SS4: Latvala snatches lead from Loeb

Jari-Matti Latvala has snatched the lead of RallyRACC-Rally de Espana with a stunning drive through the second run of the all-gravel Pesells stage.

Latvala, in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, turned a deficit of 5.3s to Sebastien Loeb into a lead of 8.0s after going 13.3s quicker than the Citroen DS3 WRC driver.

“I had a good feeling and pushed hard,” said Latvala. “I made a couple of mistakes braking too early and then too late. It’s going good and the car is going well.”

Sebastien Ogier also took time out of the Citroen team leader, closing to within 2.5s of his fellow Frenchman. “It was a good stage, I’m happy for sure, much more pleasure than this morning,” said Ogier. “The grip started to be better but it’s still slippery.”

Loeb reported a lack of grip running first on the road through the repeated gravel stage. He said: “It’s cleaning a lot. The morning I was lucky in this stage because there was some dust. I have some lines but now there is no chance. The grip is not good, not constant. It is very difficult to drive.”

Mikko Hirvonen was faster than title rival Loeb but remains more than 30 seconds behind the Frenchman in the overall classification. “I really tried to push hard,” said the Ford driver. “I took some seconds out of him, it’s not much but it’s something.”

Hirvonen was also boosted by the fact he was able to increase the gap to the pursuing MINI driver Dani Sordo to 25.9s after going quicker than the Spaniard through the stage.

Standings after SS4: