Jump start costs Petter the lead in Japan

Petter Solberg lost the lead of Rally Japan on SS13 after incurring a 10 second penalty for a jump start.

Solberg’s team manager Ken Rees said the timing system showed Petter left the line 0.1sec too early. He added that onboard camera footage would be checked to see if a technical glitch was to blame.

The penalty dropped Solberg to third, behind Sebastien Ogier, while Jari-Matti Latvala became the new rally leader, despite giving himself a scare on SS13 with a bad pace-note.

Meanwhile Citroen Junior team driver Dani Sordo edged himself back into winning contention with a stage win - his first of the event - on SS13.

The short 9km Nikara was the last of Saturday morning’s loop of stages, and as drivers made their way back to Sapporo for the midpoint service the fight for the lead was wide open - with just 20.1 seconds covering the top five.

Overall standings after SS13 :