WRC France: Sebastien Loeb snatches lead on final rally outing

Only seventh fastest on Thursday's superspecial, where his sometime arch-rival Sebastien Ogier became the first WRC champion of the post-Loeb era, the Citroen driver surged forward when the full-length stages began.

As intermittent rain showers made all three stages tricky, Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo initially maintained the lead he had established on the superspecial.

But Loeb edged ever closer and by the end of the rally's longest stage - the 21 miles of Vosges - he was into first position again.

Loeb was one of three drivers who thrived on Vosges, where he, Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville were a class apart.

While Neuville's pace owed something to the mix of hard and soft tyres on his M-Sport Ford in the variable weather, both Loeb and Volkswagen driver Latvala maintained their speed on four hard Michelins.

Loeb now leads Latvala by 3.7 seconds and Neuville by 4.7s, with Sordo 6.2s down in fourth.

New champion Ogier struggled badly on Vosges, losing 19s to VW team-mate Latvala on the same tyres.

He is back in fifth, 22.3s off the lead.

Mikko Hirvonen fared worse still, lacking confidence and spinning on SS4, leaving him behind Evgeny Novikov in seventh.

Robert Kubica has dominated WRC 2 so far and already leads by three and a half minutes following a puncture for main rival Elfyn Evans.

Leading positions after SS4:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car      Time/Gap
 1.  Sebastien Loeb      Citroen       36m19.0s
 2.  Jari-Matti Latvala  VW               +3.7s
 3.  Thierry Neuville    M-Sport Ford     +4.7s
 4.  Dani Sordo          Citroen          +6.2s
 5.  Sebastien Ogier     VW              +22.3s
 6.  Evgeny Novikov      M-Sport Ford    +46.5s
 7.  Mikko Hirvonen      Citroen         +48.2s
 8.  Andreas Mikkelsen   VW              +51.2s
 9.  Mads Ostberg        M-Sport Ford    +56.9s
10.  Martin Prokop       Czech Ford    +1m25.7s