SS4: Loeb lands first stage victory

Sebastien Loeb has bagged his first stage win on this year’s Rally Guanajuato Mexico by topping the timesheets through the fourth test of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia round.

Loeb, in a factory Citroen DS3 WRC, was 2.7s quicker than leader Jari-Matti Latvala and is now 4.0s behind the Finn in the overall classification.

Mikko Hirvonen was third fastest for Citroen with Latvala’s Ford team-mate Petter Solberg fourth as he begins his recovery from his early delays.

Mads Ostberg impressed with the sixth fastest time for the Norwegian Adapta World Rally Team, just 1.5s slower than the flying Thierry Neuville.

Chris Atkinson continues to acclimatise to rigours of World Rally Championship competition after more than three years away. The ace Australian has slipped behind the young Russian driver Evgeny Novikov into eighth overall.