Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala, driving a Ford Focus, maintained his lead in the Rally of Sweden on Saturday after the day’s eight stages.

Latvala has a 23-second lead over compatriot Mikko Hirvonen, the Citroen driver who has won the last two editions, with Norway’s Petter Solberg, in another Ford, 51.4 seconds behind.

Saturday was another day to forget for world champion Sebastien Loeb who lost valuable time the previous day when his Citroen crashed into a snow bank.

Although he had quickly got back up from 11th to seventh on Friday, the Frenchman then suffered a spin on Saturday morning and a puncture in the afternoon and finished in sixth place.

“Anything is possible tomorrow but we didn’t have a very good day,” Loeb admitted