SS9: Latvala keeps Loeb on his toes

Jari-Matti Latvala reduced Sebastien Loeb’s Acropolis Rally lead to 6.5s at the end of Friday’s action in Greece.

The Ford man’s stage win on the second run through Thiva saw him beat Loeb by 3.7s, as the Citroen driver struggled slightly with visibility as numerous delayed cars ahead kicked up dust.

Latvala’s team-mate Petter Solberg also took time out of Loeb on Thiva, and heads for the overnight break 18.7s off the lead.

In the second Citroen, fourth-placed Mikko Hirvonen lost time with a puncture - which he suspected was a result of some excursions while blinded by dust.

"There was so much dust, I missed a corner completely and went wide. We went off a couple of times, just wide and hitting banks," he said. "Maybe one of those caused the puncture."

The dust ahead was largely created by Mads Ostberg and Thierry Neuville, both of whom had issues on the stage. Ostberg went off the road, losing around three minutes, while Neuville struggled with a broken driveshaft and dropped five minutes as he grappled with a new rear-wheel-drive-only Citroen DS3 WRC.

Ostberg was frustrated both with himself and with the spectators he had hoped would help get his Adapta Ford back on the road.

"I was understeering quite a lot and still I tried to push," said Ostberg. "We were not far off the road, not a bad place at all, but we just got stuck and it took quite a lot of time to get people to help us. They were more interested in taking pictures."

Ostberg and Neuville’s issues mean Evgeny Novikov (M-Sport Ford) and Martin Prokop (Czech Ford) move into the top six.