Latvala extends his lead

• Finn on top in the field of 85 teams from 28 countries

Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala continued his successful drive in the ADAC Rallye Deutschland around Trier on Saturday. After yesterday’s fifth special stage, Latvala (FIN) had already taken over the lead from his team-mate Sébastien Ogier (F). World championship Ogier had rolled his car down into a vineyard on the final stage on Friday and couldn’t reach the finish of the stage in the regular way. As a result, the Frenchman was given a ten minutes’ time penalty.

On Saturday, Ogier attempted to make up ground from 35th place, but in another off soon after the start of the eighth special stage, his world rally car was damaged in such a way that he was forced to retire. For safety reasons, the Peterberg stage was neutralised after the accident and shortened for the second run during the afternoon.

In a clever and professional way, Volkswagen Polo R WRC driver Latvala successfully turned down the attacks from his fiercest rivals Kris Meeke (GB) with a Citroën DS3 WRC and Thierry Neuville (B) with a Hyundai i20 WRC. Like the rest of the field, Spaniard Dani Sordo (Hyundai) and Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) had difficulties in keeping up with the front-runners.

Changeable weather conditions required utmost driving skills from the rally aces at the seven special stages of the daily leg on Saturday. Latvala set five fastest stage times, ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica set two fastest times with his Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Rally leader Latvala is unmistakably on course for victory, but he warns for too early expectations: “Most stages were very slippery, so the risk of sliding off the road was extremely high. Absolute concentration and a huge amount of luck were the only elements needed.”

Standings 2nd leg after 13 of 18 special stages:

1. Latvala/Anttila FIN/FIN Volkswagen Polo R WRC 2:19.00.7 hrs.
2. Meeke/Nagle GBR/IRL Citroën DS3 WRC - 56.6 sec.
3. Neuville/Gilsoul BEL/BEL Hyundai i20 WRC - 1.00.9 min.
4. Sordo/Marti ESP/ESP Hyundai i20 WRC - 1.26.8 min.
5. Mikkelsen/Floene NOR/NOR Volkswagen Polo R WRC - 1.37.0 min.
6. Hirvonen/Lehtinen FIN/FIN Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 1.53.2 min.