Belgian goes ballistic as he overhauls nine-time champ Loeb in hunt for first win.
A clean sweep of stage victories on Friday afternoon moved Thierry Neuville into first place on Rally France going into the overnight halt with the leaderboard one of the closest seen all season.
French farewell hero Sebastien Loeb was fastest on all three morning stages to take command in his Citroen but M-Sport Ford ace Neuville – seeking his first win on a round of the World Rally Championship – was untouchable after the midday service.
Going into Saturday’s loop of stages which get under way at 9.20am local time Neuville holds a 9.9 seconds lead over Citroen’s Rally Germany winner Dani Sordo.
VW’s Jari-Matti Latvala is next up followed by Loeb – who lost time on Friday’s final stage after a wrong tyre choice – and newly-crowned Champion Sebastien Ogier in his Polo R.
However, just 28.7 seconds cover the top five with more than half the rally still to go.
Former F1 racer Robert Kubica in a Citroen is 11th overall with almost a three and a half minutes advantage over his nearest WRC2 category rival Elfyn Evans (M-Sport).
