WRC Rallye de France Alsace

WRC Rallye de France Alsace – Day 3 Overview

RSL Staff

– October 7, 2012Posted in: Featured, News, WRC

Sébastien Loeb has maintained his advantage at the head of the Rallye de France Alsace leaderboard and the Frenchman now has a 29.7 second lead over nearest rival Jari-Matti Latvala. Mikko Hirvonen retains third after the longest day of the event and the crews now have just 61.54 kilometres to contest before the finish in Strasbourg on Sunday afternoon.

Today’s route was long, taking in 192.80 competitive kilometres over two identical loops of four stages through scenic vineyards and mountains. Sébastien Loeb has once again shone on his home round of the Championship but has still been challenged for victories stage by stage. While he has escaped unscathed, Latvala hit a bank on the second stage having run wide on a damp patch of tarmac. This lost the Finn 18 seconds and, despite him setting three fastest times during the day, has given Loeb an almost unassailable lead, barring any problems for the Frenchman. Hirvonen has had a trouble-free run throughout the day and was equal fastest with Latvala through the 11th stage to hold third overnight.

Petter Solberg held fourth position at the start of the day, but the Norwegian went off the road in the opening stage. After hitting a telegraph pole, he was forced onto the side-lines with front-end damage to the Fiesta RS WRC. Mads Ostberg has climbed from seventh to fourth while Dani Sordo – who had a spin in the first stage – has dropped to fifth albeit just 4.1 seconds adrift. Thierry Neuville rounds off the top six, also hot on their heels.

WRC Rallye de France Alsace 2012 – Provisional Results

1.   Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena
2.   Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila
3.   Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen
4.   Mads Ostberg/Jonas Andersson
5.   Dani Sordo/Carlos Del Barrio
6.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul
7.   Ott Tänak/Kuldar Sikk
8.   Evgeny Novikov/Ilka Minor
9.   Chris Atkinson/Glenn MacNeall
10. Martin Prokop/Zdenek Hruza

Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
MINI Cooper Works WRC
Citroën DS3 WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC
MINI Cooper Works WRC
Ford Fiesta RS WRC

2 hr 54 min 33.4sec
2 hr 55 min 03.1sec
2 hr 55 min 27.4sec
2 hr 56 min 19.8sec
2 hr 56 min 23.9sec
2 hr 56 min 27.8sec
2 hr 57 min 05.4sec
2 hr 57 min 19.6sec
3 hr 00 min 48.3sec
3 hr 02 min 20.1sec