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The penultimate stage of today is SS17, the re-run of the 14.95km Surkee test which was run this morning as SS13. Jari-Matti Latvala continues to hold the rally lead, and, after an incredible drive through this stage, has extended his lead.
Latvala’s fastest stage time, by an incredible 5.2 seconds over second quickest Sebastien Ogier, means that his overall lead is now up to 11.4 seconds. ‘A very good stage for us, I kept it in the ruts. I like this stage and it went well. After an up and down season now it’s coming together!’ said an elated Jari-Matti. Third fastest was M-Sport’s Ott Tanak – he’s down in sixth overall due to a broken damper plaguing his efforts yesterday, but he’s putting in some spectacular times today. He’s 7.1 seconds off Latvala’s time. ‘Okay, we are not pushing near the front but we are still trying our best. We are expecting some rain here, so the car was set-up soft, but in the end it stayed dry.’ Mads Ostberg, Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville complete the top six – Thierry had to fix a misfire before this stage, which has thankfully worked. ‘We worked quite a lot on the car and now it’s working. The team gave us some good advice. Maybe a bit down on power, perhaps a fuel injector problem, but it’s better.’ The final stage of the day is the 15.3km Horkka stage, which begins at 18:25 local time. |
