Disaster for Ford on SS17

The BP Ford Abu Dhabi team’s perfect one, two, formation on Rally New Zealand was blown apart on the penultimate stage when both its drivers hit problems.

The first casualty was second placed Jari-Matti Latvala who stopped 3.3km from the start after his Focus RS WRC hit a rock. The Finn reported a serious engine oil leak after the impact and retired on the spot.

But there was worse to come for Ford when Mikko Hirvonen picked up a right-hand rear puncture and later spun off the road. His car collected front end damage but he managed to continue, eventually losing around 50 seconds and dropping to third overall.

The Ford team’s shocker promoted the chasing Citroen pair up into first and second places. Loeb became the new rally leader after a stage wining time moved him ahead of his team-mate.

“I wasn’t really sure what was going on in there,” said Loeb. “I heard Dani say something on the radio, but when I saw Latvala had stopped I knew that would increase the pressure on Mikko so I went absolutely flat out. And finally at the end I think he had a puncture and now we’re leading. It’s turned out to be an impressive rally. Earlier today I really didn’t think I’d be in this position. But we have one more to do yet. I still have to be careful.”

Ford was dealt another blow when Stobart VK M-Sport driver Francois Duval retired his Focus RS after going off on a high-speed right-hand corner. The Belgian had been fifth.

P-G Andersson dropped around three minutes after picking up two rear punctures on his SX4 WRC near the start.