Sebastien Loeb put himself in a strong position to make it three wins out of three in this year's World Rally Championship as he increased his advantage in the Rally of Cyprus last night. The Citroen driver has an advantage of 49.8secs over the BP Ford Abu Dhabi car of Mikko Hirvonen into today's final three stages of the 14-stage event. The Frenchman's teammate Daniel Sordo lies in third place.
Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala saw his hopes of a podium finish end on the eighth stage as he crashed into a ditch and lost more than 20 minutes, leaving him down in 19th spot. The UAE's Sheikh Khalid al Qassimi is 10th in his Ford Abu Dhabi car after another solid day in the muddy terrain. But barring retirements ahead of him he is unlikely to finish in the points. Elsewhere, the up and coming Ben Spies provided an ominous indication of his threat on the World Superbike title by capping a perfect week in Qatar with back-to-back race wins.
* With agencies
