Østberg and Andersson in podium position

Norwegian-Swedish team Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson finished in fourth position in Sardinia and advanced to third place in the championship.

Winner of the penultimate rally of 2012 was Mikko Hirvonen, before Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tänak.

Sébastien Loeb retired.

The victory in Sardinia was special for irvonen.

– It’s my first for Citroën and to do it here on Sardinia felt extra good since I have five second positions here from earlier years, says the Finn.

Scoring 25 points secures the second position in the drivers championship for Hirvonen, trailing his team colleague Loeb. Loeb broke the steering of his  Citroën DS3 WRC on the Friday and was forced to retire while still in the lead.

With bothe the first and second positions claimed there is only the third position left to fight for when WRC goes to Spain for the last round, November 8-11. That fight is between Mads Østberg with Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson, Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg.

The latter two, driving for Ford, retired and restarted in Sardinia and didn’t get the points they had hoped for. Solberg scored five points by winning the Power Stage (3 points) and finishing in ninth position. Latvala had to make due with the two points he scord by finishing second on the Power Stage.

But team Mads Østberg/Jonas Andersson had a much better rally. Even though they had som technical issues and a puncture on the last stage they finished in fourth position. This gave them twelve much needed points wich moved them into third position overall in the championship.

Now Østberg/Andersson stand four points ahead of Latvala and thirteen ahead of Solberg.

– Spain is going to be very exciting, says a happy Østberg.

Photo: LES KOLCZAK/M-SPORT

Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson in third position overall with one WRC round left to run.