Hirvonen leads, Latvala drops due to suspension problem

Sebastien Loeb finally got himself on to the list of stage winners of 2012 Rally Mexico by claiming fastest time on special stage four, Los Mexicanos. Short 9.76 kilometer sprint is penultimate test before SS 5, after which remaining crews headed off towards service.

After special stage 4 Jari-Matti Latvala is still in the lead with 2.2 seconds advantage over Mikko Hirvonen. In turn, Hirvonen is under increasing pressure from Loeb – with only 1.8 seconds deficit Frenchman continued to control the situation and without taking too much risk remain in contact with the top positions.

Fifth stage, however, brought huge drama to the leading trio. Jari-Matti Latvala damaged front suspension on his Fiesta and dropped from the leading position to eigth, behind Petter Solberg. Also in problems was Ken Block, losing over four minutes and sinking in the classification. Meanwhile, Mikko Hirvonen inherited the lead ahead of Sebastien Loeb but only by 1.1 seconds.