SS6: Latvala closes onto Hirvonen’s tail

Mikko Hirvonen’s lead over Jari-Matti Latvala in Sweden is down to 0.4 seconds after a resurgence from the Ford driver on the first stage after the lunchtime service.

But it was Sebastien Loeb who was fastest of all on the second run through Opaker, moving the world champion past a perplexed Mads Ostberg into third place.

Latvala had been frustrated that he kept losing time with the rear of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC sliding this morning, but felt set-up changes at service had paid off.

"The car feels better than it did this morning, it has more grip to the rear so I was happy with that," he said. "It’s going to be an interesting fight."

Hirvonen was third quickest, losing 2.5s to Latvala, but remained calm.

"It is a very close fight," said the Citroen DS3 WRC driver. "There is a lot more gravel now and the car feels like it is understeering a lot, so I took it a little bit easier."

Even Latvala could not match Loeb’s time, as the champion fell to the stage win with a 3.3s cushion over the Ford - and admitted he had been pushing hard.

"It’s a good time, I’m really happy with this time for a second pass of the stage," said Loeb - who is now just 6.9s off the lead.

"The feeling was really good. The set-up is good now and I pushed really hard. It’s also important to stay on the road, but at this speed you have to take some risks sometimes."

That time moved Loeb past Ostberg into third. The Adapta Ford driver was only sixth quickest on the stage, dropping 6.6s behind Loeb, but remaining 2.7s in front of Petter Solberg’s works Ford.

Ostberg was at a loss to explain his relative lack of pace.

"I don’t understand," he said. "We are not doing anything different and we are losing a lot.

"I just can’t believe it, I don’t understand anything."

Behind the front group, a fourth fastest time from Evgeny Novikov brought the M-Sport Ford closer to Dani Sordo’s sixth-placed MINI. They are now five seconds apart.