WRC Rally of France: Latvala takes 28s lead into final day

Having led from Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen by 14.8s after the morning loop, Latvala immediately pulled out 5.4s on the Norwegian with a win on SS11.

Mikkelsen then gave away a further 5.4s to Latvala over the course of the next two stages, both of which were won by a recovering Sebastien Ogier, before giving away another 2.4s on the evening superspecial around the streets of Mulhouse.

Nonetheless, Mikkelsen remains firmly on course to seal the runner-up spot, holding an advantage of 25.7s over Kris Meeke in third with four stages left to run on Sunday.

The Citroen driver has edged further away from his pursuers, despite suffering a puncture at the end of SS13, as he looks to score crucial manufacturers' points for the French outfit.

In the battle for fourth place, Robert Kubica reduced Dani Sordo's lead to just 0.9s, the Pole chasing his best ever World Rally Championship finish.

Kubica's M-Sport Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen moved up to sixth place after Mads Ostberg received a 1m10s penalty for arriving late to the start of SS13, the result of the Norwegian having to stop to fix a differential problem with his Citroen DS3 WRC prior to the stage.

Consequently, 12.2s separate Ostberg and Elfyn Evans, who lost time with a spin on SS11, in the fight for seventh place.

Despite setting the pace twice during the afternoon stages, Ogier remains a long way from the top 10. The Frenchman has 4m49s to make up to catch Thierry Neuville, who holds tenth place heading into the final day.

Neuville, along with a brace of privateer runners, was given a notional time for SS13 as the test was halted for around half an hour by an accident for the zero-car, whose crew was unhurt.

LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS14: