SS5 : Andersson’s recovery nets joint stage win

Mads Ostberg’s domination of Rally Sweden has continued on the second pass through the Vargasen stage. As a result, the Norwegian’s margin out front has now increased to 32.8s over works Ford pilot Mikko Hirvonen.

After completing the stage, Ostberg insisted he hadn’t been taking any risks in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. “I tried to be careful not to do any mistakes and get too excited. I’m going at my own speed and enjoying it. I don’t know why everybody else is driving so slowly.”

PG Andersson recorded an identical time to Ostberg through the stage in his Fiesta as he continues his recovery from his off and puncture this morning. They had set the same time on stage three, Likenas, before a subsequent timing adjustment handed Andersson the stage win by one second.

Ostberg’s time was almost 40 seconds faster than he managed when the stage was first run in the morning, proof of how much the stage surface has been ‘cleaned’ by the crews clearing the loose surface snow.

However, world champion Sebastien Loeb still lost time in his Citroen DS3 WRC. “The grip was better for sure but now there are some ruts and in some places there is gravel so I still had to clean a bit,” he said.

Petter Solberg maintains third place in his DS3 WRC, despite receiving a 10-second penalty for leaving midday service a minute late while his mechanics rushed to make some adjustments to the rear of his car. He also suffered a minor off close to the end of the stage.

Henning Solberg has climbed from sixth to fourth in his Fiesta with Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier demoting Patrik Sandell to seventh.

Standings after SS5: