“Fantastic!” he told the official WRC site after seizing the lead in SS8. “I tried to push hard all day in spite of the slippery conditions. It was not an easy job.”
“I struggled on the first stage today and was driving badly,” Latvala added, “but then we bled the brakes between the stages and I got my confidence with the car back and it’s been great after that.”
Andreas Mikkelsen meanwhile is third, giving Volkswagen a clean sweep of the provisional podium: “It has been very good today. I happy with my driving, no big mistakes and no big risks either,” he remarked.
Kris Meeke, who had led for most of the day, slipped back to fourth in his Citroen DS3 WRC after the super specials, albeit only 0.6 seconds off third and only 4.1 seconds off the lead.
Then comes Mikko Hirvonen for M-Sport and the Finn is also right up there, just 3.8 seconds further back: “I’m quite happy with that,” he remarked. “Everything is working very well and I am happy with the car.”
Behind, Hayden Paddon rounds out the top six for Hyundai, a long way off P5, but in a relatively close scrap with Mads Ostberg and Robert Kubica – just over 11 seconds separates the three.
Elfyn Evans is ninth, unable to get into a good rhythm, while Rallye Deutschland winner, Thierry Neuville holds tenth. Neuville had been sixth, and up with the top five, but he hit a stone in Bellingen 2 this afternoon and broke the rear suspension. That cost the Belgian almost two minutes and dropped him back.
Home star Chris Atkinson is eleventh, with WRC2 class leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi twelfth and 7.1 seconds up on Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Rally Australia now continues on Saturday, with six stages on the bill, covering a competitive distance of 118.88 kilometres. SS9, the 48.92 km Nambucca 1 test – the longest of the event, is due to start at 08.18 hours local time.
Rally Australia: Overall standings after Stage 8 (Top 10):
1. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC 58m 05.8s M
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +00m 00.4s M
3. Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC +00m 03.5s M
4. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +00m 04.1s M
5. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 07.9s M
6. Hayden Paddon Hyundai Motorsport N i20 WRC +00m 46.4s M
7. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS3 WRC +00m 50.3s M
8. Robert Kubica RK M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +00m 57.6s M
9. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +01m 30.5s M
10. Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +02m 08.4s M
Published by: Crash.net