Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

WRC Italy: Mikko Hirvonen storms clear after Sebastien Loeb exits

Mikko Hirvonen is upholding Citroen honour in Italy by storming away with the lead after team-mate Sebastien Loeb's retirement

Loeb started Friday leading Hirvonen by just one second, but then went off and damaged his Citroen on the first stage of the day. The world champion reckoned a misjudged pace note led to the crash.

That left Hirvonen leading by 15s over Ford's Petter Solberg. As tyre wear became a major issue through the morning, Hirvonen was able to start edging clear, bringing his lead up to 25.8s after SS5.

Hirvonen and Solberg are the only frontrunners still in contention.

Already on the back foot after his Thursday delays, Jari-Matti Latvala then crashed on stage four, damaging his Ford's radiator and having to retire.

Thierry Neuville went off on the same stage as Loeb, ending his podium challenge. The Citroen Junior driver managed to get his DS3 upright again - injuring his hands in the process - but the engine had lost too much oil and he had to stop on the following road section.

Although Mads Ostberg is currently third in the Adapta Ford, he has been badly hampered by tyre wear and what he suspected was a further problem with the car. He is now only 7s ahead of the flying Evgeny Novikov.

Novikov looked like he was on course for a stage win on Tergu-Osilo, until being deposed by a remarkable performance from Sebastien Ogier in Volkswagen's S2000 Skoda.

Ogier holds seventh overall, behind Ott Tanak and Chris Atkinson, and just ahead of team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen.

Showing how much better the S2000 cars were handling tyre wear, Karl Kruuda was third quickest on SS5.

Leading positions after SS5:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car        Time/Gap
 1.  Mikko Hirvonen     Citroen       1h17m30.9s
 2.  Petter Solberg     Ford             + 25.8s
 3.  Mads Ostberg       Adapta Ford    + 1m05.6s
 4.  Evgeny Novikov     M-Sport Ford   + 1m12.9s
 5.  Ott Tanak          M-Sport Ford   + 2m07.9s
 6.  Chris Atkinson     Italia Mini    + 2m54.1s
 7.  Sebastien Ogier    VW Skoda       + 2m58.4s
 8.  Andreas Mikkelsen  VW Skoda       + 3m36.3s
 9.  Martin Prokop      Czech Ford     + 3m43.9s
10.  Karl Kruuda        ME3 Ford       + 5m08.3s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article WRC teams call for safety changes for Rally d'Italia
Next article Rally Italia: Mikko Hirvonen dominating after Petter Solberg crashes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe