WRC: Another Corsica stage canceled

Saturday's first Tour of Corsica stage has been canceled as poor weather conditions continue to hamper the World Rally Championship's French round.

The 27.14-mile Casamozza-Ponte Leccia stage had already been called off on Friday due to severe flooding and landslips in the area. It was scheduled to run again as Saturday's opener, but organisers announced late on Friday evening that they would not attempt to hold it due to the continuing tough conditions.

The problem is understood to be both with the stage itself and the access roads leading to it, and that it has not been possible to clear the course of debris in time.

Leg two should now begin at 10:08 a.m. local time on Saturday with the second running of the Francardo-Sermano stage. This was delayed on Friday amid the storms, but did eventually run in its entirety.

The Corsica itinerary was already only nine stages long, although most were in the region of 20-30 miles in length. The loss of both attempts at Casamozza-Ponte Leccia means the rally will be decided over only seven stages at most.

Elfyn Evans holds a surprise lead going into leg two, ahead of Kevin Abbring and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Evans and Abbring vaulted from sixth and seventh to first and second by upstaging the more experienced drivers in the wet and muddy conditions of SS3.

Originally on Autosport.com