Latvala leads Loeb

Jari-Matti Latvala will head into Day 4 of Wales Rally GB with a slender 6.1 lead over newly-crowned eight times World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb.

An overshoot on the Day's opening test saw Latvala lose 5.8 secs to Loeb, but a further four scratch stage times out of the Day's 5 stages saw Latvala rocket into the lead.

“It’s going really well and tomorrow morning I need to wake up with a very clean head. I have good confidence and I’m so hungry for the victory. Sebastien is eight-time world champion now and maybe he doesn’t have the spark to fight completely at 100 per cent. I do.” said the overnight rally leader.

A mysterious engine problem has been causing some concern for third-placed Mads Ostberg, with the Fiesta RS WRC having to be driven more like an S2000 variant, keeping the revs high to avoid the car lapsing onto 3 cylinders. However, with a 2 min 37 sec gap to Loeb in second and a 2 min 51 sec gap to team-mate Henning Solberg in fourth, barring disaster, Ostberg is guaranteed his second podium of the year.

Solberg is coming under pressure from Kris Meeke, with the Dungannon ace only 45 secs behind the Norwegian. Meeke could have caught Solberg, only for an engine mounting to break, which allowed the engine to move around slightly in the engine bay. This movement took a turbo pipe off, dropping him a noticeable amount of power, and it also caused a gear-shift problem.

45.6 secs behind Meeke is Stobart's Matthew Wilson. Understeer on the re-run of the Myherin stage, losing him some time. But, with 50 secs to seventh place Dennis Kuipers, who suffered a slow puncture on SS15, Wilson looks to have sixth place all sewn up, barring any problems, of course.

Ott Tanak is eighth in his Fiesta. Repairs in service after his SS14 problem ran a little longer than anticipated, giving him a 20 sec penalty. Mechanical problems dropped the Dmack tyres-shod car to eighth.

Evegny Novikov is ninth, filling in for Khalid Al-Qassimi, who has commitments at the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Tenth is Ken Block, 13 mins off Latvala's pace.

Petter Solberg, who was running fourth, retired after a small fuel fire in the engine bay. It was traced to a broken fuel line, and the team decided to withdraw the car. Indeed, Solberg had already made the decision to skip Wales Rally GB, but after his SS1 retirement in Spain, and some extra help from his sponsors, he elected to compete. A Day 3 retirement is not what he would have been looking for. Kimi Raikkonen rolled on the Day's opener, but managed to get going again. However, he retired not far down the road. Neither will re-enter under SupeRally tomorrow.

Sebastian Ogier is 15^th after coming back from third-last after his SS1 crash. Dani Sordo is just outside the Top 30, fighting back well after sliding into a ditch yesterday.

Patrik Flodin holds a 4 min lead over Martin Semerad in the P-WRC leaderboard. Flodin has been on “safe-mode” for most of the day, but reported a big scare after hitting a hole just after a jump, nearly rolling his Subaru. Third is Benito Guerra is third, receiving a scare on SS16 after damaging his car's radiator.

“We’re on safe mode and don’t want to take too many risks. It’s difficult to stay focused when you are not fighting so we can’t lose the concentration as we’re eager to get this win. I’ve been really enjoying it but I had a really scary moment [on stage 16] and we nearly rolled after hitting a hole after the jump.” said Flodin.

Michal Kosciuszko is seventh after holding second after last night's final stage. However, an electrical fault causing retirement on the road section forced the Pole to SupeRally, dropping to over 12 mins off Flodin.

Craig Breen has won the first WRC Academy, and the €500,000 prize fund it entails. With fastest stage times offering points too, Breen needed to win the rally and win as many stages as he could to overhaul the 20 point deficit to Egon Kaur. Breen's rally win was confirmed once he crossed the finish line of SS17, the final stage for Academy crews, but he had to wait for Kaur to complete the test before he knew his fate. Kaur crossed the line, Breen discovered he had won the stage, and the celebrations from Breen's family and supporters began.

“I can’t find words to describe this moment,. For sure it’s the most amazing feeling to finally get here after all the effort we’ve put in all year, all the ups and downs we’ve made it to the finish. We’ve finished level on points but we’ve got it on stage wins so we’re absolutely thrilled.” said Breen.