Sebastien Loeb fastest to take lead

Sebastien Loeb has snatched the lead of Brother Rally New Zealand by winning the final stage of day one, the repeat of Te Akau North. Driving a Citroen DS3 WRC, Loeb was 7.8s faster than Petter Solberg’s Ford Fiesta RS WRC with Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen 8.6s down on the eight-time world champion. It means Loeb now leads overall by 4.0s heading to the end of day service in Auckland. Hirvonen, meanwhile, said his soft-compound tyres were badly worn and lacked grip as a result. Spain’s Dani Sordo was the leading MINI driver in fourth with M-Sport Ford privateer Ott Tanak fifth fastest, despite a moment, and the recovering Jari-Matti Latvala sixth quickest for Ford. Suspected driveshaft problems for Manfred Stohl allowed Ken Block to snatch 10th overall, while Thierry Neuville felt he lost time getting caught behind Thierry Neuville. New Zealand hero Hayden Paddon completed the stage but is concerned whether or not his Skoda Fabia S2000, which has clutch and gearbox issues, will be make it back to service in Auckland.(QNA)