Latvala flies into Monte Carlo lead

Jari-Matti Latvala has taken a shock Monte Carlo Rally lead after a bold tyre choice for the second stage of the event.

World champion and five-time Monte winner Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) had been quickest as expected on this morning's Le Moulinon to Antraigues opener, albeit by just one second ahead of the flying Dani Sordo's Mini.

SS1 had seen dry asphalt, but the following Burzet to St Martial stage featured patches of snow and ice. Loeb and Ford driver Latvala both opted for a mix of studded and slick tyres, placing one studded tyre at the front and one at the rear, diagonally apart.

While Loeb ran soft tyres, Latvala was on super softs, and despite having never tested the slick/studded combination in this configuration before, he put in an incredible stage time - 52s quicker than Loeb.

That moved Latvala from fourth place, 28s off the lead, to first - with a 30.5s advantage over Loeb.

Petter Solberg is third in the second works Ford, having impressively got through SS2 with no studded tyres at all and still been second-quickest, 28s behind Latvala but 24s faster than Loeb.

After his superb SS1 performance, Sordo clipped a wall and damaged his Mini's suspension on SS2. The Spaniard was still able to nurse his car through the stage and remains fourth overall.

Mikko Hirvonen was third after SS1 but struggled in SS2's tricky conditions as he continues to acclimatise to the Citroen DS3, leaving him fifth.