After the first two stages of the day, Loeb was leading from Sordo, with Ford's Mikko Hirvonen in 3rd place. However, during the Torntorp 1 stage, the Finn managed to score his very first stage win this season, crossing the finish line less than half of second ahead of Loeb. His SS4 win enabled him to switch places with Sordo on top of the standings, where he now trails Loeb by 4.1 seconds but is placed ahead of Sordo by almost 2 seconds.
“I'm catching a little bit so it's going in the right direction. I've changed the car a bit – not a big thing, but it's all about the small things now. It's not too bad, we're not far behind so we can still fight back,” said Hirvonen after his SS4 win.
The 4th placed driver after SS4 is Hirvonen's teammate at Ford Jari-Matti Latvala, but the Finn is already 18 seconds off the leading pace. Frenchman Sebastien Ogier sits further in the back in 5th place, 16.4 seconds behind Latvala, but more than 8 seconds ahead of WRC returnee Marcus Gronholm.
“It feels like it's not my car. It's easy to get it right and I know how to go in these corners, but I can't really find it now. We need to do something, but for the moment I don't really know what. I need to find more confidence,” said Gronholm, reckoning that he still needs more time to get used to his Ford Focus RS WRC 08, prepared by Stobart.
Henning and Petter Solberg were running in 7th and 8th place respectively after SS3, but Adapta Subaru's Mads Ostberg managed a great run in SS4 to pass them both for 7th place. Stobart's Matthew Wilson completes the Top 10 at the end of Stage 4.
Kimi Raikkonen is currently sitting in 11th place, more than 2 minutes behind the leading pack, but his lateness in the standings was caused by Ford's Khalid Al Qassimi during SS2. Al Qassimi made a short visit off the road during SS2 and rejoined right before Raikkonen's car, the Finn having to drive in the Ford driver's snow spray for the entire stage.
Google News