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Latvala wins Rally of Finland
Jari-Matti Latvala claimed a local victory in the Rally of Finland on Saturday, Ford's Finnish driver holding off Citroen duo Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb.
Latvala had led the standings from special stage seven to improve on his third place 12 months ago to compatriot Mikko Hirvonen.
Hirvonen was on course for a repeat win only to crash out of contention after rolling his Ford in spectacular fashion after hitting a bump travelling at 150kmh in stage four on Friday.
Hirvonen, who turned 30 on Saturday, escaped unscathed.
Latvala's win pushed him up to third place in the world rally championship drivers' standings behind Loeb and Ogier, who picked up wins on Saturday in stages 12, 17 and 19 to come in ten seconds behind Latvala.
Loeb had posted the quickest times in stages 13, 15 and 16 to climb up the standings and demote Petter Solberg, who had been lying second overnight, to fourth.
"The first two specials were very tricky, and I preferred to lose a bit of time and stay on the road," explained 2003 champion Solberg.
Former Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen suffered a nightmare day, slipping from eighth overall to 31st after a double puncture on stage 12.
He lost 10 minutes after only succeeding in changing one of his tyres, and a further three minutes in the following stage.
Back in eighth came four-time former world champion Juha Kankkunen who was competing for the first time in eight years.
"This was a huge surprise, I had hoped to find this rhythm but I wasn't certain of that. It's true I quit this level of competition in 2002 but having said that I know this rally well, I remember each corner which I negotiated at the wheel of various cars."
RESULTS:
1. Jari-Matti Latvala, Finland, Ford, 2 hours, 21 minutes, 12.9
seconds.
2. Sebastien Ogier, France, Citroen, 11.1 seconds behind.
3. Sebastien Loeb, France, Citroen, 26.2
4. Petter Solberg, Norway, Citroen, 30.4.
5. Dani Sordo, Spain, Citroen, 1:27.3.
6. Matthew Wilson, Britain, Ford, 5:26.8.
7. Mads Ostberg, Norway, Subaru, 5:43.4.
8. Juha Kankkunen, Finland, Ford, 7:01.5.
9. Juha Hanninen, Finland, Skoda, 8:23.5.
10. Per Gunnar Andersson, Sweden, Skoda, 9:18.0.
