SS14: Ostberg’s broken wheel allows Ogier to break clear

Mads Ostberg’s faltering challenge for victory in Rally Finland took its most severe blow yet when a broken wheel cost second place and handed Sebastien Ogier a 36.3sec lead over a resurgent Thierry Neuville.

Ostberg was matching Ogier’s pace through the final forest stage of the day until his Ford Fiesta RS hit a rock in the heavily rutted roads and the impact shattered the front left wheel.

He limped to the finish dropping 25sec and is now almost 40sec behind the Frenchman, after being ahead of the championship leader just four stages ago.

“It’s unbelievable,” said the furious Norwegian. “It’s a lottery now, there are rocks everywhere,” he added, before quickly leaving the stage finish.

Forecasts that the second pass through Lankamaa would cause havoc proved true. Andreas Mikkelsen retired his Volkswagen Polo R after the finish, the car having shed its left rear wheel and suspension.

The bolts holding the upright sheared and the Norwegian was perplexed. “I hit nothing. Suddenly there was a small vibration in the stage and 2km from the end the wheel flew off. We drove on as the finish was so close,” he said.

Ogier reeled off his fifth straight win, 4.1sec faster than Neuville’s Fiesta RS. “It wasn’t so easy. We managed to be fast and avoid the problems so I’m happy with the afternoon. It’s a good gap, but it’s a long day tomorrow and it’s not over,” he said.

Having punctured in the previous test, Neuville finished this one with his left rear tyre partly pushed off the rim. “I had to be careful but I made it through,” said the Belgian. “It was a tough afternoon but there were no mistakes.”

Behind third fastest Jari-Matti Latvala came Kris Meeke, but he also had a story to tell. “We hit a massive rock in a rut. It hit the sump guard and launched the car into a ‘wheelie’, before bouncing in and out of the ditch. People don’t appreciate how deep the ruts are,” he said.

Fifth fastest Mikko Hirvonen continued to suffer suspension trouble after his near-accident earlier and he is now almost one minute behind Ogier.