Zoom Loix continues to push forward

The final loop of Barum Rally stages has begun, and event leader Freddy Loix is showing no signs of easing off the throttle despite holding a solid advantage. The Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg driver completed his run with a quickest time of 4:44.5.

Despite his teammate's retirement amid recurring mechanical issues affecting their cars since yesterday, Giandomenico Basso delivered a good performance at the wheel of his Abarth Grande Punto, taking second place 0:00.6 behind Loix.

A quartet of Peugeot 207 S2000s took the following positions, with Bryan Bouffier in third place and Pavel Valousek's BFGoodrich car reaching the fourth spot. The mechanical issues which affected Nicolas Vouilloz and Enrique Garcia Ojeda seem to have been mostly resolved, as both have returned to better results: the Frenchman claimed fifth place, the Spaniard sixth.

Renato Travaglia's Grande Punto Super 2000 finished seventh-fastest. The top ten was completed by more Peugeot 207s, those of Luca Rossetti, Roman Odlozilik and Janos Toth.

Following Vouilloz's earlier problems and with only two stages to go, Freddy Loix is firmly in control of the rally with a 57.6-second advantage on his teammate. 38.8 seconds away, Bryan Bouffier is in a secure third overall position ahead of Pavel Valousek and Renato Travaglia.

50 kilometres of competition remain before the day is through, with surely a few drivers hoping all holds well...

Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International