Jari-Matti Latvala shrugged off gearbox problems to claim the lead at the Tour de Corse, replacing Welshman Elfyn Evans.

Latvala climbed up to second behind surprise leader Evans on stage five – stage four had been cancelled due to storm damage – and then moved two seconds ahead of the M-Sport Ford driver on the day’s sixth and final stage in Corsica.

That was despite the Finn struggling with mechanical issues in his Volkswagen Polo R late on.

He said: “I had a problem with the gearbox shifting down and lost my rhythm. It was difficult under braking because I couldn’t trust the gears.

– #360view: F1 needs to end one-horse race at top
– McLaren: Alonso 'wants to end career' with team
– McLaren: Dennis adamant Button will stay on

"I had to use the manual shift but we got through and now we need to change the gearbox.”

Andreas Mikkelsen moved up from seventh to third in his Volkswagen while Abu Dhabi Racing’s Kris Meeke (Citroen) and Kevin Abbring (Hyundai) complete the top five heading into today.

Meeke said: “I have to focus more on my own driving, the stage conditions are very difficult, dirty and muddy in places with hardly any grip and I’m still trying to find my rhythm but happy overall with my performance.

"The final stage today was much better, I would say it was 10 per cent wet and 90 per cent dry my rhythm was good, I think tomorrow will be very interesting.”