FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP - RALLY OF GREAT BRITAIN (22 - 25 OCTOBER 2009

Sébastien Loeb continues to head the field after the second day of competition in the Rally of Great Britain and the Frenchman now only needs to maintain the pace through today’s final four stages to claim an unprecedented sixth world title. Championship rival Mikko Hirvonen must finish ahead of Loeb to win his first World Championship, but the Finn lost time today and is struggling to close the gap. Dani Sordo has overhauled Petter Solberg for the final provisional podium position.

Saturday’s route took in another six stages and 138.16 competitive kilometres, and rain, mud and strong winds provided the classic conditions for which Rally GB is renowned. Hirvonen started the day just 5.3 seconds behind Loeb and closed the gap to 2.9 seconds after the first stage. However, the Finn then lost more than 10 seconds in each of the following two stages, slipping to 25 seconds behind. The pattern was repeated this afternoon and with the shortest day of competition on Sunday, the Finn is running out of stage kilometres to make inroads on his rival.

Sordo overhauled Petter Solberg in the first stage when the Norwegian had problems with the windscreen wipers in the pouring rain. The gap between the two has extended during the day and Solberg then lost more time when he narrowly escaped an incident in a ditch. Sébastien Ogier is adrift in fifth position, ahead of Henning Solberg, Matthew Wilson and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Rally of Great Britain - Results after Day 2

 Pos  Driver              Car        Time/Gap 1.  Sebastien Loeb      Citroen  2h54m07.9s 2.  Mikko Hirvonen      Ford        + 18.2s 3.  Petter Solberg      Citroen   + 1m25.0s 4.  Dani Sordo          Citroen   + 1m39.6s 5.  Sebastien Ogier     Citroen   + 4m44.4s 6.  Henning Solberg     Ford      + 5m55.7s 7.  Matthew Wilson      Ford      + 7m13.3s 8.  Jari-Matti Latvala  Ford      + 8m07.2s 9.  Conrad Rautenbach   Citroen  + 13m16.2s10.  Aaron Burkart       Citroen  + 18m34.2s