Hirvonen escapes

Mikko Hirvonen does not let up his efforts. After the second loop contested near the town of Jämsä, the Finn further increased his lead at the head of the Rally from Finland. Hirvonen set the best time in five of the day's six special stages to increase his lead to 28 seconds over his runner-up Sébastien Loeb.

Victim of a puncture in SS15 which cost him 13,5 seconds, the Frenchman was unable to close the gap on his rival for the title and began to doubt his chances of getting there before the end of the week. -end. “ I'm trying to catch up but it's getting really difficult ", did he declare.

Behind the duettists, we witness an intense fight between the two teammates. Dani Sordo (Citroën) was in third place for a long time before being overtaken by Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) in the last special of the second loop, SS16. The Finn, victim of food poisoning, seems to be gradually recovering and is attacking at all costs. After setting the best time in Surkee 2 (SS16), he is now ahead of the Spaniard by 1,4 seconds.

Behind, Matti Rantanen remains in fifth position, thanks to his incredible performance at the wheel of the Munchi?s team's Ford Focus. Mads Ostberg followed behind at 41,6 seconds after completing a smooth passage in his Adapta Team Subaru Impreza. Sébastien Ogier, the Citroën Junior Team driver is seventh, 2,1 seconds behind Ostberg. Ketomaa is eighth, 15 seconds behind Ogier.