Thierry Neuville loses his head

While leading the Yalta Rally, Thierry Neuville (Peugeot) made an error and lost more than three minutes in the last special of the morning. Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) takes control of the event.

Published on 03/06/2011 à 12:06

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Thierry Neuville was on a very good pace this morning, having set the benchmark time in the first two stages of the morning. But the Belgian went off the road in SS5 and finished the course 3 minutes behind new leader Bryan Bouffier. “ We spun at full throttle in fifth grade. We hit a wall, but we're still here », Explains the unlucky man, now 9th.

The battle for the lead of the race is now between Bryan Bouffier and Juho Hänninen (Skoda), who is only one second behind. The Finn is 18??9 ahead of his teammate Jan Kopecky, pursued by Guy Wilks (Peugeot ) which is only 5??9.

Toni Gardemeister (Skoda) occupies 5th place and is ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) by 2??2. PG Andersson and Karl Kruuda complete the top 8, but they are already more than 2 minutes behind the Yalta Rally leader.

The drivers will set off again for three stages this afternoon. They could carry more spare wheels, after the numerous punctures that occurred on the slippery stages of the morning.