WRC - SS16: Fords fly on Sagen

Stage 16 of Rally Sweden was a spectacular one for factory Ford duo Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg, as first and second fastest times saw them pull away from their rivals for the lead and final podium spot respectively.

Latvala’s outright lead advantage over Citroen rival Mikko Hirvonen is now up to 23.6 seconds. Hirvonen still hopes he can strike back on the next stage, having conserved tyres on Sagen.

"Let’s see, there’s one [full-length] stage to go and I’ve tried to save my tyres a little bit so let’s see what we can do in the next one," he said.

But Latvala reckoned a flat-out push on Sagen was the better option.

"We had a really good feeling, we were really enjoying this stage," he said. "Now it’s going to be interesting in Fredriksberg, let’s see how our tyres are.

"I wanted to come here fast because I felt this was a very important stage - I believe it’s so gravelly on Fredriksberg that studs don’t make such a big difference if they are moving or not."

Fourth-placed Mads Ostberg (Adapta Ford) also said he was taking it easy on his tyres through Sagen, but falling 14.2s behind Solberg in the podium fight also seemed to be due to the former champion’s increasing confidence in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

"I have a set-up like Jari has now - much more grip in the chassis so I can push harder," said Solberg. "It’s a little bit of a learning curve, it’s all a bit of testing."

Sebastien Loeb was third quickest behind the two works Fords on the stage, allowing him to move past Henning Solberg’s Go Fast Energy Ford for sixth. Now Loeb’s Citroen is 40.6s behind fifth-placed Evgeny Novikov’s M-Sport Ford, but Solberg has vowed to try and take the fight back to the world champion and reclaim his top six spot.