SS12: Atkinson Pulls Away

Jari-Matti Latvala's perfect streak continued through stage 12 as he, again, blitzed the field to the stage win. Latvala has now moved to twelfth overall and is in a good position to possibly jump into the top ten if he continues this pace through tomorrow's tests. Mikko Hirvonen took second on the stage, 6.9 seconds behind Latvala and continues to lead the rally in comfortable fashion. Third went to Sebastien Loeb, just 0.1 seconds behind Hirvonen, who continues to hold third and is on course to repeat, again, as world rally champion.

Chris Atkinson set a very fast time finishing the stage just three seconds behind Loeb to extend his lead in sixth overall over Matthew Wilson to seven seconds overall. Petter Solberg was fifth on stage, a further 1.2 seconds behind Subaru team-mate Atkinson. Sixth went to Dani Sordo, who continues to have a quiet rally in fifth overall. Marcus Gronholm had a small problem with his Ford Focus RS claiming the front of the car was all over the stage. He made it to stage end seventh, but did not seem too concerned about making it through the day's final super special. Wilson rounded out the top eight finishing 2.8 seconds behind Gronholm at stage's end.