Swedish Rally – after stage 4, Mangen 1
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team made a perfect start to this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship with its Focus RS World Rally Cars holding first and second at the midpoint of today's action. Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila led colleagues Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen with six Focus cars inside the top 10.
All 61 starters restarted from Karlstad this morning after last night's spectacular speed test around the city's trotting track. Competitors headed north into western Värmland for the first time since 2001 to tackle two identical loops of three special stages, before a second pass over the trotting track this evening. Temperatures are again remarkably mild, and although the roads were snow covered for the early starters, it was soon swept away by the passage of the cars to leave better grip for those behind.
Latvala started 10th in the running order and made the best of his favourable position to win all three stages this morning. He was especially impressive on the final 22.09km Mangen test, where he was more than 16sec faster than anyone else to reach the short service at Sunne with a 23.0sec lead.
"The last stage was hard with a lot of snow on the road and I had a few narrow escapes," said 22-year-old Latvala. "Conditions weren't easy for me so they must have been much more difficult for the first starters. I'm surprised to be leading by so much but I knew that if I could be sensible, my road position was a big advantage. Conditions were better than I imagined but this afternoon it will be vital to look after the tyres as all the snow will have gone and the roads will be pure gravel."
Hirvonen was second fastest on the morning's opening two stages and third fastest in Mangen. "I lost a few seconds driving around Loeb's car in the last stage. He had gone off and there was just enough room to squeeze by and I lost my rhythm after that. Conditions were tricky. There was soft snow and slush on that stage and there wasn't good grip under braking. It felt like the car was floating. There will be a lot of gravel this afternoon but conditions will be more even for the early starters."
Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr are 12th in another officially-entered Focus RS. "It's my first ever snow rally so I'm driving cautiously," said 35-year-old Al Qassimi. "I'm here to learn and conditions are changing almost corner-by-corner so there is much to learn. The roads are narrow in places and I've had a few scary moments."
Leaderboard after stage 4 of 20
1. J-M Latvala/M Anttila FIN Ford Focus RS 31min 47.8sec
2. M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen FIN Ford Focus RS 32min 10.8sec
3. H Solberg/C Menkerud NOR Ford Focus RS 32min 20.1sec
4. G Galli/G Bernacchini ITA Ford Focus RS 32min 36.1sec
5. P Solberg/P Mills NOR Subaru Impreza 32min 49.5sec
6. T Gardemeister/T Tuominen FIN Suzuki SX4 33min 11.1sec
7. M Wilson/S Martin GBR Ford Focus RS 33min 19.5sec
8. M Østberg/O Unnerud NOR Subaru Impreza 33min 23.6sec
9. A Mikkelsen/O Floene NOR Ford Focus RS 33min 25.2sec
10 J Ketomaa/M Teiskonen FIN Subaru Impreza 34min 28.3sec