Broken driveshaft puts Latvala’s lead in jeopardy

Jari-Matti Latvala’s chances of victory on Rally Japan suffered a heavy blow on SS15 when a driveshaft broke on his Ford Focus RS WRC.

Rally leader Latvala was approaching the end of the 33km Kamuycep stage when the right-hand front driveshaft broke.

He completed the test 4.6sec slower than stage winner Dani Sordo to remain in the lead, but his advantage over second placed Sebastien Ogier was reduced to three-tenths. And with three short stages to run before his team can fix the car in Sapporo, Latvala fears more time loss is inevitable. If his estimate of 20 seconds proves accurate, he would drop to sixth place.