SS17: Latvala reaches 300

Leader Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest out of the blocks in the 11.32km Hara test this morning to win the opening test and take his 300th WRC stage win. In doing so, he stretched his advantage at the head of the leaderboard to 7.5sec over team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen.

But it wasn’t all plain-sailing for the Finn. Mikkelsen was fastest at the mid-stage split by almost a second and Latvala had to turn up the gas in the second half to overturn the deficit and complete 3.9sec ahead of Mikkelsen – his 36th stage victory for Volkswagen.

“It was a bit stressful when we heard the split time,” admitted Latvala.

Elsewhere, Henning Solberg maintained his upward progress by moving ahead of Pontus Tidemand into seventh. His next target is Kris Meeke and the gap between the duo is only 8.4sec.