Ogier extends lead over Loeb in Rally of Sweden

KARLSTAD, Sweden: Volkswagen’s Sebastien Ogier extended his Rally Sweden lead to 32 seconds over his former Citroen teammate Sebastien Loeb by winning all three stages on the event’s second loop on Friday.
Loeb, unable to keep in touch with the VW driver’s pace, has been battling with Ogier’s teammate Jari-Matti Latvala; the nine-time world champion edging ahead back into second place on Vargasen.
Latvala had previously led Loeb by a hundredth of a second, but an intercom failure on his Polo R WRC hampered his progress and let Loeb through by 1.5s on the following stage.
As they battled, Ogier coped best with the conditions. He now holds an almost assured overnight lead, with just the Karlstad super special stage to run this evening.
Qatar M-Sport’s Mads Ostberg is poised to join the second-place battle in fourth, just nine seconds behind Latvala, and closing on the pair ahead following his morning dramas.
Ostberg’s teammate Evgeny Novikov is fifth, 29s behind the Norwegian and just over a minute off the rally lead. He has pushed star local rookie Pontus Tidemand back down to sixth.
Citroen’s Dani Sordo lost five minutes with an off-stage excursion on SS6, meaning Loeb is now the only Citroen driver who can score major points, given the additional problems suffered by both Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen.