Sebastien Loeb has set a stunning pace on stage three of Neste Oil Rally Finland to extend his overall lead of the FIA World Rally Championship counter to 7.3s ahead Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen, who are tied on time in second place.
Loeb was 3.2s quicker than rapid Ford privateer Mads Ostberg and 3.5s quicker than Citroen team-mate and top Finn Hirvonen. Latvala was 5.0s adrift for the factory Ford squad, while team-mate Petter Solberg, who was second overall starting the stage, slips to sixth after he failed to match Loeb through the stage due to traction issues.
Afterwards, Loeb said: “I couldn’t go faster for sure. It was a very, very good stage and I was flat out everywhere. I was really on the limit with no mistakes at all, it was a big push.”
Ostberg said: “It was a good stage for us. We pushed quite hard at the beginning and we had a few moments in the fast stuff through the forest where it was very slippery so we backed off towards the end.”
Hirvoen admitted to being on a charge in his DS3 WRC. He said: “I was a couple of times more on the ditch than in the road. I lost some time, we’re a little bit behind but we’ll see tomorrow. I need to stay on the road tomorrow, I’ll be a lot faster that way.”
Latvala said: “I don’t have an answer at the moment, I thought I was driving well and I thought it was a good stage but I’ve lost five seconds and that’s a lot. There’s no excuse.” Solberg added: “I struggled a little bit with the traction sometimes and it was very tricky in the middle part.”
Riku Tahko said he struggled for vision in the low-lying sun due to damage sustained to the windscreen of his privateer MINI John Cooper Works WRC on the previous superspecial stage. A similar problem plagued M-Sport Fiesta pilot Ott Tanak.
Crews are now heading back to Jyvaskyla for a 45-minute service and the overnight halt.
| Pos. | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | S. LOEB | 15m07.1s |
| 2. | M. HIRVONEN | +7.3 |
| 3. | J. LATVALA | +7.3 |
| 4. | M. ØSTBERG | +7.5 |
| 5. | T. NEUVILLE | +9.0 |
| 6. | P. SOLBERG | +9.2 |
| 7. | C. ATKINSON | +15.6 |
| 8. | E. NOVIKOV | +18.2 |
| 9. | O. TÄNAK | +21.1 |
| 10. | J. KETOMAA | +33.1 |
| 11. | M. PROKOP | +37.8 |
| 12. | S. OGIER | +41.1 |
| 13. | E. LAPPI | +44.7 |
| 14. | M. RANTANEN | +45.9 |
| 15. | H. PADDON | +46.2 |
| 16. | P. ANDERSSON | +57.3 |
| 17. | K. BLOCK | +59.1 |
| 18. | C. BREEN | +1:00.6 |
| 19. | K. KRUUDA | +1:01.7 |
| 20. | J. SALO | +1:08.2 |