Before the last two Super Special Stages of the day – SS14 and SS15 – there were many tactical moves in the field in order to secure a more comfortable drive on Saturday. Although Citroen's Dani Sordo slowed down in the last part of SS13 – the second running of Kidney Health – to start the Saturday stages as the fourth driver of the pack, Ford's Mikko Hirvonen “got back” at his Citroen rival and didn't put that much heart into the last 2 runs of the day.
However, by slowing down during SS15, Hirvonen also lost the 4th spot in the standings, as reigning champion Sebastien Loeb also managed to get past his championship rival. The Frenchman spent most of the day getting his tires up to the right level of grip for the super special stages and showed some impressive improvements in final runs of the day, ending both SS14 and SS15 less than a second to Ogier.
Ogier will therefore start tomorrow's stages behind Latvala, having won both super specials on Friday. The Frenchman cut Latvala's overall lead by more than 5 seconds in only two runs and looks string enough to maintain his pace throughout the Saturday stages.
With all the aforementiond drivers separated by only 23.6 seconds in the overall standings, it's quite clear that only an unfortunate accident will throw them out of the Top 5 until the end. Sixth placed Henning Solberg failed to keep the pace with the Rally Australia contenders on Friday and, despite upping his game in the last super special stage, is 51.3 seconds behind Latvala before the Saturday action.
Stobart's Matthew Wilson finished the Friday stages in 7th place, followed by Federico Villagra.
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