Sebastien Ogier has moved ahead of Petter Solberg into third place after going fastest through the repeated Coiluna test.
In doing so, the Citroen pilot ended Jari-Matti Latvala’s sequence of stage wins, albeit by a slender margin of 0.4s. Ogier was also 1.1s faster than Mikko Hirvonen and is now 2.1s behind the Ford Fiesta-driving Finn in the overall standings.
“It was a nice stage, I’m happy with the car and the feeling is better than yesterday,” said Ogier. “We have changed something on the balance and helps me a lot.”
Hirvonen said: “I’m happy with that. It’s a fantastic fight. We have to go so on the limit. It’s so close with Petter and Ogier. I really have to push hard.”
After setting the fourth fastest time on the stage, Solberg said: “It worked well. I did one mistake and lost maybe two seconds. I’m trying and I know I can beat Loeb on this rally. I just need to get a little bit of luck on my side.”
Loeb revealed the stage surface was slippery in places and admitted he had expected to lose some time after going fifth quickest: “For sure I lose some time, that’s normal. Some parts were okay, some slippery. I was pushing hard and I know we will continue to lose. We need a minimum lead of 20 seconds tonight so we try.”
Standings after SS12:
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|
01 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 2h30m37.8s |
02 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +26.8s |
03 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +28.9s |
04 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +29.2s |
05 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1m20.9s |
06 | D. SORDO / C. DEL BARRIO | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +1m56.8s |
07 | O. TANAK / K. SIKK | FORD FIESTA S2000 | +4m18.4s |
08 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m56.9s |
09 | J. HANNINEN / M. MARKKULA | SKODA FABIA S2000 | +5m04.6s |
10 | M. PROKOP / J. TOMANEK | FORD FIESTA S2000 | +6m46.4s |
11 | A. ARAÚJO / R. MIGUEL | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +8m37.7s |
12 | K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +8m51.8s |
13 | N. AL ATTIYAH / G. BERNACCHINI | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +8m54.3s |
14 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +8m58.0s |
15 | B. SOUSA / A. COSTA | FORD FIESTA S2000 | +11m45.2s |