WRC:Loeb takes Leg Two in Mexico

[Plex]

Frenchman S�bastien Loeb maintained a firm hold on the Rally Mexico event today following the end of Leg Two, effectively more than doubling his lead time of yesterday. The current World Champion presently holds 1'08''8 over his nearest contendor. �A very good day for us today�, from the driver best-placed for a second win this season. Chances are that Loeb will spend the day tomorrow managing his lead and avoiding pushing his Citro�n C4 too hard.

Second place in the overall rankings went to Marcus Gr�nholm whose day went very well : he moved up three positions up the board and is now protecting his ground with a 34''5 lead. Knowing he will be unable to reach his rival, Gr�nholm's mission will be to finish right next to Loeb on the podium, therefore maintaining his own lead in the Championship.

The battle for third place was won by Dani Sordo, who made up a lot of time going through the Superspecials. He profited not only from his own driving, but by Mikko Hirvonen's slight mistake to build a delicate 2''8 advance. No time for relaxation tomorrow, Sordo will have to push.

Mikko Hirvonen went wide in one of the turns, heading onto the grass before recuperating control. The excursion cost him time and possibly a position on the leaderboard, where he is now at fourth.
If he wants to safekeep his second spot in the Championship standings, the orders tomorrow will be push, push, and push again.

Chris Atkinson fell from third to fifth in the overalll rankings today and is not giving up hopes for a better standing, although he did not seem overly optimistic: �I wil just have to see what comes.�

Manfred Stohl, Jari-Matti Latvalla, Matthew Wilson, Henning Solberg and Mark Higgins close up the Top Ten in the overall standings.

The cars are parked for the evening and night until tomorrow morning, when the last day of the Rally Mexico 2007 will begin with three Stages, one Superspecial, and over sixty kilometers of competiton.

Local weather reports indicate there might be some overnight rain over the L�on area.

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