United Kingdom, Nov 09: Petter Solberg stayed on course for his first world rally title as French rival Sebastien Loeb, told by Citroen bosses to play safe, lost ground in Britain on Saturday. The Norwegian made a perfect start to the second leg, steering his Subaru through the Welsh forests to stretch his overnight lead from eight to 31.3 seconds after 13 of the rally's 18 stages. The winner in Britain last year, Solberg was quickest through all of the first six of Saturday's eight stages. He must beat Loeb, the overall leader whose efforts appeared to have been sacrificed by a team more intent on winning the manufacturers' title in their first full season, to take the crown. Solberg said he had seen little sign of Loeb, who was just 0.1 of a second slower than him on the 12th Margam stage, slowing up but agreed that he was in a good position.


"It's good to have the safety margin as you never know what might happen, a spin or whatever...I never feel comfortable until I cross the finish line," he said.

Bureau Report