SS11: Hirvonen puts Loeb back under pressure

Mikko Hirvonen slashed Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb’s Brother Rally New Zealand lead from 8.8 seconds back to just 1.7s as he flew through the Girls High School stage.

Loeb said he could offer no explanation for the loss of time except that Hirvonen was just driving faster.

"It was nothing special, Mikko was just very fast," said Loeb. "It was very muddy, so I lost quite a lot of time on him. We are nearly equal again.

"Mikko was very fast in a muddy place somewhere and took four seconds out of me in one split."

Hirvonen was thrilled to see how much he had closed in on his team-mate.

"It’s right back on now. I really enjoyed it. It was a perfect time," said the Finn. "I’m relieved now I’m here and I’m really enjoying the fight. This is how it should be: really having a good fight and really enjoying it. I’m loving it."

Although he gained on Loeb, Hirvonen wasn’t the fastest man on the stage - that honour going to third-placed Petter Solberg as he re-established a 14s cushion over Evgeny Novikov, who is now only 5s in front of M-Sport Ford team-mate Ott Tanak.

Jari-Matti Latvala was third fastest but remains a very lonely eighth.

Armindo Araujo lost a lot of time with a damper issue on his MINI, falling away from Latvala while still staying clear of 10th-placed Ken Block’s Monster Ford.