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3rd
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From WRC.com
Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier will start Saturday's final leg of Neste Oil Rally Finland with a 38 second lead after a perfectly-managed performance on Friday's nine stages.
The Frenchman began Friday's action second in his Polo R, trailing Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville by 5.2sec, and nestled near the top of a pack of seven drivers separated by less than 23 seconds.
Things remained tight all morning, with Ogier trading stage wins with Citroen DS3 driver Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg in a Fiesta RS, so that just 11.4 seconds covered the top four at the midpoint service.
But it was all change in the afternoon, when Ogier upped his pace on the rutted surface of the repeated stages, winning all of them while one-by-one his rivals hit trouble.
Overnight leader Neuville lost the position on today's opener, but remained close until the 13km Mokkipera (SS13) when he slipped more than 30 seconds behind after driving most of the stage with a punctured left front tire. Another tire related-problem followed on SS14.
Ostberg is third, less than one second behind Neuville. The Norwegian was right with Ogier until SS15 - the day's final forest stage - when he hit a rock, shattered his Fiesta's front left wheel and dropped 45 seconds.
Hirvonen is fourth 1m04.4s off the lead, and the first to fall out of the victory battle. The Finn clipped a bank and had a massive spin on SS11, losing 20 seconds and damaging two tires and his DS3's rear suspension.
Citroen's stand-in driver Kris Meeke is fifth on his debut in a DS3 World Rally Car. The Brit was slowed on SS10 when he caught - but was unable to pass - the damaged Ford of Evgeny Novikov, but was second-fastest on two stages.
Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier will start Saturday's final leg of Neste Oil Rally Finland with a 38 second lead after a perfectly-managed performance on Friday's nine stages.
The Frenchman began Friday's action second in his Polo R, trailing Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville by 5.2sec, and nestled near the top of a pack of seven drivers separated by less than 23 seconds.
Things remained tight all morning, with Ogier trading stage wins with Citroen DS3 driver Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg in a Fiesta RS, so that just 11.4 seconds covered the top four at the midpoint service.
But it was all change in the afternoon, when Ogier upped his pace on the rutted surface of the repeated stages, winning all of them while one-by-one his rivals hit trouble.
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| Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC (Photo: VW Motorsport) |
Overnight leader Neuville lost the position on today's opener, but remained close until the 13km Mokkipera (SS13) when he slipped more than 30 seconds behind after driving most of the stage with a punctured left front tire. Another tire related-problem followed on SS14.
Ostberg is third, less than one second behind Neuville. The Norwegian was right with Ogier until SS15 - the day's final forest stage - when he hit a rock, shattered his Fiesta's front left wheel and dropped 45 seconds.
Hirvonen is fourth 1m04.4s off the lead, and the first to fall out of the victory battle. The Finn clipped a bank and had a massive spin on SS11, losing 20 seconds and damaging two tires and his DS3's rear suspension.
Citroen's stand-in driver Kris Meeke is fifth on his debut in a DS3 World Rally Car. The Brit was slowed on SS10 when he caught - but was unable to pass - the damaged Ford of Evgeny Novikov, but was second-fastest on two stages.