The crews and cars have been treated to a 30 minute service stop, and we’re into the afternoon leg of the day. It’s a repeat of this morning, meaning that we start with the 13.84km Mökkiperä test – it was rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala that managed to take the stage win this morning, but this afternoon his hard-charging team mate Sebastien Ogier that sits atop the stage times.
Ott Tanak
‘We did a perfect stage.’ confirmed Ogier. ‘The road is dry and it will get better. For sure Jari-Matti will be quick.’ He wasn’t wrong, but Latvala’s efforts weren’t quite enough to clinch it, with him finishing one tenth down, despite being a second up at the midway split.
‘I didn’t do a mistake but maybe I was too easy in places. Not a perfect stage, but a good one.’ Jari-Matti commented. He still holds the rally lead by 2.9 seconds. Kris Meeke came through the stage third fastest, 1.5 seconds down on Ogier, and still on course for a podium finish.
‘That felt comfortable, but now is not the time to be taking big risks. I’m continuing to learn.’ reported Meeke. The top six is completed by Ott Tanak and Mads Ostberg, setting identical times (3.7 seconds down on Ogier), and Elfyn Evans a further 3.5 seconds down.
The stage didn’t work out well for Dani Sordo, who came off the road 5.2km into the stage and got stuck in a ditch. The Finnish spectators were on hand, as ever, to get the car back onto the road. He loses over five minutes. Fellow Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville’s machine is also suffering with an intermittent misfire, which he’ll be hoping to fix.
Next up is the repeat of the 21.25km Jukojärvi stage – it was one that Ogier was able to finish quickest this morning, but Latvala’s determination is not to be underestimated.
