Behind the battling trio at the head of the leaderboard, the fight for fourth position is even more intense with Andreas Mikkelsen, Mads Østberg and Mikko Hirvonen split by just 3.1 seconds this evening. Mikkelsen has run without problems and while overnight set-up changes benefitted Østberg, the Norwegian took the first few stages to get into the groove and back into the fight. Hirvonen had a spin this afternoon but the rivals look set to provide another titanic battle for honours tomorrow. From an overnight 10th, Hayden Paddon is now seventh in the lead Hyundai i20 WRC after team-mate Juho Hänninen rolled out of fourth position in the second stage. The Finn was able to continue but was forced to remove the windscreen for the following two stages, resulting in an incredibly windy ride for him, the co-driver and pace note book! He is ninth behind Fiesta RS WRC driver Elfyn Evans after failing to make further progress due to a power steering problem this afternoon. Thierry Neuville was forced into retirement after the lunchtime service with damage to the roll cage after he clouted the back-end of the car this morning. Robert Kubica is also on the retirement list, the Pole ending up in a ditch with an over-optimistic pace note, although he will re-join tomorrow under Rally 2 regulations. Martin Prokop also went off the road.
Neste Oil Rally Finland – Unofficial Results after Section 4
