Photo: Benjamin A. Ward/Rally Norway

Rally Norway – after stage 20, Budor 1

The fierce battle for supremacy on this second round of the FIA World Rally Championship continued unabated this morning as competitors departed Hamar in darkness for the longest day of the rally. Thirty-seven of the original 42 starters are still in the fray, with four of those competing under SupeRally rules having retired during the opening two legs. They face two identical loops of three speed tests east of Hamar covering 126.16km, split by a mid-morning service in the town.

With temperatures as low as -22ºC in Norway's winter wonderland, the action began with the 30.03km Våler, the longest special stage of the rally. BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen powered over the ice-bound roads to set fastest time in their Focus RS World Rally Car, 5.3sec quicker than arch-rival Sébastien Loeb to narrow the gap between the duo at the top of the leaderboard to 9.7sec.

Loeb hit back in the following 13.31km Elverum with fastest time to increase his lead over second quickest Hirvonen to 15.8sec. But the 28-year-old Finn responded with another stage win in the 19.47km Budor, during which the Focus RS WRC recorded a remarkable top speed of 202kph. He reduced the margin to 14.6sec as the drivers returned to service in Hamar.

"It's an amazing fight," said Hirvonen. "I took time from him and then he took it back again. It's a lot of time to take back in the final three stages but I have to take some risks now. The car is perfect and the grip from Pirelli's tyres is unbelievable, especially on the clean sections, so I haven't given up. There will only be a very narrow clean line on the roads now so it's likely that we may slide around more on the loose snow dragged onto the road during the first passage."

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila maintained their hold on third in the team's other Focus RS WRC. With no opportunity to catch Loeb and Hirvonen and with a comfortable margin over fourth-placed Henning Solberg, the 23-year-old Finnish driver was in no mood to take risks. He was third fastest in each stage.

"My split times were quick initially so I decided to ease off a little and not take risks," said Latvala. "I'm driving at a steady pace and enjoying it. I hit snow banks in the first two stages and the impact damaged the rear of the car. It allowed snow to get inside and my windscreen misted afterwards."

Published: 2009-02-15 11:06