Sebastien Loeb‘s dominance resumed on day three of the 2013 Monte Carlo rally as he increased his lead over Sebastien Ogier to 1 minute and 47 seconds; the Volkswagen driver said that he’s satisfied with second place and that he’s not gonna push for the win.
Behind the French duo, the battle for the last podium spot is on, as Evgeny Novikov moved into third position following a spin from Dani Sordo; but the Citroen driver fought back, and is currently just 1.7 seconds behind the Russian.
Mikko Hirvonen lost sixth place to a resurging Jari-Matti Latvala after struggling with overheating brakes; the latter has finally got into grips with his Polo WRC and has put on an impressive performance this afternoon.
Despite going quickest on SS13, Mads Ostberg remains eighth behind Juho Hanninen.
Overall standings after day three:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 3h36m47.0s 2. Sebastien Ogier VW + 1m47.4s 3. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford + 3m19.9s 4. Dani Sordo Citroen + 3m21.6s 5. Jari-Matti Latvala VW + 4m04.9s 6. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen + 4m19.1s 7. Juho Hanninen M-Sport Ford + 5m15.5s 8. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford + 6m18.2s 9. Bryan Bouffier PH Citroen + 8m20.7s 10. Martin Prokop Czech Ford + 18m48.8s