SS8 / SS9: Mikkelsen on top after Torsby drama

Ogier started the Torsby test with a 2.9sec advantage over Volkswagen team-mate Latvala and was the first to suffer near the start.

“We hit a snow bank in a slow corner. I made a mistake and braked too late for a junction. I thought it would be OK but I hit the bank and got stuck. As first on the road I had to take risks. It was my only chance to try to do something,” said the Frenchman, who dropped almost 40sec into fourth.

Then it was Latvala’s turn, the Finn ditching his Polo R just 400 metres from the finish and losing 8min 30sec before spectators manhandled his car back onto the road.

“After a long straight we came too fast into a right corner. I saw some gravel on the road and thought the grip would be better, but the rear hit a snow bank and it pulled the front in. I kept full throttle on but the whole car was dragged into the ditch,” he explained.

Second fastest Mikkelsen headed to Karlstad for the final stage of the leg with a 19.7sec lead over Thierry Neuville (pictured below), who claimed fastest time in his Hyundai i20 by 1.0sec. Mads Østberg dropped time to them in both tests, and the DS 3 pilot is 0.9sec further back.

In trouble on the previous stage was Elfyn Evans, another to fall victim to the snow. “I didn’t get enough turn into a junction. I used the handbrake and thought we’d bounce off a snow bank, but instead we bounced up and became beached,” explained the Ford Fiesta RS driver, who lost almost two minutes and fell from sixth to 10th.

Martin Prokop has lost fourth gear in his Fiesta RS but the Czech driver is up to seventh.