SS13: Loeb quickest as Hirvonen spins

The battle for victory on Rally Sweden has been turned on its head after leader Mikko Hirvonen spun his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

The Finn ended up pointing in the wrong direction and had to drive the wrong way on the stage to find a place to turn around. As a result his lead over Mads Ostberg has been trimmed to 0.6s.

“I spun in a very fast place and had to drive in the wrong direction to find a place to turn around,” said Hirvonen. “It makes it very more exciting now I guess.”

Ostberg added: “It’s definitely better on this stage because you don’t have the narrow places to drive in. It’s still difficult because the car does not fit in the ruts. We were aware we will lose a lot of time this afternoon but it’s okay because it will give us a good starting position for tomorrow.”

Jari-Matti Latvala has moved ahead of Petter Solberg into third overall with Sebastien Ogier, second fastest through the stage, a solid fifth in his Citroen DS3 WRC.

Sebastien Loeb set the fastest time through the stage despite reporting a near miss with Patrik Sandell. Sandell had spun into a snow bank and was heading up the stage to turn around as Loeb approached. Fortunately the Citroen DS3 WRC driver had been warned of the hazard ahead and a collision was averted.

PG Andersson, whose Fiesta suffered powersteering failure two kilometres into stage 12, continues to lose ground but he has moved up to seventh following Sandell’s spin. Kimi Raikkonen also benefited from Sandell’s mistake to claim eighth overall. Sandell is now ninth with Matthew Wilson up to 10th.

Dennis Kuipers was delayed on the stage when he spun his Fiesta.

Standings after SS12: