Henning Solberg says he will do all he can to maintain his grip on the final podium spot on Wales Rally GB, the closing round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season.
The Norwegian M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta driver is under mounting pressure from Kris Meeke in the battle for third place with the Briton closing the gap to 21.3s with three stages remaining.
“I try my best and we will see what we can do,” said Solberg, who was 1.3s slower than MINI driver Meeke through the stage. “A podium will be fantastic. I try.”
Jari-Matti Latvala tops the overall standings by 3m19.5s in his Ford Fiesta RS WRC but had to give best to Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier, who was quickest through the short test by 0.2s, despite reporting that he was “validating his pace notes” when the stage is run for a second time this afternoon.
Evgeny Novikov has fallen behind Dennis Kuipers to eighth place after reporting an engine problem at the stage start on his Team Abu Dhabi Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | J. LATVALA / M. ANTTILA | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | 3h02m35.2s |
| 02 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +3m19.5s |
| 03 | H. SOLBERG / I. MINOR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +6m31.0s |
| 04 | K. MEEKE / P. NAGLE | MINI WRC | +6m52.3s |
| 05 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +8m11.7s |
| 06 | O. TÄNAK / K. SIKK | FORD Fiesta RS WRC | +8m58.7s |
| 07 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +9m21.1s |
| 08 | E. NOVIKOV / D. GIRAUDET | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +9m21.8s |
| 09 | K. BLOCK / A. GELSOMINO | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +15m06.8s |
| 10 | A. ARAÚJO / M. RAMALHO | MINI WRC | +15m46.5s |
| 11 | K. ABBRING / L. VANNESTE | SKODA Fabia S2000 | +16m23.3s |
| 12 | H. PADDON / J. KENNARD | SUBARU Impreza R4 | +16m55.6s |
| 13 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +17m52.6s |
| 14 | P. FLODIN / T. ALANNE | SUBARU Impreza | +20m05.9s |
| 15 | Y. AL RAJHI / M. ORR | FORD Fiesta S2000 | +23m24.6s |