SS20: Latvala and Ostberg keep up the pressure

The second run through Torntorp proved a slippery challenge for the WRC crews, as the hard packed ice surface of earlier today (SS17) had become broken and snow covered.

Rally leader Mikko Hirvonen was first through in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and was concerned to see the split times of the cars behind him. “It was a lot more difficult than I thought - there’s a lot more snow and the rear is on the loose a lot,” he said. “We’re cleaning the road. I’m sure those behind will catch and the next one will be worse. It’s going to be a close fight.”

Sure enough Mads Ostberg, the man behind Hirvonen on the road and in the overall standings, set a quicker time to narrow the gap between them to 9.2 seconds. “He’s cleaning [the road] for me and I’m cleaning it for those behind,” said Ostberg. “I’m trying to push because on the first splits Petter was quicker than me. It’s good fun fighting in the front but I don’t want to push Mikko too much.”

Petter Solberg’s early charge through SS20 ended when he spun his Citroën DS3 though 180 degrees and had to drive to find a place wide enough to turn around in. As a result the Norwegian slipped to fifth place.

Up to fourth was Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala, who took the stage win by 5.5sec from Ostberg, and headed to SS21 just 1.2sec off Sebastien Ogier’s third place.

Standings after SS20: