SS4: Hirvonen leads after the morning loop

BP-Ford team driver Mikko Hirvonen holds the lead of Rally Turkey after SS4, the last of Friday’s first loop of stages.

Shortly before returning to Kemer for 30-minute service Hirvonen said he was reasonably happy with the way the morning had gone, but he hadn’t had a comfortable time in his Ford Focus.

“The cockpit is full of dust,” said Hirvonen. “I think a stone made a hole in the floor, and that’s where it’s coming in. Apart from that the rally has been okay. Sebastien pushed pretty hard on the second two today, though.”

The stage was won by Gigi Galli, who moved up to third overall, even with his earlier 10-second penalty. “That was good,” said Galli. “I lost my concentration a bit on the previous stage, but I’ve got it back now!”

Jari-Matti Latvala was the closest to Galli’s pace, but insisted he still had some speed in reserve. “I’m not absolutely at the maximum yet, but for sure I’m trying to go fast,” said Latvala. “After losing the time earlier it’s good to be here and in the battle once again.”

Henning Solberg holds fourth overall after a steady start in his Stobart team Ford Focus RS WRC. “We’re going at our own speed; it’s nice,” said Solberg. “We have had some overheating but apart from than it’s working okay.”

Sebastien Loeb is fifth and comfortable about being 10.2 sec off Hirvonen’s lead after three stages. “We haven’t lost too much time; it’s not been so bad, but it’s very slippery,” said Loeb. “Compared to Mikko it’s okay, but Jari-Matti was very fast on stage three and I reckon he’ll be faster on the next run. But I made no mistakes; the feeling in the car is good. I couldn’t have done any better."

Loeb’s Citroen-Total team-mate Dani Sordo holds sixth, while Petter Solberg is seventh in the first of the factory Subarus. “The road is taking a lot of cars to clean, but I’m doing everything I can,” said Solberg.

Matthew Wilson is eighth in his Stobart team Ford Focus. Like Hirvonen, Wilson had endured an uncomfortable morning. “I’ve got a cold and that’s making it hard out there,” said Wilson. “I was really struggling for breath on the long stage.”

Per-Gunnar Andersson is ninth in the first of the Suzuki World Rally Team cars, while Chris Atkinson in the second Subaru rounded off the top ten.

After his remarkable performance on the day’s first stage, Andreas Mikkelsen brought his privately-entered Ford Focus back to service eleventh. “The rear dampers broke on SS3 and we had no grip from then on,” said Mikkelsen. “The back of the car was floating around; it was terrible”