Sweden: Hirvonen stands out

The last morning of rally from Sweden offered an attractive poster. Five pilots in barely 15", unbearable suspense and total uncertainty as to the final outcome. However, it did not take long for the scenario to become clearer. In the shadows since the start of the rally, Mikko Hirvonen placed his Ford Fiesta in the spotlight, finally taking his first scratches. Better still, the Finn won the three stages of the morning and now has a comfortable lead at the top of the standings. “ The track is now nice and smooth, there are no more ruts. I have to push now because the afternoon may be more difficult for me », Confided the Ford driver.

By conceding only 13 seconds, Mads Ostberg was the only driver able to maintain a reasonable gap. Fluid, error-free driving allows the Norwegian to continue to hope, despite a certain resignation. “ If I try to go faster, I'll start making mistakes. I'm not sure I can go much faster “, he confessed.

Petter Solberg (+30 »5) and Sébastien Ogier (+39 »2) are now too far away to claim final victory. The battle for the podium, however, promises to be thrilling. 8"8 only separate the two men, which means that nothing is decided. Solberg almost lost big when he broke a front suspension at the very end of SS19.

Jari-Matti Latvala lost his footing very early in SS17. He hit a wall of snow and broke a second front bumper on his Fiesta after the one on Friday. Left behind, the Finn drops 51”6. He admitted he lacked confidence following his contact. Loeb, second fastest in SS18, remains 6th overall, 2’16”7 behind the leader.

Author of an excellent day yesterday, Kimi Räikkönen failed to find his rhythm. He is outclassed by PG Andersson. Despite a spin, the regional rider of the stage recovered 7th place overall with a 29” lead over Ice Man.

Ranking after SS19 :

1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 2h59m02.7s
2. Mads Ostberg Ford + 13.7s
3. Petter Solberg Citroen + 30.5s
4. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 39.2s
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 51.6s
6. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 2m16.7s
7. P-G Andersson Ford + 6m08.8s
8. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen + 6m38.2s
9. Khalid Al Qassimi Ford + 9m34.7s
10. Matthew Wilson Ford + 9m35.1s

Find in issue 1791 of AUTOhebdo, currently on newsstands, our 28 pages devoted to the Guide WRC 2011.