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World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb - Source: Reuters -
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World champion Sebastien Loeb maintained his lead in the second day of the Cyprus Rally in a Citroen on Sunday to bring himself closer to his 50th win in the World Rally Championship.
Loeb extended his overall lead to 49.8 seconds on Sunday, through muddy and then dry and dusty stage conditions over gravel surfaces on the Troodos mountains.
Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford moved up to second position, while Spaniard Dani Sordo in a Citroen slipped a spot to third place. Norwegian Petter Solberg in a Citroen Xsara was fourth, setting the fastest times in Saturday's 10th and 11th stages.
Patchy overnight rain created tough driving conditions, with damp and muddy roads on morning stages, and dry and dusty sufaces in the afternoon.
"The road was completely dry and I was cleaning a lot of gravel," Loeb told reporters after an afternoon stage.
Jari-Matti Latvala's Ford Focus crashed off the road in Sunday's second stage, as the Finn was then running fourth in the overall line-up.
He was then forced to run for a kilometre for help to get the car out of a ditch.
