Hänninen fastest, Meeke leads

The swooping roads of Drummond Hill offered the Škoda Fabias an opportunity to make inroads into the lead of Kris Meeke´s Peugeot 207, but Meeke remained in front after Guy Wilks made a mistake on the stage. Juho Hänninen set the fastest time with 8m42.5s, moving up to third overall.

"I said to myself, ’If I’m slower than Kris on this stage, I turn around and go home,’" said Hänninen. "I’m full time fast from now on."

"We just didn’t seem to have the power on the uphill sections," said Meeke, whose 8m44.5s was the second fastest stage time. "The Skodas took a long time off me in this section last year so I wasn’t expecting too much."

Wilks held on to second place despite a temporary halt which cost him around 15s.

"We’re very lucky, to be honest," he said. "I got the wheel into a cut too early and hit a rock and it just shot the car in. I got stuck and had to put it in reverse. I thought the bonnet was going to fly up at any time and I was worried about the radiator. Obviously it’s going to be difficult to get the rhythm back after this."

Andreas Mikkelsen was third fastest for M-Sport with 8m49.4s. "This stage was good and we’re going to keep on going the way we are," he said.

After an incident-packed first stage of the day, Proton’s drivers enjoyed better fortunes at Drummond Hill. Alister McRae was fifth fastest with 9m06.1s, and Keith Cronin was eighth with 9m22.0s.

"It was a bit of a disastrous start to the day," said McRae. "We’re just hoping to get to the service and sort the electrical problem."

The Group N contest continued to rage as Jonathan Greer overhauled David Bogie and Euan Thorburn, who spun during the stage. Seventh fastest time elevated Greer to sixth overall. Dave Weston Jr suffered a puncture and dropped out of the top 10, while Shaun Sinclair retired his Lancer Evo IX on the way to stage as the suspension problem that first manifested itself last night became terminal.

Overall positions after SS4:

Stages 4 & 7 Drummond Hill

19 kilometres of what is said to be the best stage in the world by BP Abu Dhabi Ford Team
Director, Malcolm Wilson, Drummond Hill is not for the faint-hearted. At its highest point it is
the same height as Craigvinean but some of the drops that the gravel roads cling to are fairly
steep. The stage is very fast in character and goes from open, tree felled areas to densely
forested sections but all include lots of flat-out crests and blind corners. The bold with total
commitment to their pace notes will do well in this stage.

Guy Wilks says: “The best known stage of the area, and for good reason. It’s very quick and narrow at the start, and you need to be brave because it’s full of inclines and very steep drops. It then begins to open out and continues to be quick. It can be very slippery – last year there had been logging near the start and it was really tricky in the open section. It’s a beautiful driver stage, but you have to treat it with respect – if you’re brave you can gain a lot of time, but it’s also easy to end your rally in there too, especially if it’s slippery. We had a great run through here last year.”