Jari Ketomaa extended his WRC 2 lead during Saturday’s second leg of Wales Rally GB.
Ketomaa, who has led the category in a Ford Fiesta R5 since the opening kilometre of yesterday’s first leg, was 1min 16.2sec clear of former series leader Lorenzo Bertelli and on course for his first WRC 2 victory of the season.
The Finn must win to stand any chance of lifting the title tomorrow and hope that Nasser Al-Attiyah finishes lower than seventh. After gearbox problems yesterday, Al-Attiyah climbed to sixth today in a Fiesta RRC and remains on target to secure the crown.
Ketomaa built on his overnight 39.5sec lead over Bernardo Sousa and the gap was up to a minute when Sousa went into a ditch during the darkness of the final stage and retired. It promoted Bertelli to second and Matthew Wilson to third, 16.6sec behind the Italian.
“We tried to maintain the lead without taking any risks and I drove like a grandma through the last stage in the dark to make sure I kept the car on the island,” said Ketomaa.
Both Ketomaa and Wilson took three stage wins, with Sousa, fourth-placed Tom Cave and Quentin Gilbert claiming one apiece.
Cave was just 1.8se behind Wilson with Karl Kruuda in fifth, 4.4sec ahead of Al-Attiyah.
Valeriy Gorban’s hopes of a top six finish suffered after brake problems in his Mini John Cooper in SS13, while Gilbert dropped three minutes after changing a puncture in the final stage.