After a Citroen dominated rally so far, stage six, the first of Friday’s repeated tests, proved to be a good one for the Ford team with Jari-Matti Latvala setting fastest time and his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen next quickest.
Latvala, winner of this year’s WRC rounds in Finland and New Zealand, said he had enjoyed the increasingly rutted road conditions, likening the surface and the cambered corners to a motocross track.
Dani Sordo however did not have a good stage. The Spaniard dropped from third place to fifth - behind both Ford drivers - after reporting a transmission problem with his Citroen Junior team C4 WRC. “It feels like it’s losing power at the front wheels in the corners,” explained Sordo.
Petter Solberg set the fourth-fastest time to keep the overall lead, 9.4sec ahead of Sebastien Ogier in second.