Sweden win puts Latvala on top

Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala in a Toyota climbed atop the overall standings yesterday when he won the Rally of Sweden a day after pacesetter Thierry Neuville crashed out again. The Belgian Hyundai driver had a 43sec lead over Latvala going into Saturday’s final stage, but lost a wheel when hitting a barrier on a simple run around the Karlstad hippodrome meant a second consecutive bomb out. For Latvala it was a fourth win on the ice-covered roads with snowbanks, breakneck speeds in sub-zero temperatures as Ford pair Estonia’s Ott T‰nak and world champion Sebastien Ogier came second and third trailing by 29.2sec and 1min respectively. “It’s simply magnificent. New team, only the second rally and we’ve got this win,” Latvala said. Despite Neuville’s misfortune the Finn was a deserved winner after crushing the opposition in all three specials yesterday.

Defending champion Ogier, who won here last year, blew his chances when he spun his Fiesta through the very first corner yesterday.

“That was a stupid mistake. I caught some fresh snow on the inside and spun. I took it easy afterwards because I knew it was over,” said the Frenchman who had been trailing by just 16 seconds at the time. The result leaves Latvala on 48 points, Ogier on 44 and Tanak on 33 after the second event on the 13 date calender.

After the snow of Sweden next up for the new,bigger and lighter cars is the testing gravel tracks at the Rally of Guanajuato in northern Mexico from March 12.

Results:

1. Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 2h36:03.6 2. Ott T‰nak-Raigo Molder (EST/Ford Fiesta RS) at 29.2 3. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Ford Fiesta RS) 59.5 4. Dani Sordo-Marc Marti (ESP/Hyundai i20) 2:11.5 5. Craig Breen-Scott Martin (IRL-GBR/CitroÎn C3) 2:51.2 6. Elfyn Evans-Daniel Barritt (GBR/Ford Fiesta RS) 5:26.6 7. Hayden Paddon-John Kennard (NZL/Hyundai i20) 5:31.2 8. Stephane Lefebvre-Gabin Moreau (FRA/CitroÎn DS3) 7:14.7 9. Pontus Tidemand-Jonas Andersson (SWE/Skoda Fabia) 9:11.1 (1er catÈgorie WRC2) 10. Teemu Suninen-Mikko Markkula (FIN/Ford Fiesta RS) 10:02.9

Power Stage (ES18):

1. Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 5 pts 2. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Ford Fiesta RS) 4 pts 3. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL/Hyundai i20) 3 pts 4. Kris Meeke-Paul Nagle (GBR-IRL/CitroÎn C3) 2 pts 5. Hayden Paddon-John Kennard (NZL/Hyundai i20) 1 pt

Specials winners:

Latvala 6 (ES1, ES4, ES13, ES16, ES17, ES18) Neuville 6 (ES2, ES3, ES5, ES6, ES7, ES14), T‰nak 4 (ES8, ES9, ES10, ES11), Sordo 1 (ES15), ES12 cancelled. — AFP