Battle for second goes down to the wire

While Sebastien Loeb continued his faultless drive at the head of the field, the battle for second got even closer on the penultimate test of Rally de Espana - with Dani Sordo closing the gap on Petter Solberg to just 5.1 seconds.

With just the 4.11 kilometre repeat of La Serra d’Almos to go, even Loeb said he was following the battle behind him via the split times beamed to his car.

“Exciting eh?” agreed Petter as he arrived at the finish control. “But I didn’t take any risks or cuts in there. I could have gone harder but I followed Dani’s splits very closely and I just wanted to be smart.”

Sordo was shaking his head as he arrived at the finish. “I tried really, really hard but it’s impossible, I think,” he said. “Now there’s only four kilometres to go. But of course I will try.”

Meanwhile, the title battle in the Junior World Rally Championship took another dramatic twist. Class leader after SS14 Hans Weijs Jr stopped mid stage, losing more than 11 minutes and dropping to third place. His title rival Burkart meanwhile moved ahead of Briton Harry Hunt into fourth. If the positions stay as they are, Burkart will be crowned Junior champion.

Overall standings after SS15: