Latvala on a charge

Jari-Matti Latvala took a big step closer to the lead of Rally Japan on SS12, with a stage win moving him from fourth to second place overall.

The Finn was 2.3sec quicker than anyone else though the 33km Kamuycep test, with Sebastien Loeb his closest rival.

After moving ahead of Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Ogier to lie just 7.8sec behind rally leader Solberg, Latvala acknowledged that his position of fourth in today’s start order had helped him on the soft and loose gravel surface.

Solberg meanwhile was sixth fastest and remained philosophical about the time loss. “The road was cleaning but I’m not complaining about it. It should be less of a problem on the second pass,” he said.