Loeb leads Catulunya Rally after opening day

Sports

Loeb leads Catulunya Rally after opening day

Close

Sebastien Loeb took 30.6-second lead over Jari-Matti Latvala in the Catalunya Rally.

22 October,2011 10:24 am

World champion Sebastien Loeb has a 30.6-second lead over Finn Jari-Matti Latvala after the first days racing in the Catalunya Rally on Friday.Loeb, aiming for his seventh successive Catalunya title, led off in his Citroen and was helped by the gravel dust hanging in the still morning air that hampered visibility for the other drivers.Im quite happy to be at the finish, especially in this one in the night, said Loeb after several drivers struggled with the dust making driving in the last stage in the dark even more hazardous.Latvala was just 5.3 seconds behind the Frenchman at the halfway point, but lost time with a front-right puncture in the afternoon.Its incredibly difficult to drive in the darkness with the dust, Latvala said. We spun first and after that there were massive rocks on the road I couldnt avoid. I hit the rocks and Ive lost a lot of time.Latvalas Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen was 54.2 seconds behind in third. The Finnish driver questioned the wisdom of running a gravel stage in the dark, even after organizers extended the starting gap between cars by 60 seconds to four minutes to allow the dust to settle.You couldnt see anything in some places, even a gap of four minutes was not enough, Hirvonen said.Loebs French teammate Sebastien Ogier was 1 minute 45.3 seconds off the pace in fourth after having a puncture of his own on the fifth stage.There was a lot of dust and we went a bit wide. Its difficult to get motivation after my puncture, he said.Loeb, who is going for his eighth straight world rally title, was level with Hirvonen in the championship standings going into the penultimate rally of the season, three points ahead of Ogier.