2012 FIA World Rally Championship

LEON (Mexico), March 10 (QNA) - The French duo of Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena led Rally Guanajuato Mexico 2012 by just 11.2 seconds after a punishing day s action over 10 demanding special stages, near Guanajuato and Leon, on Friday. The Citroen Total World Rally Team duo - who are chasing an unprecedented sixth successive Mexican WRC victory - were pushed all the way on the opening gravel day of the third round of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship by team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who now hold second overall in a second DS3 WRC. "I know I have to continue to push because Mikko is pushing and Jari-Matti (Latvala) is very fast. There is a long way to go and we need to make sure we stay ahead," said Loeb. Predictably, a fierce battle waged in hot, sunny conditions between Citroen and their rival Ford World Rally Team, with the French manufacturer holding the upper hand when two costly punctures delayed the Blue Oval s overnight leader Petter Solberg and damaged front suspension cost Jari-Matti Latvala his Friday morning lead. With a rebuilt car after the mid-day service, Latvala began a fight back through the field and climbed to fourth overall at the end of the day behind Loeb, Hirvonen and third-placed Mads dstberg. Solberg recovered from 13th to hold fifth, Estonian Ott T?nak dropped to sixth with a 10-second time penalty imposed and Russia s Evgeny Novikov, Australia s Chris Atkinson, Qatar s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Portugal s Armindo Arajo completed the top 10. Twelfth-placed Mexican driver Benito Guerra delighted the home fans by leading the PWRC category in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X after Friday s special stages. Guerra heads into the second of the long days with a slender lead over Poland s Michal Kosciuszko, the leader of the FIA Production series after round one. Friday as it happened Armindo Arajo led cars into the opening 22.12km mixed surface El Cubilete stage, where Ken Block lost time jammed in first gear and overnight leader Solberg lost considerable time with a rear puncture. Hirvonen won the stage by just 0.8s from Latvala and moved into a one-second lead. Loeb, Neuville and stberg held third, fourth and fifth places. "Four kilometres and we had a puncture on the right-hand corner," said a dejected Solberg, who is bidding to end a seven-year WRC victory drought here in Mexico. The Norwegian slipped to 13th overall. Latvala won the new Las Minas stage, which wound its way through the local silver mines, and moved ahead of Hirvonen by 1.2s. Loeb set the second fastest time and maintained third, but closed to within 5.5s of his team-mate. Solberg punctured again and dropped another 29.5s, Al-Attiyah survived a wild spin and several of the front-runners complained of excessive tyre wear on the abrasive stage surfaces. Loeb managed to edge 0.8s further ahead through the Monster street stage and eventually reached the overnight halt with an advantage over Hirvonen of 11.2 seconds. The Leon area was affected by a freak, torrential thunderstorm less than an hour before the last two super special stages, where Al-Attiyah and Atkinson set the fastest times because adverse conditions affected several of the later crews. The result marked the first ever WRC stage wins for Al-Attiyah, the former Dakar winner. Positions after SS12 (unofficial): 1. Sebastien Loeb (FRA)/Daniel Elena (FRA) Citroen DS3 WRC 1h 24m 46.4s 2. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN)/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN) Citroen DS3 WRC 1h 24m 57.6s 3. Mads ?stberg (NOR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 25m 58.3s 4. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)/Miikka Anttila (FIN) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 26m 14.3s 5. Petter Solberg (NOR)/Chris Patterson (GBR) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 26m 21.8s 6. Ott Tnak (EST)/Kuldar Sikk (EST) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 26m 23.1s 7. Evgeny Novikov (RUS)/Denis Giraudet (FRA) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 26m 48.4s 8. Chris Atkinson (AUS)/St?phane Pr?vot (BEL) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 1h 27m 20.1s 9. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Citro?n DS3 WRC 1h 27m 35.0s 10. Armindo Aradjo (PRT)/Miguel Ramalho (PRT) Mini JCW WRC 1h 28m 16.6s 11. Sebastien Ogier (FRA)/Julian Ingrassia (FRA) ?koda Fabia S2000 1h 29m 01.6s (QNA)