The gap between Jari-Matti Latvala and Sébastien Ogier widened to almost 30sec as the Frenchman’s problems in SS8 had further consequences through the following 39.16km stage from Amboy to Yacanto.
Flailing rubber from the front left tyre of Ogier’s Volkswagen Polo R damaged the wing in SS8, and the bumper and spoiler unit fell off in the next test. The lack of cooling triggered the engine into road safety mode when it started to overheat and he lost six seconds to his rival.
“It was a consequence of what happened in the previous stage,” said Ogier. “The bumper was loose and I lost it, and without it I had no power.”
A smell of oil was emanating from Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20, but the Belgian has moved ahead of Martin Prokop, Elfyn Evans and Robert Kubica this afternoon to climb to fifth.
Mads Østberg was in discomfort after further hurting the right hand he damaged during yesterday’s accident.
“In the ruts there must have been a rock and I had a bad kickback through the steering. My right hand is really painful and it wasn’t easy to drive after that,” he explained.