A defiant Jari-Matti Latvala ended yesterday’s penultimate leg of Rally Finland with a slender 3.4sec lead over Volkswagen teammate Sebastien Ogier following a dramatic finale to the day.
Five wins from six stages had enabled Latvala to stretch his overnight lead from 19.7sec to a comfortable 31.1sec. But the Finn, hoping to win on home soil after losing out to Ogier last year, hit a hole across the road in the rutted second pass through Jukojarvi (Special Stage 20) and broke the front right brake caliper on his Polo R.
He drove the final three tests with just three brakes and championship leader Ogier, who earlier indicated it would be ‘stupid’ to try to catch Latvala, seized his chance.
Frenchman Ogier was fastest through the final four stages to set up a thrilling sprint to the finish today. “I had to hold on,” said Latvala.
“I’ve worked so hard and I didn’t come here to lose this rally.
“We’ll get the car fixed in service and tomorrow we’re in the fight for victory. I don’t care so much about the world championship right now, this is about Rally Finland.”
Ironically, both Ogier and thirdplaced Kris Meeke, driving for Citroen Total Abu Dhabi, hit the same hole as Latvala but escaped unscathed. Northern Irishman Meeke started the day second ahead of Ogier but refused to be drawn into a battle and ended 29.0sec behind after a troublefree day in his Citroen DS3.
“It’s not nice what happened to Jari-Matti,” said Ogier. “I can’t smile too much about the situation.
“I have a chance to win, but it came about by chance because Jari- Matti was doing a great job at the front.”
Andreas Mikkelsen lay fourth in another Polo R, the Norwegian seeing off challenges from Mads Ostberg and Mikko Hirvonen.
Mikkelsen ended the day with no brakes while Hirvonen broke the front right shock absorber on his Ford Fiesta in Jukojarvi and lost time.
Hayden Paddon was sixth in a Hyundai i20, holding off team-mate Juho Hanninen by 28.8sec. Paddon said: “We’ve had a very good day and have made some really solid improvements as the stages have progressed.
“I lacked a bit of confidence this morning, particularly with the front of the car. The team made some changes at lunchtime service and the car responded well in the afternoon loop.”
“I felt comfortable in the car and set some pretty decent stage times. I’m obviously pleased to be in the top six but we have three more stages tomorrow so we’ll have to push a bit more to defend from Juho, who has also had a good day.”
Home hero and Paddon’s teammate, Hanninen, added: “It’s been a pretty good day for Tomi and me after the difficulties we faced yesterday. We are involved in a close battle for sixth place with Hayden, which is fun, so I will do all I can to reduce the gap tomorrow.
“Tomorrow promises to be another enjoyable today in front of some fantastic local supporters.”
Elfyn Evans was eighth, the Welshman frustrated at not being able to raise his speed yesterday afternoon with Craig Breen and Henning Solberg completing the leaderboard.
Today’s final leg is the shortest. Drivers depart Jyvaskyla at 08:15 (09:15 UAE time) for three stages covering 36.60km. The tests are Finland classics with two passes through Ruuhimaki, the second of which is the live TV Power Stage, sandwiching Myhinpaa before the 15:00 (16:00 UAE time) finish.
