SS8: Petter makes a dash for second

Petter Solberg was the fastest driver through SS8 - the repeated 27km Sestrimo - to slash the time difference between himself and second placed Dani Sordo from 26.8sec to 13.1sec.

The Norwegian said he was ’back in the fight’ after finding something wrong with his Citroen at the midday service but would not elaborate on what the problem was.

Solberg’s car was fitted with four hard compound tyres for SS8, which turned out to be completely dry. But with rain an ever-present threat in the mountains, a variety of options were employed by the teams. Loeb’s car was fitted with soft tyres all round, while Sordo and Ogier had soft fronts and hard rears.

Ford drivers Hirvonen and Latvala had hard compound tyres all round. Hirvonen had an encouraging run to set the fourth fastest time, but there were problems for Latvala who lost his power steering half way through.

Overall standings after SS8: