SS11: Lucky escape for Latvala

Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala returns to the midpoint service in Trier with his overnight lead intact and thanking his lucky stars after a scary moment on the morning’s final test.

The Finn extended his lead over Thierry Neuville from 4.6sec to 14.8sec on Saturday’s first loop of three stages, but he nearly threw it all away when he clipped a massive concrete block with his Polo R on the first pass through Arena Panzerplatte.

Arriving at the stage end with bodywork damage to the co-driver’s side of his Polo R, Latvala explained what had happened: “It was on a left-hand corner in a forest section - the road was very slippery and we lost grip. We went wide, clipped a Hinkelstein and that sent us into a small spin. It’s a very lucky situation that everything is okay with the car.”

Ford Fiesta RS driver Neuville followed Latvala though the stage and offered a similar assessment. “I saw the lines in the road where he went off – he was very, very lucky.”

Apart from the continued presence of Latvala ahead of him, Neuville had a good morning and remains firmly in winning contention. “I’m pleased with my driving, but on Panzerplatte I tried to manage my tyres and I was too safe at the beginning. I got some time back towards the end, but not enough,” he said.

A resurgent Dani Sordo has been quicker than both Latvala and Neuville in his Citroen DS3 on each of the morning stages. The Spaniard remains third, but is far happier with the set-up of his car and is now just 9sec behind Neuville – down from 19sec at the start of the day.

Sordo’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is fourth, almost a minute further back, but well placed to snatch a podium should anything happen to the lead trio. “I didn’t take any risks. We made it through without any problems. We plan to carry on like this,” Hirvonen explained at the end of Panzerplatte.

Mads Ostberg is fifth, 1m44s behind Hirvonen. The Norwegian has had a solid morning, taking time to get used to set-up tweaks on his Ford Fiesta RS. However, a heavy landing after the Gina jump in Panzerplatte gave him some cause for concern. “We were flat in sixth over the jump but the landing was pretty heavy, and the impact knocked the gearbox into fifth. Hopefully that’s not a problem.”

Martin Prokop is sixth, with WRC 2 front-runners Robert Kubica and Elfyn Evans seventh and eighth.

Nasser Al-Attiyah had been seventh until the 21km point on Panzerplatte, when he cut a corner and hit something which broke a steering arm on his Ford Fiesta RS. He retired on the spot.

After his retirement on Friday, World Championship leader Sebastien Ogier rejoined this morning and took two stage wins. However, with 25 minutes of penalty time he is down in 28th place.

WRC 2

Just 1.4sec separate Kubica and Evans at the head of the WRC 2 category after a see-saw morning. Kubica spun his Citroen DS3 RRC in the opening Stein & Wein test to hand the initiative to Evans. However, Evans briefly slid his Ford Fiesta R5 into a ditch in the following stage to allow the Pole back in front. Evans then spun in Panzerplatte. Hayden Paddon has moved past Sepp Wiegand to hold third by 9.6sec, both in Skoda Fabia S2000s.