SS7: Latvala flies to stage win

Jari-Matti Latvala has made a strong start to the second day of ADAC Rallye Deutschland by winning the first stage in the northern Saarland region at the wheel of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Latvala began day two in a distant 15th overall following a fraught opening day, which included a loss of power and a brace of punctures. The fitting of replacement spark plugs, injection coils and fuel injectors at overnight service has restored his car to full working order although the Finn reported suffering a stomach upset.

“The car is working really well but I have some problems with my stomach,” said Latvala. “I felt sick overnight and was not feeling great but I felt quite okay on the first stage. I enjoyed the gravel section at the end and pushed it hard.”

Out front, Sebastien Loeb has extended his advantage over Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier to 7.7s after setting the second fastest time amid speculation that the Citroen drivers have been told to hold station given their sizeable advantage over the chasing pack.

“It was okay but there was a lot of loose gravel on the gravel section so we will see,” said Loeb. “I had a clean run with no mistakes. I took a hard tyre with two spares for safety.”

Dani Sordo, who was sixth fastest, reported making a few mistakes at the start of the stage at the wheel of his MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Kris Meeke was faster than team-mate Sordo early in the stage but dropped time when he overshot a junction: “You can’t make any mistakes at this level, it’s about perfection,” said the Briton, who has slipped to sixth behind Citroen privateer Petter Solberg, after the Norwegian impressed with the fourth fastest time following a frustrating opening day.

Dennis Kuipers has climbed ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Henning Solberg into seventh overall in his FERM Power Tools World Rally Team Fiesta with the ninth best time with Solberg reporting a big vibration in his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta.

Matthew Wilson struck a tree going off the road on a square right corner and completed the stage with a right-rear puncture. Patrik Flodin, who has restarted under SupeRally regulations following a suspected alternator failure on Friday morning, set the eighth best time in his Grifone-run MINI.

Standings after SS7: