WRC Rally GB: Ogier leads, Hirvonen holds off Meeke for second

World Rally champion Ogier has been able to take it easy since his Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala went off the road while challenging him for the lead first thing on Saturday.

But it has been flat-out for second in his wake, with the advantage constantly shifting in the fight for second.

Mikko Hirvonen holds the place for M-Sport Ford going into his final day as a WRC driver, but Kris Meeke is only 3.4 seconds behind in his Citroen and on course to become the first Briton to take a home podium since Richards Burns was third on this event in 2001. Both took stage wins during Saturday afternoon.

That 'best of the rest' fight had been a three-way affair at midday, before a 10s penalty for a late check-in was applied to a disgruntled Mads Ostberg.

He fell further back when a tyre delaminated on the day's penultimate stage, and ended the leg more focused on staying ahead of Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans for fourth rather than battling for the podium.

Latvala admitted he took time to regain confidence and motivation after his crash dropped him from second to 10th and left him with no rear wing and a damaged damper for the whole morning.

But he finally got back on the pace in the after-dark stages that closed Saturday, winning the second of them to move up to eighth place ahead of Henning Solberg.

Martin Prokop currently holds the final point, although he is not far ahead of Hayden Paddon and Robert Kubica.

A long way down the order following his Friday accident, Andreas Mikkelsen had no pace notes for most of the afternoon due to a defective intercom, yet was still first or second fastest on all four stages.

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LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS17: