Emilia Romagna GP || May 19 || 15h00 (Local time)

SS6: Hirvonen leads

Ford driver moves ahead of Citroen’s Loeb in battle for victory in Wales

By Franck Drui

11 November 2011 - 10:45

Mikko Hirvonen has snatched the lead of Wales Rally GB in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

The Finn completed the short Dyfi East test 1.7s quicker than title rival Sebastien Loeb, who now falls 0.4s behind Hirvonen in the overall classification in his Citroen DS3 WRC.

M-Sport Stobart’s Mads Ostberg, who overtook MINI driver Kris Meeke on the previous stage, was fourth quickest, 2.0s slower than Jari-Matti Latvala. Meeke was an impressive fifth fastest and is 1.3s behind Ostberg in the battle for fifth.

Dennis Kuipers reported losing time running through a ditch in his FERM Power Tools World Rally Team Fiesta.

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	35m56.3s
02	S. LOEB / D. ELENA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+0.4s
03	J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+10.4s
04	P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSON	Citroën DS3 WRC	+33.1s
05	M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+45.1s
06	K. MEEKE / P. NAGLE	MINI WRC	+46.4s
07	H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+1m15.3s
08	O. TÄNAK / K. SIKK	FORD Fiesta RS WRC	+1m18.4s
09	M. WILSON / S. MARTIN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+1m19.7s
10	D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+1m49.0s
11	K. RÄIKKÖNEN / K. LINDSTRÖM	Citroën DS3 WRC	+1m50.9s
12	E. NOVIKOV / D. GIRAUDET	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+1m57.6s
13	K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+2m27.0s
14	K. ABBRING / L. VANNESTE	SKODA Fabia S2000	+2m56.7s
15	A. ARAÚJO / M. RAMALHO	MINI WRC	+2m57.0s