World champ Sebastien Loeb continued his domination of the Rallye de France in Corsica when he won five of the six stages to extend his lead to 52.4secs over his World Rally Championship rival Mikko Hirvonen.
But while the Citroen ace, who leads Hirvonen’s Ford by 12 points with just three events remaining, was satisfied with his performance, Scot Barry Clark moved up the field on his WRC tarmac debut.
“We’ve built on our performance from the first day, which is important,” the Ellon driver explained today as he sat in his Stobart Ford Focus WRC. “This is my first time in a WRC car on tarmac and it’s taking a bit of getting used to.
“Generally I’ve improved a lot from yesterday and my times, compared to the first run through the same difficult stages yesterday, were much better. We’ve also moved four places up the field, so hopefully we can push for a top 10 finish which would be excellent.”
Clark, who has already completed the WRC gravel events in Jordan and Turkey — and who won the Ford Fiesta International Championship last year — starts tomorrow’s closing four stages 12th, just three places behind his more experienced Stobart team-mate Matthew Wilson.
JM