AJACCIO, Corsica, 19 October 2003 — Belgium’s Francois Duval grabbed the lead in the Corsica rally yesterday after overnight leader Sebastien Loeb of France spun his Citroen on stage eight. Favorite Loeb, running on slick tires despite overnight rain, had to wait for spectators to help him and lost about 10 minutes on the second stage of the day.
Duval leads in a Ford after the ninth stage with Spain’s veteran Carlos Sainz second in a Citroen, 11.6 seconds behind. World champion Marcus Gronholm is third and championship leader Richard Burns eighth in another Peugeot, one minute 17 seconds off the pace.
Burns has 57 points, Loeb 55, and Sainz 53 with two rallies left in the season after Corsica. Duval could have been even further ahead if he had not stalled his car at the beginning of the eighth stage on the Mediterranean island and lost about 15 seconds getting it away.
