First stage of Saturday went to Latvala

Special stage number 13, Ibarrilla 1, is live at the moment and after top seeded drivers went through there is a change in podium classification. Jari-Matti Latvala jumped ahead of Mads Ostberg after Norwegian driver lost fair amount of time due to low sun glare. Ostberg was 6th fastest on SS 13, 30.4 seconds slower than Latvala.

Meanwhile at the top Sebastien Loeb is still in the lead, despite losing 2.5 seconds to Mikko Hirvonen on this stage. Finnish driver is 8.7 seconds behind his French team mate. Ostberg’s problems also helped Petter Solberg to close the gap to just over 2 seconds.

“This stage was OK, I’m quite happy, we’ll see how it goes on the long stage. My setup is more suited for it”, said Hirvonen. Citroën’s driver was referring to the following special stage, Otates, with 41.88 kilometers.