Loeb forges ahead in Monte Carlo
MONACO, -- Reigning champion Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen, consolidated his bid for back-to-back wins in the Monte Carlo Rally after day two of the first round of the world rally series.
Loeb won three of Saturday's five stages, while the remaining two were cancelled due to an accident and spectator problems.
The Frenchman, who led Estonia's Markko Martin by 18.3sec overnight, is now 1min 28.7sec ahead of Ford Focus driver Francois Duval of Belgium with Martin 1:41.7 behind the leader.
Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm dominated the early stages but the wrong tyre choice allowed Loeb to go top of the leaderboard, with the Finn in fourth at 1min 57.9sec, ahead of defending world titleholder Petter Solberg of Norway who is 3min 31.8sec off the pace.
Loeb's chances of victory were boosted when his teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain was forced to retire after going off the road and losing a wheel off his Citroen Xsara during the ninth special.
The two men are the only drivers racing this weekend to have won the event.
The Spaniard blamed the spectators for his misfortune.
"I slid on a piece of dirty snow," explained the Spanish former double world champion. "This was not in my pace-notes and I think the snow was coming from the spectators walking on the road."
Two special stages, the first and the 10th, were cancelled because of concerns over spectator safety, with the seventh was scratched after an accident which forced French Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz to retire.
