SS5: Trouble for Ogier

Sebastien Ogier’s bid to climb the leaderboard on RallyRACC-Rally de Espana has suffered a huge setback after he lost almost two minutes with a rear puncture.

The Citroen driver hit trouble approximately nine kilometres into the run and stopped to change the damaged wheel. His misfortune has handed Mikko Hirvonen a huge boost in his efforts to clinch his first world title after the Ford driver moved into third overall.

Out front Jari-Matti Latvala has extended his lead at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC to 16.0s over Sebastien Loeb after recording his second stage victory in a row. The factory Ford squad is banking on Latvala taking points from Loeb in the championship battle.

“It was a good stage,” said the Finn. “On the Tarmac section I took it very steady to save the tyres as much as possible then I attack again at the end. Of course tyres are worn but they are not too bad. I just hope there is no dust in the night stage now.”

Loeb reported having to back off slightly towards the end of the stage after fearing he’d badly worn his gravel tyres on the asphalt sections of the run. “I felt I destroyed completely the front tyres,” said the Citroen driver. “I was pushing hard then I had to back off because of the tyres.”

Hirvonen, who is more than one minute off the lead, said: “I had a lot of fun on the Tarmac sections but it was really slippery at the end after I cooked my tyres. I pushed like hell in that stage.”

A rear differential problem is hampering M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta driver Mads Ostberg. An intercom problem slowed Spanish MINI star Dani Sordo.

Crews are now heading to the mixed-surface Les Garrigues stage, which gets underway at 1928hrs local time and will be run in the dark.

Standings after SS5: