5m59.4s 9. Armindo Araujo Italia Mini + 7m51.6s10. Dennis Kuipers FERM Ford + 8m52.5s