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Toyota's Latvala takes control of Rally Sweden

ByAutoSport

Published 12/02/2017 at 10:30 GMT

Jari-Matti Latvala is on course for his 17th World Rally Championship win, in just Toyota's second event back, after taking control of Rally Sweden on Sunday morning.

Eurosport

Image credit: Eurosport

The Finn started Sunday with a 3.8-second lead over Ott Tanak after Thierry Neuville crashed out of the lead on Saturday evening's superspecial stage, and was fastest on both of the morning's runs through Likenas.
Latvala added 7.1s and 9.1s to his advantage on the two stages, taking his lead over Tanak to 20s with just the powerstage remaining.
Tanak was the pacesetter on a shortened Saturday, and reduced Latvala's lead in what had been the fight for second place.
But he struggled with oversteer in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC on the fresh snow coating on Sunday morning, despite still setting the second-fastest time on each run.
Sebastien Ogier had also been in with a chance of victory, 16.6s behind Latvala overnight, but he threw away any chance with a spin and stall on the first corner of the first stage of the morning.
Ogier heads into the powerstage 58.3s off the lead.
Hyundai's Dani Sordo and Citroen's Craig Breen hold fourth and fifth respectively, separated by half a minute, but the battle for sixth is still on.
Elfyn Evans had an engine problem in his M-Sport-run DMACK Fiesta on the first run through Likenas, dropping chunks of time to a resurgent Hayden Paddon.
The Kiwi had a powersteering issue on Saturday having been rapid in the morning, but has closed to within 8.7s of Evans.
Neuville, who lost a 40s rally lead on Saturday's superspecial, cruised through the morning stages, saving his tyres in an effort to score points on the powerstage.
Drivers having issues on Sunday morning included Latvala's team-mate Juho Hanninen, who hit a bridge after collecting a tree and retiring on Friday.
Kris Meeke, who crashed out on Saturday, had a spin in SS17 and remains outside of the top 10.
Pontus Tidemand leads WRC2 in his Skoda Fabia R5, while Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Fiesta R5) and OC Veiby (Fabia R5) are embroiled in a battle for second in the class.
Follow the conclusion of Rally Sweden with Autosport Race Centre Live from 11:05am UK time on Sunday.
LEADING RALLY SWEDEN POSITIONS:
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