Two Frenchmen in Ford, the nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb and the young Pierre-Louis Loubet, who could be his son -48 versus 25 years old-, led the Acropolis Rally, round 10 of the World Rally Championship (WRC) , after the first seven specials, six of them will be held this Friday, ahead of the leader of the championship, the young Finn Kalle Rovanpera, who finished the day in 1’07″8.
Rovanperä, in his Toyota, was only ninth, because of his position that had to open the track all day, on gravel tracks where his grip was inevitably worse than his rivals who started a few minutes after him. The young Finn complicates things after losing, above all, the sixth special 22″6 to Loubet and the seventh 23″2 to Loeb.
“It was a dream day, even if we had some problems with the brakes at the beginning of the last stage”, explained Loubet who after the sixth special of the rally was leading by 7″8 on Lappi until the nine times champion hit stage 7. He will start the day this Saturday morning just 1″7 behind his Ford M-Sport teammate, Loeb.
Seb, who won the Rallye Monte-Carlo earlier in the season at the age of 48 and has since competed in Portugal and Kenya, is contesting his final rally of the campaign with M-Sport. This is his last stage this year with British team M-Sport and he is already leaving his mark after scoring the first three super specials of the day, you are in fourth, 9″9 behind his young countryman, third in fifth. -a 6″4 from Loubet- and scored last on Friday -the seventh of the rally- with 4″2 to Dani Sordo and 10″ to Loubet who was tenth and gave him the lead .
1″7 separates the two Frenchmen with Lappi at 8″ 7, Neuville at 16″ and Sordo completing the top-5 at 22″2.
Classification
2nd day
1. Sébastien Loeb-Isabelle Galmiche (FRA/M-Sport Ford) 1h 12:11.9
2. Pierre-Louis Loubet-Vincent Landais (FRA/M-Sport Ford) at 1.7
3. Esapekka Lappi-Janne Ferm (FIN/Toyota) in 8.7
4. Thierry Neuville-Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL/Hyundai) at 16.0
5. Dani Sordo-Cándido Carrera (ESP/Hyundai) in 22.2
6. Ott Tänak-Martin Järveoja (EST/Hyundai) on 31.1
7. Gus Greensmith-Jonas Andersson (GBR-SWE/M-Sport Ford) at 33.9
8. Elfyn Evans-Scott Martin (GBR/Toyota) in 34.5
9. Kalle Rovanperä-Jonne Halttunen (FIN/Toyota) in 1:07.8
10. Takamoto Katsuta-Aaron Johnston (JPN-IRL/Toyota) in 1:38.9
11. Craig Breen-Paul Nagle (IRL/M-Sport Ford) in 2:15.3
SPECIALS
4 Loeb (ES2 to ES4, ES7)
2 Loubet (ES5, ES6)
1 Neuville (ES1)
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
