Citroen's
Sebastien Loeb has taken the lead on the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, the sixth round in the 2008 World Rally Championship, following the first three stages on Friday morning.
Loeb was only fourth fastest in the opening test - the 16.43 kilometre-run through Monte Corvos, 7.8 seconds off the pace, however he bounced back in SS2 and was 18.2 seconds up on his closest challenger.
The Frenchman then proceeded to set another quickest time in SS3 and returned to the mid-day service at Olbia with a 22.5 second lead.
"Despite the recent rain, the conditions were pretty much what we are accustomed to here in Sardinia," said the four-time world champion in service A. "It was very slippery and the stages are as narrow as ever, with just the odd damp portion here and there, and the occasional patch of standing water on SS3. It's been a positive start, but the weekend has only just begun.
"The second pass through the same stages this afternoon promises to be difficult because of the ruts that have formed and rocks on the road. If we are still leading after the second loop, we will have done a good job."
Dani Sordo meanwhile is second in the sister C4 WRC and the Spaniard managed to set two second quickest times and one fourth, finishing the loop around 15 seconds up on
Mikko Hirvonen and
Chris Atkinson who are currently equal third.
"I am pleased with my morning. I had a bit of understeer through the first two stages but I managed to cure that to an extent after modifying my set-up before the start of SS3," said Dani. "The conditions weren't easy, with a cocktail of mud, dry portions and some churned up sections that were quite slippery. It's been a positive start, however, and we have succeeded in emerging in second place, behind Seb and ahead of our rivals. We now need to keep up the same pace."
