Spin dents Latvala’s podium push

Jari-Matti Latvala’s chances of stealing third place from Petter Solberg took a knock on Saturday’s final stage, when a spin close to the start helped his rival pull further ahead.

Ford driver Latvala began the stage 12 seconds adrift of Solberg but ended the day trailing by 20 seconds.

“We had no heat in the tyres and I drifted wide on the second right-hand corner,” Latvala explained. “We got two wheels onto the gravel and I didn’t want to risk accelerating out of it so we spun. We stalled and then had to reverse a number of times to get pointing in the right way - that’s what cost us the time.”

Latvala acknowledged that Petter would now be difficult to catch on the 57km which remain on Sunday but defended his approach. “I had to try,” he said.

Spurred on by the chasing Latvala, Solberg was the stage winner, followed by Mikko Hirvonen (+3sec) and Dani Sordo (+3.7sec). Sebastien Loeb was fourth fastest to take a Rally lead of 42.8sec into Sunday’s decisive four stages.

Overall standing after SS16 - end of Day 2: