Sebastien Loeb goes into the 3rd and final day of the 2012 Rally New Zealand holding a 6.4s advantage over his Citroen teammate Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen.
Hirvonen managed to close the gap between both drivers on Saturday morning, only for Loeb to reopen that gap after service, leaving the Finn unable to mount a real challenge.
Ford’s Petter Solberg has moved up to 3rd place and is now 1m33s behind the Citroens, while Evegny Novikov, not far behind, is currently defending his 4th place from a surging Ott Tanak.
Qatar Citroen driver Thierry Neuville holds 6th place ahead of a rapid Jari-Matti Latvala whose Ford is sandwiched between the two Prodrive Minis of Dani Sordo and Armindo Araujo in 8th position.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h27m51.9s 2. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 6.4s 3. Petter Solberg Ford + 1m33.3s 4. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 2m02.5s 5. Ott Tanak M-Sport Ford + 2m23.8s 6. Thierry Neuville Qatar Citroen + 2m47.2s 7. Dani Sordo Prodrive Mini + 3m05.9s 8. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 4m58.0s 9. Armindo Araujo Portugal Mini + 8m21.1s 10. Ken Block Monster Ford + 9m07.6s