Intro:

Britain's Kris Meeke races to third place after Saturday's afternoon stages of the Rally of Finland.

Script:

The Rally of Finland continued on Saturday but the afternoon stages only brought bad news for Mads Ostberg.

The Norwegian Citroen driver was battling for fourth place when he hit a rock and his challenge came to an end.

Due to Osberg's poor luck and Mikko Hirvonen fading, Andreas Mikkelsen found himself in a battle to secure fourth place.

Great Britain's Kris Meeke remained in third position but he had a lively afternoon.

Quick thought and reflexes prevented trouble on Stage 17. Then on Stage 19 the 35-year-old survived a hole which caught out a number of drivers.

Leader Jari-Matti Latvala had seemed unstoppable after putting in a string of fastest stage times.

But the Finn struck a rock on Stage 20 and championship leader Sebastien Ogier made the most of his opportunity to narrow the gap to only 12.8 seconds.

Meeke is 34.08 seconds behind in third.