WRC – Ogier leads rain-soaked Spain

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The 11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway last night, again in pouring rain, at the now traditional Barcelona super special stage. Here, Ott Tanak took the glory in front of a crowd of thousands, but it was this morning when the crews headed in to the true rally stages to the west of the event’s base in the coastal resort of Salou.

Neuville set the pace in today’s first stage, despite some oversteer, but Ogier powered ahead in the second, benefitting marginally on roads awash with standing water and mud. His consistency in the treacherous conditions has paid off with a small but useful 4.4 second advantage. Behind second-placed Neuville, Latvala had a dreadful start to the event and lost 12 seconds on last night’s short super special. The Finn had a couple of moments in today’s opener but went on to set fastest times in the following two stages. He is 4.5 seconds in front of Spain’s top driver, Dani Sordo, who described the conditions as ‘unbelievable’. Andreas Mikkelsen holds fifth after four stages, the Norwegian easing off when he thought he’d picked up a puncture in the final stage of the morning loop.

Hayden Paddon, sixth, has been down on power all morning and was surprised not to have lost more time. Even so, he is 17.1 seconds adrift of the lead but within striking distance of his nearest rivals. Mads Østberg is seventh and Craig Breen is piloting the lead DS3 WRC, the Irish driver just ahead of team-mate Kris Meeke who rolled in the first stage after a half spin in the muddy ruts saw him hit a bank and topple the car. Tanak rounds off the top 10.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Skoda’s Jan Kopecky tops the leaderboard ahead of Pontus Tidemand. Finland’s Teemu Suninen had taken the early lead but retired for unconfirmed reasons. In the WRC 3 Championship category, Fabio Andolfi leads the charge with an enormous advantage over team-mate Damiano de Tommaso.
 

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SEASON 2016SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2016Rally de Espana01Friday, October 14, 2016 - 1:23pmFriday, October 14, 2016 - 1:23pm

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