SS16: Ostberg hits trouble

Mads Ostberg has dropped behind Ott Tanak into sixth place on Neste Oil Rally Finland after a suspected mechanical failure slowed his Adapta World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

Norwegian Ostberg was more than 40s ahead of his Estonian rival starting the repeat of the Leustu stage when he began to lose time.

“I think it’s a broken propshaft or something,” said the Vodafone Rally de Portugal winner. “On a straight we had a really bad noise from the propshaft or rear diff I don’t know. I only have front-wheel drive. It just happened on a fast section on a wide road. Now I have to push.”

In the battle for victory Mikko Hirvonen has slipped further behind Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb, albeit by one-tenth of a second after Loeb shared the fastest stage time with Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala as 0.3s covered the top four drivers.

Evgeny Novikov said his co-driver Denis Giraudet’s injured back was forcing him to reduce his pace over the numerous jumps that litter the route.

Armindo Araujo has dropped down the order after he went off into a ditch on a long corner, nudged a tree and bent a suspension arm on his MINI John Cooper Works WRC. The Portuguese driver’s delay means Finn Riku Tahko is now the leading MINI runner.

Craig Breen has moved back ahead of P-G Andersson in the battle for Super 2000 World Rally Championship honours. The gap is now 13.3s after Andersson reported a suspected broken driveshaft.