Hirvonen stretches lead over Loeb in Sweden

MIKKO Hirvonen of Finland extended his lead in the Swedish Rally yesterday, moving 16.6 seconds ahead of world champion Sebastien Loeb on day two of the event.

By The Newsroom

Published 13th Feb 2010, 21:03 BST

Updated 13th Feb 2010, 22:07 BST

The Ford driver started Saturday by taking the ninth stage, but struggled to stay in front as Frenchman Loeb clinched the 10th, 11th and 12th stages at the wheel of his Citroen. Loeb finished the day by also winning the 16th stage sprint on the Karlstad trotting track.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) moved up to third place by winning the 13th, 14th and 16th stages. He is 51.4 seconds behind Hirvonen.

Dani Sordo of Spain was in fourth place, a minute and 46.2 seconds behind, and is followed by Sebastien Ogier of France, 2:42.1 behind.