SS22: Record for Ogier, Ostberg spins, Meeke rolls

Sebastien Ogier gave the Finns an Ouninpohja masterclass on stage 22, the Frenchman recording a fastest time through the 33km classic that smashed the stage record - set by Mikko Hirvonen - by 8.5 seconds.

Ogier was 4.6sec faster than his closest rival, Thierry Neuville, and will take a 36 second lead into the final, decisive Painaa stage.

“It was a really nice stage, a lot of fun,” Ogier said as he walked around his Polo R, inspecting its tyres. “The tyres were completely gone though. At the end the rear of the car was sliding around – so maybe not the best tyre choice.”

Behind him, the fraught battle for second between Mads Ostberg and Thierry Neuville looked to have been settled in Neuville’s favour after Ostberg dropped more than 20 seconds when he drove off the road to avoid a rock.

“We were about 25km in when I saw it in the middle of the road,” explained Ostberg. “It was massive, so I steered off the road to avoid it, then spun. It was that or hit the rock and risk wrecking the car. It was shame to settle it like this.”

Neuville also beat Hirvonen’s Ouninpohja record and is now second, with a 19.7sec cushion to Ostberg behind. “I was very fast everywhere, but when the split came in from Mads and I saw a car in the ditch I really backed off,” he said. “I really wanted to beat the record time so I’m very happy about that. My car feels incredibly good. I just love it.”

The car in the ditch was the Citroen DS3 of Kris Meeke. The Brit reached the final section of the stage, and was on course for a dream result this weekend, when he went off in a narrow section and rolled four times. Both Meeke and his co-driver Chris Patterson are uninjured.

Hirvonen was third fastest to hold fourth overall. “It was so slippery I thought we had tyre wear, but I think the road was still damp in places,” he said. “Especially at the end I was not so confident. We also had to slow down a little bit where Kris went off.”

Jarkko Nikara’s impressive run on his home rally came to a premature end on the liaison section from the previous stage. The Mini JCW driver had been sixth but retired with a broken right-hand front damper.

The two retirements promoted Citroen’s Dani Sordo up to fifth, the Spaniard a distant 4m44s behind Hirvonen.

After the finish control, crews left for a 32-kilometre liaison section and the decisive final test – the bonus point Painaa Power Stage.