After eight more challenging stages Jari-Matti Latvala seems headed for his second Rally Sweden victory in the FIA World Rally Championship. The Finn tussled with fellow countryman Mikko Hirvonen for much of Friday before Latvala’s Ford Fiesta was able to secure a solid gap over his Citroen rival. The second leg ran today saw these two trade fastest times but in the end Latvala managed to pull out a solid 23 second lead with four of the eight stage wins. Hirvonen took two stages for himself, but the pace was not enough to close in on his former teammate. With six stages to go on Sunday it has now become Latvala’s rally to lose.

The only proper snow rally on the calendar has been a favorite of the works Ford team and this year is no exception. The team is poised for a double podium finish as Latvala leads and teammate Petter Solberg fights for third. This is only Solber’s second time in the car and the Norwegian has settled into the rally with perfect form. On Friday “Hollywood” entered into a battle with Mads Østberg while in their home country, Norway. Today it seemed the fight would continue but trouble for Østberg on stage 17 helped Solberg stretch out the gap to over 11 seconds. Their challenge for the podium will continue to the final day.

“It’s maybe the toughest rally for me to just jump in,” said Solberg. “Tomorrow will be a hard day.”

Rally Sweden has been a mixture of ups and downs for the points leader Sebastien Loeb. The Frenchman seemed to be poised for a podium yesterday until he was caught up in a snow bank for two minutes. A ten second penalty for last minute setup changes also did not help. With these troubles Loeb found himself 11th overall and a mission to get back into the points. The Citroen driver was able to leap into seventh today but then suffered a slew of problems, hindering his forward progress. Putting in the third fastest time on stage 16 helped lift Loeb into sixth overall. With a podium clear out of the way a top five finish will now be the aim for the champion.

More information from Rally Sweden as it becomes available.