Loeb closes in on title

Mikko Hirvonen held onto the Rally Japan lead on Saturday, but conceded his world championship bid is virtually over after Sebastien Loeb remained on course for crown after holding onto third place.

Finland’s Hirvonen ended the second day in Sapporo 15.5 seconds ahead of BP Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who has a 38sec advantage over Citroen Total’s Loeb.

But Loeb only needs to finish third to claim the title regardless of Hirvonen’s finish and the Frenchman crucially sits 2mins 26secs ahead of fourth placed Chris Atkinson.

Hirvonen started the day with a 26.2sec lead but saw his advantage trimmed after swiping a fence with the rear of his Focus RS WRC on the opening stage.

He avoided problems on the remaining three stages to end the morning with a 16.9sec lead over Latvala and, despite deteriorating conditions, Hirvonen won two afternoon stages to extend his advantage before Latvala responded in the Sapporo Dome Super Special Stage to again cut the lead.

“It was quite a nerve-wracking day,” said Hirvonen. “The roads were much faster and it took a while for me to get used to that after the narrow, twisty stages yesterday.

“This afternoon there were ruts everywhere but I couldn’t afford to ease my pace too much. The conditions were difficult and Jari-Matti drove quickly behind me.

“I came to Japan looking for a victory but even if I achieve that tomorrow, it looks like that won’t help my championship challenge now.

“Tomorrow’s stages are soft but they shouldn’t be as slippery, so I hope we have an easier time.”

After consolidating his third place with just one day remaining, Loeb knows he is just under 100km away from the world title.

“It’s no secret that I prefer competing to win rallies,” said Loeb. “Today, though, it was necessary to keep a cool head.

“The forest tracks to the south of Sapporo were just as narrow as those we visited on day one, but they were faster, too, which means we ran a higher risk of making a mistake.

“Whenever I felt that the conditions were a little too treacherous, I didn’t hesitate to brake earlier than normal.

“There’s a great deal at stake here and I didn’t want it risk throwing it all away; we just tried to stay focused on our objective which was to consolidate our third place, and I think we succeeded quite well.

“There is a little less than 100km of stages to come tomorrow. The goal we are aiming for is within reach, but we will need to stay concentrated until the very end.”