SS6: Hirvonen gets some breathing space

Mikko Hirvonen’s stunning speed on the final part of the famous Whaanga Coast stage allowed him to rebuild a 7.6-second lead in his Brother Rally New Zealand battle with Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb.

The reigning world champion had been edging ever closer to Hirvonen with a string of fastest times on the preceding three stages.

But as had been the case in the morning, Hirvonen had the edge on Whaanga Coast, particularly its concluding section, and by the end of the stage he had been able to turn his tiny 1.5s lead into a slightly more comfortable 7.6s cushion. All Loeb could do was admire his team-mate’s efforts.

"Mikko was again very fast at the end. I don’t know why," said Loeb. "I can’t match his speed there."

Hirvonen ended the stage on a concerned note, though, as he feared that the improving weather would start to penalise his position at the head of the start order.

"It has been drying a lot more than we expected," the Finn admitted. "If the next two stages are like that we could be in a little bit of trouble."

But he added: "I am having so much fun and this is a really great battle with Seb to be exchanging times back and forward like we are."

Third-placed Jari-Matti Latvala lost 10s to Hirvonen on the stage, and is now 25s off the lead, but the Ford man expects to reduce that gap over the final two Friday stages.

"I tried to save the tyres," Latvala explained. "The next two are the important ones - the long and fast stages."

The recovering Petter Solberg was second to Hirvonen on the stage, as the factory Ford World Rally Team car closed to within five seconds of Ott Tanak’s fifth-placed M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC.