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SS7: Third stage win for Latvala

Solberg suffers third puncture and retires from day one

By Franck Drui

25 March 2011 - 18:39

Jari-Matti Latvala has bagged his third stage win of Vodafone Rally de Portugal to move into the lead of the world championship event.

While Citroen drivers Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier dropped their pace on the test to avoid running first on the road on Saturday, Latvala went on a charge to beat Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen by 6.4 seconds.

As a result he will take a lead of 11.5s over team-mate Mikko Hirvonen into day two with Loeb third and Ogier fourth, 16.7s adrift of first place.

Petter Solberg elected not to complete the stage after losing several minutes with a third puncture of the afternoon. With no spare available to make it back to service in Faro, Solberg decided to retire from the day and will restart on Saturday morning under SupeRally regulations with a 10-minute time penalty.

Portuguese hero Bernardo Sousa was in ninth overall on his debut in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC prior to the stage start but is reported to have gone off the road.

Standings after SS7:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time
01	J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	1h23m31.4s
02	M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+11.5s
03	S. LOEB / D. ELENA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+13.7s
04	S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA	Citroën DS3 WRC	+16.7s
05	H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+2m06.5s
06	M. WILSON / S. MARTIN	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+2m11.2s
07	A. ARAUJO / M. RAMALHO	Mini John Cooper Works S2000	+3m43.7s
08	F. VILLAGRA / J. PÉREZ COMPANC	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+4m31.9s
09	K. RAIKKONEN /K. LINDSTROM	Citroën DS3 WRC	+4m33.1s
10	K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+4m35.2s
11	D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	+5m45.6s
12	H. PADDON / J. KENNARD	Subaru Impreza STI	+5m59.4s
13	A. GRONDAL / V. ENGAN	Subaru Impreza STI	+6m32.7s
14	P. VAN MERKSTEIJN / E. CHEVAILLIER	Citroën DS3 WRC	+7m14.0s
15	B. MAGALHAES / P. GRAVE	Peugeot 207 S2000	+8m09.0s