Just 30.14kms of competition stand between Jari-Matti Latvala and his first victory in the FIA World Rally Championship for Volkswagen Motorsport.
The Finn and co-driver Miikka Anttila safely negotiated the penultimate 11.47km Pissia stage in their Polo R and will start the final Loutraki test with a 1min 28.8sec advantage over Dani Sordo’s Citroen DS3 at the top of the leaderboard.
“Everything went according to plan,” said Latvala. “I guess it’s the time to concentrate on winning the rally and not the Power Stage.”
Fastest through Pissia was Andreas Mikkelsen, whose Polo R was 4.5sec quicker than Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Ford Fiesta RS. Mikkelsen’s win extended his advantage over Al-Attiyah to 6.4sec in their battle for fourth place.
None of the leading drivers reported any issues, their minds focused on the possibility of taking bonus points though the Loutraki Power stage and the finish this afternoon in the town of Loutraki.