SS23: Latvala reasserts his authority

If anyone thought Jari-Matti Latvala’s stage 22 puncture was going to jeopardise his chances of Rally Sweden victory, he quickly dismissed such notions by flying to the fastest time on stage 23 and bringing his lead over Mikko Hirvonen back up to 12 seconds.

But with a tricky Power Stage still remaining, Latvala remained tense and was taking nothing for granted.

"Luckily I managed to take some time from Mikko. This gives a little more margin for the Power Stage," he said.

"I have to be incredibly focused for this stage. We need this win for the team. I made one mistake, I have to get myself together for the finish now."

Latvala’s nerves may be unnecessary though, as Hirvonen insisted his victory bid was over.

"I had to give up quite early on this stage. It was so slippery and I had a couple of big moments," he said. "I did the first stage flat-out and destroyed my tyres, and okay Jari-Matti had a puncture, but then his tyres are much better for this stage. I can’t fight against him now."

The Citroen driver was also pessimistic about his chances of picking up anything from the Power Stage.

"With these tyres that would be some sort of a miracle, but you never know," said Hirvonen.

After Petter Solberg’s stage 22 puncture all-but-guaranteed that Mads Ostberg would finish third, Solberg decided to drive conservatively through stage 23 and save tyres in the hope of grabbing some bonus points.

"It was too bad. I’m very, very disappointed," he said of his tyre blow. "In this stage I just took it very, very calm. I’ll try to get the three points on the Power Stage. It’s good for Mads, he has done a very good job."

Fifth-placed Evgeny Novikov also has an eye on scoring on the Power Stage, but Sebastien Loeb said his priority was just to survive it without delays, as he feels the number of rocks on the deciding stage will be an issue so concentrated on pulling clear of Henning Solberg now to give himself a cushion of 45.8s.

"For me there is a 90 per cent chance of a puncture if you push there," said Loeb of the Power Stage. "I’ve tried to increase my lead over Henning as much as possible."