Rally Germany: Jari-Matti Latvala escaping out front
Jari-Matti Latvala is escaping in the Rally Germany lead, as Dani Sordo puts pressure on Thierry Neuville
After being hounded by M-Sport Ford driver Neuville for most of Friday, Latvala's Volkswagen began to inch away near the end of leg one.
He continued that form on Saturday morning's opening loop, which included the infamous Panzerplatte stage, building a gap of 14.8 seconds.
That left Neuville's second place under threat from the resurgent Dani Sordo.
The Citroen has closed to within nine seconds of the Ford.
Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg continue to round out the top five. Both went off the road at the same place on the Peterburg stage but continued with only minor time loss.
Robert Kubica's battle with Elfyn Evans for the WRC2 lead became even more intense.
First the Pole spun on Stein & Wein and dropped behind his rival, then Evans went through a ditch on Peterberg and gave Kubica the lead back again.
They are just one second apart after Panzerplatte, and with Nasser Al-Attiyah retiring, are up to seventh and eighth overall.
Leading positions after SS11: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 2h21m53.9s 2. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford +14.8s 3. Dani Sordo Citroen +23.8s 4. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen +1m16.7s 5. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford +3m00.8s 6. Martin Prokop Czech Ford +5m33.6s 7. Robert Kubica PH Citroen +7m09.3s* 8. Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford +7m10.7s* 9. Hayden Paddon ASM Skoda +9m29.2s* 10. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Deutschland +9m38.8s* * WRC2
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Latvala to make WRC comeback at Rally Finland
Latvala: Rovanpera "on another planet" to score dominant WRC Estonia win
Latvala is a victim of blame culture
Audi a player, not a spectator, in F1 driver market - Sauber
Mercedes joins Williams and RB with 'quick and cheap' F1 cockpit airflow upgrades
Alpine gets F1 spare car for first time in 2024 as lighter chassis appears in China
F1 Chinese GP: Stroll leads FP1 as small fire causes early red flag
How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya
How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore
How Lappi survived Swedish snow carnage to snap his lengthy WRC drought
The new WRC highs Neuville reached to defeat Monte master Ogier
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments