Leaders clear the Super Special hurdle
Hirvonen retains the lead
Three and a half hours after the last forest stage, SS7, Friday’s competition on Rally Sweden concluded with a second night-time blast around the Super Special in Karlstad.
As they had on Thursday night, thousands of spectators braved sub zero temperatures to watch the drivers tackle the ice covered figure-of-eight track two at a time.
Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb set the fastest time in his Citroen C4 WRC, with his team-mate - and Thursday night’s Super Special winner - Dani Sordo second. Loeb’s scorching time edged him 2.4 sec closer to overnight leader Mikko Hirvonen, reducing the deficit to 6.2 sec.
After spinning and losing his bumper on Thursday’s pass, Citroen privateer Petter Solberg enjoyed better luck today and set the third fastest time. Marcus Gronholm was fourth with rally leader Hirvonen rounding off the top five times.
The only change in the top 20 positions was Matthew Wilson, who slipped 0.8sec behind Mads Ostberg into eighth place.
Rally standings after SS8: