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Latvala back on top after Sweet Lamb hiccup

News after SS4

By Franck Drui

12 November 2010 - 12:36

After losing the lead of Rally GB on the short sprint stage at Sweet Lamb (SS3), Jari-Matti Latvala regained the position with a fastest time on the 27km Myherin section (SS4) which followed.

Latvala slipped to third on SS3, after powering his Ford Focus RS through one of the stage’s water splashes. “We went though the second one and the engine took in some water,” he explained. “After that there was an uphill section and we lost time because the engine wasn’t pulling. It’s okay now but it took about 500 metres to clear.”

The Finn proved his car was back to full strength on SS4 by taking the stage win by 3.2sec from Sebastien Loeb and moving back into first place.

Heading to the midpoint remote service in Builth Wells, Latvala’s rally lead stood at 1.4seconds from Sebastien Loeb, with Petter Solberg five-tenths further back in third.

Overall standings after SS4:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	Jari-Matti LATVALA	Ford Focus WRC	38m33.0s
02	Sébastien LOEB	Citroën C4 WRC	+1.4s
03	Petter SOLBERG	Citroën C4 WRC	+1.9s
04	Sébastien OGIER	Citroën C4 WRC	+7.1s
05	Dani SORDO	Citroën C4 WRC	+23.7s
06	Mikko HIRVONEN	Ford Focus WRC	+25.7s
07	Henning SOLBERG	Ford Focus WRC	+1m20.9s
08	Mads OSTBERG	Subaru Impreza WRC	+1m38.8s
09	Matthew WILSON	Ford Focus WRC	+1m45.7s
10	Kimi RAÏKKONEN	Citroën C4 WRC	+2m17.5s
11	Ken BLOCK	Ford Focus WRC	+2m23.0s
12	Andreas MIKKELSEN	Skoda Fabia S2000	+2m23.9s
13	Jari KETOMAA	Ford Fiesta S2000	+2m36.2s
14	Patrik SANDELL	Skoda Fabia S2000	+2m50.2s
15	Khalid AL QASSIMI	Ford Focus WRC	+3m05.1s