Motorsport: Loeb secures early lead at rally of Germany

BERLIN - Frenchman Sebastien Loeb won five of the eight special stages on day one of the Rally of Germany today to build a 42.7-second lead from Citroen team mate Daniel Sordo.

Marcus Gronholm's hopes of closing a 29-point gap with the world championship leader suffered a blow when he failed to master the wet conditions and trailed Loeb by more than two minutes.

"I stalled the engine on the first test run but apart from that the day went superbly despite the difficult conditions," said Loeb, the winner in Germany for the past four years.

Sordo, currently third in the overall championship standings, won Friday's other three stages.

Ford driver Gronholm was fourth behind another Citroen driver, Finland's Toni Gardemeister.

The rally finishes on Sunday.

- REUTERS