Citroen in control

Sébastien Loeb can’t relax just yet s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is 7.4 seconds behind.

Citroen says it will let its drivers race for the Rally Finland win. Loeb fired the first shot this morning setting best time on SS13, pushing his lead over Hirvonen to 8.9 seconds. The Finn answered on SS14 with best time, 1.5 seconds quicker than the Frenchman. Hirvonen said he hasn’t give up and will go for it! Remember the day ends with two runs on the infamous 33km Ouninpohja stage where a lead this small may not be enough to allow Loeb to take it easy.

Over at Ford it is now about holding onto third and fourth place. Jari-Matti Latvala is third at 24.9s, while Petter Solberg is fourth, 40 seconds adrift of Loeb. Fiestas hold positions five through nine with Mads Ostberg leading the way from Ott Tanak; Jari Ketomaa and Matti Rantanen. Sébastien Ogier in the Skoda Fabia S2000 has moved into the top ten after Ken Block crashed out of the rally on Lestu 1.

TOP TEN SS 14
1 Hirvonen
2 Loeb +1.5s
3 Latvala +4.9s
4 Tanak +7.8s
5 Solberg + 7.9s
6 Ostberg +9.2s
7 Ketomaa +22.7s
8 Neuville + 23.4s
9 Rantanen + 24.5s
10 Novikov + 30.3s

TOP TENAFTER SS 14
1 Loeb
2 Hirvonen +7.4s
3 Latvala +24.9s
4 Solberg +40.0s
5 Ostberg +1:06.4s
6 Tanak + 1:51.7s
7 Ketomaa + 3:17.6s
8 Rantanen +3:32.2s
9 Prokop + 4:09.3s
10 Ogier + 6:05.2s