Latvala roll and crash with his Fiesta RS WRC as Evgeny Novikov distracted him. Latvala than change his puncture caused by the roll as continue with more than 7 minutes delay.

Chris Atkinson broken his front suspension and stopped during the stage.

After a perfect sections in the longest stage in the whole WRC championship Latvala fail in the last two sections. In the rest stages there are not changes as Sebastien Loeb continue to lead. The longest SS22 Guanajuatito (54.3km) win for Hirvonen, as the second stage time is for Sebastien Loeb +0.7 seconds only. Petter Solberg was third at +3.9 seconds. Obviously Latvala time in the splits show that he could gain more than 15 seconds to Hirvonen.
The longest ever WRC stage was bad not only for Latvala but Chris Atkinson and Evgeny Novikov are also out of the rally. More news still to come.
Results after SS 22:
1. S. Loeb 4:05:04.9
2. M. Hirvonen +35.8
3. P. Solberg +2:12.8
4. M. Ostberg +4:46.4
5. O. Tanak +4:56.5
6. N. Al-Attiyah +6:31.0
 

Latvala back to the podium place as set the fastest time in stage 16 Otates 2 (41.88km). Latvala was 5.4 seconds faster than Loeb and 15.3 seconds faster than his team mate Petter Solberg who remains fourth overall.
Chris Atkinson crashes after the finished line and was unable to continue. The Australian struck a bank and incurred damage to his Monster Fiesta RS WRC.
Results after SS 16:
1. S. Loeb 3:01:10.9
2. M. Hirvonen +28.7
3. J. Latvala +2:09.8
4. P. Solberg +2:22.1
5. M. Ostberg +2:35.0
6. O. Tanak +4:05.4
7. E. Novikov +4:17.6
8. N. Al-Attiyah +5:39.9
Comments after SS 16:
Loeb: “We did a good drive with no mistake. There were a lot of big stones towards the end so we took it easy to avoid the stones.”
 

Problems for Latvala in SS15 Ibarrilla 2 (29.9km). The flying Finn lost about 50 seconds by the rally leader Sebastien Loeb. Latvala lost the podium place as moved to fourth position. He broke the front-left wheel on his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Results after SS 15:
1. S. Loeb 2:31:10.8
2. M. Hirvonen +21.7
3. P. Solberg +2:12.2
4. J. Latvala +2:15.2
5. M. Ostberg +2:17.0
6. O. Tanak +3:47.3
7. E. Novikov +3:51.5
8. C. Atkinson +4:41.3
Comments after SS 15:
Latvala: “Now we can forget the fight for the first two positions, I’ve tried but that is the conclusion. We went over some bed rock on the inside of the corner. It broke the wheel, not the tyre but the air came out. We did 25 kilometres on this tyre. Now we need to concentrate to get third place.”
Solberg: “I was very pleased with that driving. I must say the brakes are working very good now and we made some changes in service, which helped a lot.”
 

Sebastien Loeb continue lead after stage 14 the longest day 2 stage of 41.88 km. Jari-Matti Latvala moved to third place as Ostberg delay to forth position. In stage 14 Chris Atkinson and Sebastien Ogier spin as lost couple of seconds. Ken Block finished stage 13 with a little damage of the car. Ken says: “The car stepped out on a tight left corner but it was no big deal. It’s my favourite stage here but it was hard to do before the sun comes up. I really enjoyed it though.”
Results after SS 14:
1. S. Loeb 2:13:15.5
2. M. Hirvonen +18.2
3. J. Latvala +1:25.6
4. M. Ostberg +2:00.6
5. P. Solberg +2:09.9
6. O. Tanak +2:42.7
7. E. Novikov +3:41.1
8. C. Atkinson +4:22.2
Comments by the last two stages:
Loeb: “I had to push. The situation was not so good with Hirvonen coming close. I really tried hard on this one.”
Latvala: “Loeb has always been very fast in this stage and I’ve never been so competitive on this stage against him. It was slippery on some of the corners because of the [overnight] rain but it has been good.”
Ostberg: “For sure I’m not happy to lose the position. At the beginning the [low] sun was against the screen and it was very difficult because it was also dusty inside.”

 

In the last short stages for day 1 Chris Atkinson show a progress with a stage win SS12 Super Special 2 (2.21km). Chris was second in the first pass of SS11 Super Special 1 (2.21km) while Nasser Al-Attiyah wins the stage.
Results after SS 12:
1. S. Loeb 1:24:46.4
2. M. Hirvonen +11.2
3. M. Ostberg +1:11.9
4. J. Latvala +1:27.9
5. P. Solberg +1:35.4
6. O. Tanak +1:36.7
7. E. Novikov +2:02.0
8. C. Atkinson +2:33.7
Petter Solberg rally comments:
We’ve shown a lot of pace from the very start, winning the Qualifying stage. When things go well, they go very well. We’ve never had a better start to the season and there’s still a long way to go on this rally so I’m not giving up: we can do well here.
The bad luck we’ve had with the punctures has just been unbelievable. Two punctures in the morning were bad enough but then a third one in the afternoon - who would have thought that? There were rocks everywhere: I tried my best to avoid them but obviously it was not enough.”