Saturday WRC wrap: Latvala leads in Australia

Jari-Matti Latvala will start the final day of Rally Australia with a lead of 22.7s over his factory Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen.

Hirvonen, in a Fiesta RS WRC, began day two leading his fellow Finn Latvala by seven seconds but, faced with the prospect of sweeping a clean line through the loose surface gravel, the 31-year-old was powerless to maintain his advantage and slipped behind Latvala after Saturday’s opening test.

From then on Latvala gradually extended his lead while Hirvonen mounted his unequal struggle in the dry and sunny conditions that provided the backdrop to day two of the World Rally Championship round.

But having completed Saturday’s 10 stages placed second in the running order, Latvala will be first though Sunday’s final six tests, which could hand the initiative back to Hirvonen, who can close on world championship leader Sebastien Loeb if he wins the Coffs Coast event.

“I’m not worried about running first,” said Latvala, who was quickest on Saturday’s opening quartet of stages. “There has not been a big fight but there has been some pressure because you need to keep your car on the road and that has not been easy.”

Hirvonen said: “It has not been an easy day. I spent the morning cleaning and then again in the afternoon because the historic cars [running behind the main WRC field] were messing up the line again. Jari-Matti will be sweeping the road now but I still have to think about Petter [Solberg].”

The Citroen privateer will start day three occupying the final podium spot, 59.5s adrift of second-placed Hirvonen. He could have been closer to the leading pace had he found the set-up of his DS3 WRC more to his liking on Saturday morning. “It’s good fun to be on the pace and everything can happen tomorrow,” said Solberg, who made several set-up changes at midday service. “We know [Latvala and Hirvonen] are strong but you can never say never.”

Matthew Wilson is fourth overnight in his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta and on course to equal his best finish in the WRC. However, the young Briton is refusing to rest on his laurels after his team-mate Henning Solberg retired from fourth when his Fiesta was struck down by an electrical glitch on Saturday afternoon. “It’s so easy to make a mistake on this rally,” said Wilson.

Khalid Al Qassimi can achieve a WRC personal best by maintaining fifth place in his Team Abu Dhabi Fiesta. “Sometimes I want to push more but it’s about finding the right balance,” said Al Qassimi. “I’m satisfied today, happiness comes at the end.”

Production Car World Rally Championship leader Hayden Paddon is an impressive sixth overnight after being delayed on Saturday morning when the pipe connecting the turbo and the intercooler in his Subaru Impreza. Class rival Michal Kosciuszko is seventh in his Mitsubishi Lancer with Oleksandr Saliuk next up in another Lancer.

Benito Guerra survived a spin to hold ninth with Evgeny Novikov, who restarted on day two under SupeRally regulations, fighting back to 10th following a charging display in his M-Sport Stobart Fiesta.

Sebastien Ogier has battled back to within touching distance of the top 10 thanks to a trio of fastest stage times on Saturday afternoon. “The top 10 is not far away and I think it’s possible if we continue to drive like this to the end of the rally,” said the works Citroen ace. “We don’t need to push to the maximum, we just need to drive well.”

Like Ogier, Citroen team-mate Sebastien Loeb also restarted on day two using SupeRally after he rolled out of the running on stage four on Friday. He was fastest on the final gravel stage of the day. “I just tried to get the rhythm and tried to get the feeling of the car,” said Loeb, who is 16th overnight, one place behind Peter van Merksteijn Jr. “The car was driving like a crab this morning but we made some repairs in service and it felt much better,” Loeb added.