SS20: Ostberg closes on Solberg

Tension increases in the podium tussle

By Franck Drui

12 February 2012 - 10:18
SS20: Ostberg closes on Solberg

Mads Ostberg piled the pressure on Petter Solberg in the third place battle in Sweden as the Adapta Ford driver set the second quickest time behind Jari-Matti Latvala on stage 20.

While Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Latvala’s second stage win of the morning stretched his outright advantage over Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen) to 35.3 seconds, Ostberg came through just 0.4s down on Latvala to close to within 6.8s of the Finn’s team-mate Petter Solberg.

"It’s a good morning, we are pushing quite hard and it’s working well, so we are happy," declared Ostberg.

Solberg admitted Ostberg was simply proving faster so far today.

"I’m trying everything I can and he’s driving very well," said the former champion. "I made a couple of mistakes in there. We will try."

At the front, Latvala’s mood is becoming increasingly relaxed.

"We have a good feeling," he said. "The first part of the stage didn’t go so well, and after that I started to get the rhythm."

Hirvonen said his focus had turned to protecting the 23s cushion back to third-placed Solberg.

"It is just about keeping second position now," said the Citroen driver.

"We did some changes to the car in the morning to see if we can help tyre wear a little bit, but now it’s quite difficult to drive and I don’t have any confidence, so I’d rather keep my place now."

Also settling for his position is Sebastien Loeb. Now 20s clear of Henning Solberg, the reigning champion reckons fifth-placed Evgeny Novikov is out of reach.

"Hopefully we’ll just finish this rally in this position now," said Loeb.

The Citroen driver took eight seconds out of Novikov (M-Sport Ford) on stage 20, but the Russian was not concerned as he maintained a 40.2s advantage.

"There are not so many kilometres to go and I have split times for Mr Loeb and I can control my speed, so it’s okay," said Novikov.

WRC

Search

Motorsport news

Pics

Videos