Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford Focus) will start the final day of Rally of Finland with a 9.1-second advantage over Petter Solberg (Citroen) following a dramatic start to the event.
Finn Latvala has never won his home rally before in seven previous attempts and will have to withstand huge pressure from Solberg - who has also yet to win the high-speed event - over the final eight all-gravel stages on Saturday, when he will also have to clear the road of the loose surface gravel by running at the head of the field.
Latvala’s teammate at Ford and countryman Mikko Hirvonen crashedg out of first place in spectacular fashion on stage four.
Spaniard driver Dani Sordo completed the opening loop of stages in third place but slipped to fifth as fellow Citroen drivers Sebastien Ogier (third) and Sebastien Loeb (fourth) edged ahead, despite spending much of the day saddled by cleaning the road.
Briton Matthew Wilson is sixth overnight in his Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus. The young Briton was caught up in heavy rain close to the end of stage seven and also reported a minor handling glitch in the afternoon.
Henning Solberg had climbed to fifth when he slid into a ditch on a left-hander on stage eight and rolled twice, coming to a rest upside down against a tree.
Four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen is up to seventh on his one-off return to the WRC. The 51-year-old is closely followed by former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, whom he vowed to try to beat before the start.
Finn Latvala has never won his home rally before in seven previous attempts and will have to withstand huge pressure from Solberg - who has also yet to win the high-speed event - over the final eight all-gravel stages on Saturday, when he will also have to clear the road of the loose surface gravel by running at the head of the field.
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| Jari-Matti Latvala, Ford Focus RS (Photo: Ford) |
Latvala’s teammate at Ford and countryman Mikko Hirvonen crashedg out of first place in spectacular fashion on stage four.
Spaniard driver Dani Sordo completed the opening loop of stages in third place but slipped to fifth as fellow Citroen drivers Sebastien Ogier (third) and Sebastien Loeb (fourth) edged ahead, despite spending much of the day saddled by cleaning the road.
Briton Matthew Wilson is sixth overnight in his Stobart M-Sport Ford Focus. The young Briton was caught up in heavy rain close to the end of stage seven and also reported a minor handling glitch in the afternoon.
Henning Solberg had climbed to fifth when he slid into a ditch on a left-hander on stage eight and rolled twice, coming to a rest upside down against a tree.
Four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen is up to seventh on his one-off return to the WRC. The 51-year-old is closely followed by former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, whom he vowed to try to beat before the start.