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| Perfectly handbraked by Latvala |
The Volkswagen pairings of Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka
Anttila (FIN/FIN) and Andreas Mikkelsen/Mikko Markkula (N/FIN) lead the Rally
Sweden after Day 2. However, a mistake from the World Champion prevented a
three-way Volkswagen scrap at the top of the standings: starting the day as
leaders, Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) slid into a wall of snow on the
opening special stage, losing 4:30 minutes as a consequence. The ensuing
fightback, which included six stage wins, saw the World Championship winning
pairing storm back from 20th to ninth.
Afterwards Sébastien Ogier said simply: “That’s rallying! We skidded into a snow wall
twelve kilometres into the first special stage of the day. It was a slow
corner, which is perhaps why I lost my concentration a little. I missed the
entry to the corner and next thing we knew we were stuck. A stupid mistake, but
these things happen. Thank you to all the fans who helped us out.”
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| Ogier making up for lost time |
Rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala
said: “It is obviously a great feeling to lead the Rally
Sweden. At the same time, we still have a lot of work ahead of us: Saturday is
the longest day, and it will be all about looking after the studded tyres as
well as possible, right up until the finish ramp in Karlstad. The spikes break
very quickly on gravel, and you lose an awful lot of grip then. Today was very
good for long periods and we were able to open up a small gap ahead of our
team-mates. However, we then lost a lot of time on the penultimate stage.”
It was a good day for Andreas
Mikkelsen too: “A fantastic day for us, and I am very happy
with the way the Rally Sweden is panning out for me. I am yet to stand on the
podium in the World Rally Championship, and that is exactly where I would
dearly love to end this rally. I tried to keep up the pressure on my team-mate
Jari-Matti Latvala, but without taking too many risks.”
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