Mikko Hirvonen’s hopes of winning Rally d’Italia Sardegna have suffered a setback after he picked up a right-rear puncture approximately 13 kilometres into 19.66-kilometre test and lost more than 50 seconds to leader Sebastien Loeb.
“It was my own mistake,” said Hirvonen. “I went a bit wide, hit a bank and had a puncture.”
With one stage of day one remaining Loeb now leads his Citroen team-mate Sebastien Ogier by 33 seconds.
“I drive a good stage again but I prefer to be first on the road tomorrow with a big gap to the others behind me,” said the seven-time champion.
Petter Solberg was second fastest through the stage and is now 1.8s behind Ogier.
Mads Ostberg lost ground with a spin but moves into fifth after Evgeny Novikov rolled his Fiesta.
Standings after SS7 :
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. LOEB / D. ELENA | Citroën DS3 WRC | 1h21m44.7s |
| 02 | S. OGIER / J. INGRASSIA | Citroën DS3 WRC | +33.0s |
| 03 | P. SOLBERG / C. PATTERSSON | Citroën DS3 WRC | +34.8s |
| 04 | M. HIRVONEN / J. LEHTINEN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +56.8s |
| 05 | M. ØSTBERG / J. ANDERSSON | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +1m01.4s |
| 06 | D. SORDO / C. DEL BARRIO | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +1m30.8s |
| 07 | O. TANAK / K. SIKK | FORD FIESTA S2000 | +2m31.0s |
| 08 | M. WILSON / S. MARTIN | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +2m50.0s |
| 09 | M. PROKOP / J. TOMANEK | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +2m52.5s |
| 10 | J. HANNINEN / M. MARKKULA | SKODA FABIA S2000 | +3m12.4s |
| 11 | A. ARAÚJO / R. MIGUEL | MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS | +4m17.6s |
| 12 | K. AL QASSIMI / M. ORR | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +4m43.0s |
| 13 | D. KUIPERS / F. MICLOTTE | Ford Fiesta RS WRC | +5m36.0s |
| 14 | N. AL ATTIYAH / G. BERNACCHINI | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +5m38.7s |
| 15 | B. SOUSA / A. COSTA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +6m06.7s |