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Olbia, Sardinia: BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team's Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala kept battling as the Citroen duo of Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo ended the first day on top in Rally of Sardinia.
Sardinia debutant Shaikh Khalid Al Qasimi, of the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, retired at the fourth stage when his car got stuck in a ditch.
After six stages in the 17-stage Italian Rally, which is the sixth round of this year's World Rally Championship, Loeb established a 35.7-second lead over teammate Sordo, while Norwegian Petter Solberg finished just ahead of championship leader Hirvonen.
Latvala stayed in the sixth place and the two Finns from Team Abu Dhabi will begin a fresh onslaught against the Citroen leaders on Saturday.
Steady improvement
Earlier, Shaikh Khalid, who had finished in the top 10 in Jordan last month, was steadily improving with every stage when he had to make an unfortunate exit. After finishing the first stage in 17th place, Shaikh Khalid moved into 15th and then was in 14th place after the third stage.
But in the fourth stage, Shaikh Khalid went off the road and retired when his Ford Focus RS WRC became stuck in a ditch.
While Loeb won three of the six stages to forge ahead, it was Team Abu Dhabi's Latvala who gave the Frenchman a tough fight, while Hirvonen kept going to stay within striking range. But for a puncture in the second stage which cost Latvala 90 second, the young Finn came back strongly to win the final stage and also challenged Loeb in two other stages.
"I hit a bank quite hard and the back left tyre came off the rim - we then had to drive 15 kilometres with a flat," said Latvala.
"I thought we would lose less time if we drove on because you can drive longer with a rear puncture than a front one. We lost only one minute forty seconds and to change a tyre takes two minutes, so it was the right decision," he said.
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