The drivers left service to head for SS4. Conditions were now dry.
Sebastien Loeb reached the stage end with a time of 13m 53.8s.
"I pushed really hard. There's a lot of dust everywhere. I had to take big risks to do this time. Not easy."
His team mate Ogier set the fastest time on SS4 3.5s faster than Loeb, narrowing the gap between the two to just 0.9s.
There were more problems for the Ford factory drivers.
Mikko Hirvonen sustains rear suspension damage on SS4 and drops 25.5s.
"It was my own mistake. I went wide and hit the wall, damaging the suspension. We'll see if we can do anything about it."
His team mate Latvala dropped 1m 11.7s with engine troubles.
"We don't the problem yet but it's something related to the engine. It started to run on three cylinders. Hopefully it will be the spark plug so we can carry on quite easily."
Norwegian Privateer Petter Solberg reached the end of SS4 with a time of 14m 0.6s, dropping 16.3s to Ogier.
"I didn't have any problems at all. There is a lot of gravel some places."
Mini WRT driver Kris Meeke flew through SS4 setting the third fastest time 2.3s faster than his team mate Sordo.
STAGE TIME FOR SS4
Stage
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2 | S. OGIER | 13:50.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 1 | S. LOEB | 13:53.8 | +3.5 | +3.5 |
| 3. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 14:03.9 | +10.1 | +13.6 |
| 4. | 37 | D. SORDO | 14:06.2 | +2.3 | +15.9 |
| 5. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 14:06.6 | +0.4 | +16.3 |
| 6. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | 14:12.5 | +5.9 | +22.2 |
| 7. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 14:14.5 | +2.0 | +24.2 |
| 8. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | 14:19.3 | +4.8 | +29.0 |
| 9. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | 14:21.5 | +2.2 | +31.2 |
| 10. | 17 | A. ARAÚJO | 14:22.8 | +1.3 | +32.5 |
SS5 Grafschaft Veldenz 2 22.47km
Sebastien Loeb set the fastest time on SS5
"It's completely dry. We had a good tyre choice. It was a bit less dirty than the last stage."
Team mate Ogier dropped 4.7s to Loeb on SS5 after being only 0.9s behind him after the previous stage.
"I have done some mistake on this stage. We have to continue to do our best."
Ford drivers continued to have problems.
Mikko Hirvonen competed the stage 7.9 slower than Loeb in his partly repaired Fiesta.
His team mate Latvala continued to struggle on SS5 with his Fiesta stuck on three cylinders.
Latvala lost a further 1m10.4s on the stage after his attempts to repair the problem failed
"It is not right. We don't know what it is. We just need to carry on and get to the service."
Petter Solberg stoped the clock at 13m 7.8s, 16.3s slower than the fastest time, having had a moment towards the end of the stage.
"I had a small off and lost maybe a couple of seconds. There are so many junctions, I'm doing everything I can."
Henning Solberg continued to suffer brake fade on SS5 as he set a time of 13m 9.2s.
"It's okay but I lost my brakes and I didn't left-foot brake this time!"
The Mini John Cooper Works WRC cars continued to set promising times on SS5.
STAGE TIME FOR SS5
Stage
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | 12:51.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | 12:56.2 | +4.7 | +4.7 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | 12:59.4 | +3.2 | +7.9 |
| 4. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 13:07.8 | +8.4 | +16.3 |
| 5. | 37 | D. SORDO | 13:08.6 | +0.8 | +17.1 |
| 6. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 13:09.2 | +0.6 | +17.7 |
| 7. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 13:13.3 | +4.1 | +21.8 |
| 8. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 13:17.9 | +4.6 | +26.4 |
| 9. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | 13:18.4 | +0.5 | +26.9 |
| 10. | 17 | A. ARAÚJO | 13:19.3 | +0.9 | +27.8 |
OVERALL CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER SS5
Overall
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | M | 1:06:19.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | M | 1:06:25.1 | +5.6 | +5.6 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | M | 1:07:28.1 | +1:03.0 | +1:08.6 |
| 4. | 37 | D. SORDO | 1:07:44.6 | +16.5 | +1:25.1 | |
| 5. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 1:08:01.9 | +17.3 | +1:42.4 | |
| 6. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | M | 1:08:05.4 | +3.5 | +1:45.9 |
| 7. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 1:09:12.0 | +1:06.6 | +2:52.5 | |
| 8. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | M | 1:09:19.0 | +7.0 | +2:59.5 |
| 9. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | M | 1:09:25.7 | +6.7 | +3:06.2 |
| 10. | 17 | A. ARAÚJO | 1:09:32.8 | +7.1 | +3:13.3 |
SS6 Moselland 2 19.97km
The crews headed to the final test of the day and Sebastien Loeb started SS6 with a lead of 5.6s over team mate Sebastien Ogier.
Sebastien Loeb finished the stage with another fastest time, 1.8 faster through the final stage than his team mate Ogier. After SS6 Loeb extended his lead to 7.4s.
"It has been a good day for me. I've been pushing very hard because Ogier is pushing everywhere. I will be leading this evening, that is the main thing. For the manufacturer championship it is looking very good."
Hirvonen was third fastest on the final stage and finished day 1, 1m18.4s off the lead in third place after a day of problems.
"It's been a bit of a struggle, but we're here now. I'm sure the boys can fix the car for tomorrow. We have to improve tomorrow and do really good stage times to show the car is competitive on gravel."
His team mate Latvala was unfortunate enough to suffer another puncture on the closing stage. He dropped a further 1m 51.3s to end the day from hell 6m 10.7s off the lead.
"I don't know what the hell is happening. We have an engine problem, then the rear tyre is going down! I don't know why because we were driving so slowly."
Petter Solberg completed the day 6th overall.
"I'm trying everything I can, I can't give up. I'm very happy to be on tarmac, I have to look on the positive side."
Mini WRC driver Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke finished the day in Fourth and Fifth place respectively.
Dani Sordo finished the day with the fifth fastest stage time.
"I'm happy but I was much happier in the morning when we were closer to the others. It's great at the moment for MINI because both cars are fast."
Team mate Meeke finished the day with a stage time 15.2s off the fastest time.
"I'm delighted because on my first time here in a World Rally Car I've been able to take time out of Dani."
STAGE 6 TIMES
Stage
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | 12:01.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | 12:03.7 | +1.8 | +1.8 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | 12:11.7 | +8.0 | +9.8 |
| 4. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | 12:15.8 | +4.1 | +13.9 |
| 5. | 37 | D. SORDO | 12:17.1 | +1.3 | +15.2 |
| 6. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 12:17.1 | 0.0 | +15.2 |
| 7. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | 12:27.4 | +10.3 | +25.5 |
| 8. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | 12:27.9 | +0.5 | +26.0 |
| 9. | 6 | M. ØSTBERG | 12:30.7 | +2.8 | +28.8 |
| 10. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 12:31.5 | +0.8 | +29.6 |
OVERALL CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER STAGE 6
Overall
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff Prev | Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | S. LOEB | M | 1:18:21.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 2. | 2 | S. OGIER | M | 1:18:28.8 | +7.4 | +7.4 |
| 3. | 3 | M. HIRVONEN | M | 1:19:39.8 | +1:11.0 | +1:18.4 |
| 4. | 37 | D. SORDO | 1:20:01.7 | +21.9 | +1:40.3 | |
| 5. | 52 | K. MEEKE | 1:20:19.0 | +17.3 | +1:57.6 | |
| 6. | 11 | P. SOLBERG | M | 1:20:21.2 | +2.2 | +1:59.8 |
| 7. | 15 | H. SOLBERG | 1:21:43.5 | +1:22.3 | +3:22.1 | |
| 8. | 8 | K. RÄIKKÖNEN | M | 1:21:46.9 | +3.4 | +3:25.5 |
| 9. | 9 | D. KUIPERS | M | 1:21:53.1 | +6.2 | +3:31.7 |
| 10. | 17 | A. ARAÚJO | 1:22:43.8 | +50.7 | +4:22.4 |
SO day 1 of Rally Germany is over!
Eight competitive stages to tackle tommorow.
Ford will be hoping to make up for the wrong tyre choice today and a few problems with the Fiestas.
Sebastien Ogier will be hoping to steal away the rally lead from Sebastien Loeb if he has any hope of fighting for this years title.
FOLLOW www.wrc.com for all the latest news on each stage of the rally
Until Day 2 of ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2011 ! :-)
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