Eight-times World Champion and Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb took the early lead of the 2012 Rally New Zealand, and is now just 4 seconds ahead of teammate Mikko Hirvonen.
Loeb had been 2nd in the morning, but gained the lead from Hirvonen after going quickest in the afternoon.
Jari-Matti Latvala was running third, 16 seconds off the lead, until a mistake from the Finn dropped him back to 9th. Latvala admitted he’s out of the World Rally Championship title fight following his errors.
Evegny Novikov took advantage of Latvala’s misery and is currently lying in 3rd.
Thierry Neuville’s struggles allowed Ford drivers Petter Solberg and Ott Tanak into fourth and fifth respectively. Neuville is presently holding off the Minis of Dani Sordo (8th) and Armindo Araujo (9th).
Pos Driver Tean Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2h07m35.0s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 4.0s 3. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 1m31.0s 4. Petter Solberg Ford + 1m39.3s 5. Ott Tanak Stobart Ford + 1m47.0s 6. Thierry Neuville Qatar Citroen + 2m18.0s 7. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini + 2m34.3s 8. Armindo Araujo Portugal Mini + 4m36.9s 9. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 4m56.1s 10. Ken Block Monster Ford + 6m25.3s