Sweden WRC: Latvala takes lead as Neuville loses wheel
Jari-Matti Latvala inherited the lead of Rally Sweden after Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville crashed out of a WRC event while leading for the second rally in a row.
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Neuville had controlled Saturday’s action, extending his lead to over 40 seconds despite taking an extra spare tyre in case of punctures.
But he crashed on the end-of-day superspecial stage after damaging his steering, losing a wheel and any hopes of a first win in Sweden.
The Belgian had also been leading Rally Monte Carlo in January before hitting a post, which broke his suspension.
Hyundai aims to fix the car overnight before sending Neuville back out under Rally2 rules on Sunday, when he will have the chance to score points in the powerstage.
What had been shaping up to be a three-way battle for second is now the lead fight heading into Sunday's final three stages.
Ott Tanak is now just 3.8s behind Toyota driver Latvala after the superspecial, with the second M-Sport Ford of Ogier only another 12.8s behind.
Dani Sordo, who won the superspecial, is now Hyundai's top representative in fourth, albeit 1m39s down on the lead battle, followed by Citroen driver Craig Breen and DMACK Ford man Elfyn Evans.
Stephane Lefebvre's 2016-spec Citroen DS3 is eighth, while Pontus Tidemand - now ninth overall - leads WRC2 by over a minute from Teemu Suninen in his works-backed Skoda Fabia R5.
Standings after SS15:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1 |  Jari-Matti Latvala |
Toyota | 2m04m59.3s |
| 2 |
|
Ford | +3.8s |
| 3 |
|
Ford | +16.6s |
| 4 |  Dani Sordo |
Hyundai | +1m39.5s |
| 5 |
|
Citroen | +2m04.5s |
| 6 |  Elfyn Evans |
Ford | +3m44.7s |
| 7 |  Hayden Paddon |
Hyundai | +5m00.2s |
| 8 |
|
Citroen | +5m37.0s |
| 9 |  Pontus Tidemand |
Skoda | +6m36.7s |
| 10 | Teemu Suninen |
Ford | +7m52.9s |
Ott Tanak
Sebastien Ogier
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