from: http://www.wrc.com/
Jari-Matti Latvala will start the final day of the 2011 World Rally Championship season in Wales tomorrow leading world champion Sebastien Loeb by 6.1s.
The Finn, in a Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team Fiesta RS WRC, started day three trailing Loeb by 1.1s only for an overshoot on Saturday’s first test to drop him back.
But three stage bests for Latvala in the afternoon propelled him to top spot heading into Sunday’s six stages.
“It’s going really well and tomorrow morning I need to wake up with a very clean head,” said Latvala, who is still chasing his first victory of 2011. “I have good confidence and I’m so hungry for the victory. Sebastien is eight-time world champion now and maybe he doesn’t have the spark to fight completely at 100 per cent. I do.”
Loeb reported the slippery conditions he encountered running at the head of the field in the afternoon had slowed his Citroen DS3 WRC. “I was pushing very hard but honestly it was so slippery and I had absolutely no grip,” said the French ace. “I tried and made no mistake but I could not do any better.”
Mads Ostberg is third overall in his M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta but said he was being hampered by an engine problem, the cause of which he could not determine. But with an overnight lead of almost three minutes over team-mate and countryman Henning Solberg, Ostberg is firmly in contention for the final spot on the podium.
Kris Meeke is fifth, 45s behind Solberg following a fraught morning in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC, which necessitated substantial repairs during midday service after an engine mounting worked loose on Saturday’s first test. “It’s not been an easy day but we’re on target to catch Henning,” said Meeke, who heads Matthew Wilson by 45.6s in the battle to finish as the leading British driver.
Wilson said a chunk of understeer on the second Myherin stage had held him back. However, with Dennis Kuipers more than 50 seconds behind in seventh, Wilson’s tenure of sixth looks secure heading into day four. Kuipers, in a FERM Power Tools World Rally Team Fiesta, lost time with a slow puncture on stage 15.
Ott Tanak is eighth following a troubled afternoon in his Fiesta. After repairs in service following his stage 14 off overran and resulted in time penalties prior to stage 15, Tanak then encountered mechanical problems to the extent he has dropped to eighth overall.
Evgeny Novikov is ninth for Team Abu Dhabi with Ken Block completing the top 10 in his Monster World Rally Team Fiesta. Armindo Araujo is next up in his Motorsport Italia MINI, which the Portuguese has struggled to set up to his liking. Kevin Abbring is 12th at the wheel of Volkswagen Motorsport’s Skoda Fabia following another strong showing in his first world championship rally in a Super 2000 car.
MINI’s Dani Sordo returned to action under SupeRally regulations following his crash on Friday morning. The Spaniard is currently just outside the top 30 following a spirited comeback.
Sebastien Ogier, who restarted on day, damaged the front left corner of his factory Citroen cutting a hairpin too tightly. He’s 15th overnight.
Kimi Raikkonen rolled into retirement on Saturday’s opener, while Petter Solberg stopped with a broken fuel pipe heading to the stage. Neither will restart on the final day, which gets underway with the first of six stages at 07:43hrs local time.
