SS15: Latvala up to second

Mikko Hirvonen once again set the fastest stage time for the Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, but it was his team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala - just one second slower - who took the biggest benefit from this stage. While rally leader Sebastien Ogier continued to leak time through running first on the road, Ogier’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb made a crucial error and dropped to third place overall. Latvala therefore moves up to second position.

“I was told I needed to find another gear today so this is good,” said Hirvonen. “For sure the road is cleaner now but there are so many rocks there now. I’m surprised we’ve had no damage to the car. The new tyres have saved many drivers on this rally.”

“It’s going strong,” said Latvala, who took six seconds out of Ogier’s lead on this stage. “I’m starting to be afraid that I’ll run out of kilometres. I really have to push.”

With just five stages remaining, Latvala is 19.7 seconds behind Ogier’s Citroen.

Petter Solberg set the third fastest time, seven seconds slower than Hirvonen, despite damaging his rear right wheel during the stage.

“It was loose back there," said Solberg. “I was hoping it was the tyres so it’s quite good [that the problem was the right rear wheel]. I’m trying but bloody hell it’s very hard!”

Ogier continued the stout defence of his lead, despite running first on the road, and came through 0.4 seconds ahead of his Citroen team-mate. They both appeared to have made similar errors on the stage

“I try to do my best,” said Ogier. “I think it’s quite good - difficult to do better. I made a small mistake on the stage, I braked too late at the hairpin where we met the route we drove down yesterday. I went straight on and maybe lost a second or two.”

“I missed a stupid hairpin. It’s hard to see where to go. Now I have to continue to fight with the others behind.”

Overall standings after SS15: