SS11: Latvala wins stage to take rally lead
Hirvonen drops time running first on the road in factory Ford
Jari-Matti Latvala has snatched the lead of Rally Australia after going 10.4s quicker than Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen through Saturday’s first stage.
With Hirvonen reporting a lack of grip as he forged a clear path through the loose surface gravel in his Fiesta RS WRC, Latvala was well placed to take time out of his fellow Finn by running behind him on the road.
“My driving was alright, I kept it on the line but it seems to be very slippery for Mikko at the moment,” said Latvala who now leads by 3.4s.
Hirvonen said: “It’s so dry with so much loose gravel, we can’t do anything about it.”
Citroen privateer Petter Solberg, who started day two in third overall, was unable to make any serious progress in his efforts to close the gap to the leading Ford drivers after reporting a lack of handling precision in his DS3 WRC.
“The car is very difficult to drive, I have no balance whatsoever,” said the Norwegian. “We have to change something now.”
Matthew Wilson spun his M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta and lost approximately 12 seconds. Team Abu Dhabi’s Khalid Al Qassimi maintains his grip on sixth overall, one place behind Wilson, despite reporting a “big moment” in his Fiesta.
Sebastien Ogier, who crashed out of the lead on stage six on Friday, was 9.6s slower than Latvala on his restart under SupeRally regulations at the wheel of his hastily repaired works Citroen.
“I think the car is okay but it’s never easy to restart like this without any target but we try,” said Ogier. “But it won’t be a big push this morning.”
World championship leader Sebastien Loeb said his repaired DS3 WRC, damaged when he rolled out on stage four, wasn’t handling as he would have liked: “We have to adjust a bit the setting but it was okay although a lot of oversteering and things are not completely straight,” he said. “I was just driving through.”
In addition to factory Citroen drivers Loeb and Ogier, Ken Block, Evgeny Novikov, Daniel Oliveira and Peter van Merksteijn Jr all restarted under SupeRally.