WRC Rally of Spain: Latvala trims Ogier's lead by eight seconds
Sebastien Ogier saw his Rally of Spain lead trimmed on Saturday morning, as title rival Jari-Matti Latvala reduced the gap by eight seconds with a trio of stage wins
After a tough opening day of the rally, Latvala seemed much more at home on the asphalt stages of the second day, knowing that he needed to put pressure on Volkswagen team-mate Ogier in order to keep his slim World Rally Championship title hopes alive.
Latvala began by taking a second out of Ogier's lead on SS8, before finding a further two seconds on the next stage - but it was the final test of the loop where the Finn made the biggest dent, reducing Ogier's advantage by another 5.3s.
That puts Latvala 28.3s adrift of the reigning champion with three stages left to run of the second leg.
M-Sport Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen was the other big winner of the morning, leaping up to third at the expense of Andreas Mikkelsen and Mads Ostberg with a stellar performance on SS9.
Mikkelsen was able to claw back some of the lost ground on the next stage, and now sits 5.5s adrift of the final podium spot and comfortably ahead of Ostberg.
Dani Sordo remains best of the Hyundais, climbing to sixth ahead of Robert Kubica, who hemorrhaged time during all three of the morning's stages with a rear differential problem.
That caused the Pole to slip to ninth behind Thierry Neuville and Martin Prokop, with Haydon Paddon now back inside the top 10 after his first day dramas.
Things did not get any better for Kris Meeke, back in the event under Rally 2 rules after his double puncture yesterday, as the Ulsterman lost a further two minutes after hitting a rock and stopping to change a deflated tyre on SS9.
LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS10:
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