SS3: Hirvonen fastest as Loeb takes lead

Mikko Hirvonen has boosted his chances of winning the World Rally Championship by going fastest on the Clocaenog stage in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Hirvonen completed the first forest stage of Wales Rally GB 2.3s faster than title rival Sebastien Loeb, who moves ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala into the overall lead, 0.7s ahead of Hirvonen.

“It was very slippery,” said Citroen driver Loeb. “There was a lot of mud and the grip was changing at every corner.”

Hirvonen said: “It was surprisingly dark in the forests but I was quite happy with that.”

Former leader Latvala, who drops to third overall, said: "I wasn’t maybe having the best feeling on the stage but it was okay."

With the daylight rapidly fading, crews began to struggle to see where they were going. Briton Matthew Wilson was affected more than most due to a broken light pod.

“It was going really well,” said the M-Sport Stobart driver. “We were up on Mads at about six of seven kilometres, then the front bumper light came up and I couldn’t see anything - I lost the light completely.”

Petter Solberg was fourth fastest in his privateer Citroen with Kris Meeke fifth in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. Super 2000 World Rally Championship runner-up Ott Tanak impressed with the sixth fastest time on his first outing in a World Rally Car.

Crews are now heading to Llandudno for the remote service halt via the opening ceremony at Conwy Quay.