Mikko Hirvonen seems to have WRC Rally Sweden under control after pulling away from Sebastien Loeb over Saturday afternoon's stages
The battle between the pair had been extremely close until this afternoon's loop of stages, when Loeb could not match Hirvonen's times and rapidly lost ground.
"In this one I had good front tyres but completely destroyed rears, and the car was undriveable," Loeb protested after Stage 15. "I couldn't push, I just had to follow the road and it was impossible to attack. New tyres at the front and completely destroyed at the rear is worse than having all four destroyed."
Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala passed Citroen's Dani Sordo for third when Sordo stopped had to remove a snow shield as his C4 began to overheat, while Sebastien Ogier remains fifth for Citroen Junior, ahead of Stobart Ford's Henning Solberg, whose teammate Matthew Wilson moved back up to seventh.
The recovering Petter Solberg is back up to ninth, while Kimi Raikkonenawas delighted to set the sixth fastest time overall as he recovers from a 30 minute delay when he got stuck in snow Friday. Marcus Gronholm won the second run through the Sagen stage but lost more time today...
Rally Sweden - Postitions After Day 2
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford Focus 1:41:15.4
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen C4 + 16.6
3. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford Focus + 51.4
4. Dani Sordo Citroen C4 + 1:46.2
5. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C4 + 2:59.5
6. Henning Solberg Ford Focus + 2:42.2
7. Matthew Wilson Ford Focus + 3:47.9
8. Mads Ostberg Subaru Impreza + 5:44.2
9. Petter Solberg Citroen + 5:57.0
10. P-G Andersson Skoda Fabia + 8:35.8
STAGE 12
Hirvonen, Loeb in Swedish Battle
Mikko Hirvonen is coming under pressure from Sebastien Loeb in Rally Sweden with the Frenchman closing to just four seconds behind his Finnish rival
Ford driver Hirvonen pulled away when he won Saturday's opening stage 9 SS9 but Citroen man Loeb fought back with fastest times on the next three stages to cut the gap by over 6 seconds through the morning.
Dani Sordo is now a distannt third after an error on Stage 11 left his Citroen damaged while fourth-placed Jari-Matti Latvala remains 22 seconds behind his rival and ahead of Citroen junior driver Sebastien Ogier and Henning Solberg's Stobart Ford, while Subaru driver Mads Ostberg passed Stobart's Matthew Wilson for seventh.
Petter Solberg his chasing a top ten spot following his earlier dramas, while Marcus Gronholm finally was second quickest time on the stage he named his restaurant after it. "On the splits I was similar to Loeb, but the rhythm was not there," said Gronholm, who is still only 24th on the leaderboard due to yesterday's electrical glitch. "But okay, this was the best stage for me. It's a nice flowing road and it's nice to drive."
Kimi Raikkonen found another snow bank Saturday morning. "The first stage was very difficult and we didn't have good pace notes," the F1 refugee explained. "Then the next stage was very good until the last hairpin, when I stalled the engine and slid into a snow bank, "Otherwise it would have been a good time."
Rally Sweden - Postitions After Stage 12
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford Focus 1:41:15.4
2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen C4 + 4.2
3. Dani Sordo Citroen C4 + 35.9
4. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford Focus + 57.1
5. Sebastien Ogier Citroen C4 + 1:59.5
6. Henning Solberg Ford Focus + 2:57.9
7. Mads Ostberg Subaru Impreza + 4:34.5
8. Matthew Wilson Ford Focus + 4:43.2
9. P-G Andersson Skoda Fabia + 6:50.0
10. Andreas Mikkelsen Ford Focus + 7:48.8
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