Jari-Matti Latvala defied hail, sleet and torrential rain to rise three places and take the lead after eight stages of the season-ending Rally of Wales on Friday.
After early leader Sebastien Ogier had gearbox problems with his Citroen C4 and slipped back to ninth, Latvala was fastest on stage six to move to the front for good, while Sebastien Loeb, already crowned world champion for the fifth time, moved up to second overall, just 13 seconds behind.
Driving a Ford, Latvala coped better with the poor visibility, rutted roads and deep puddles in the icy conditions that forced organizers to cancel the first stage and shorten five more on the first day of the three-day rally.
In a Citroen, Loeb was hoping to post his 11th win of the 15 races this season, beating his 10 wins in 2005. If he wins this race, he will have won all the events in the calendar.
“There was a lot of water in the ruts and we were aquaplaning a lot. It was very slippery,” the French driver said. “But overall it was a good drive. I pushed harder than I did earlier. It’s OK, now we’ll see what we can do.”
Chris Atkinson’s chances of winning the race ended when he spun off in his Impreza only 180m into stage seven. The Australian was airlifted to hospital and his Subaru team said he received a knock on the head and had been taken in for observation.
Earlier in stage two, Turkish drivers Koray Muratoglu and Caglar Suren were taken to hospital after their Fiesta collided with another vehicle. Although both of them were conscious, no other details were available.
The field included MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who switched from two wheels to four for this race, and finished the opening day down the field in 23rd place.
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