Germany: Tänak alone in the lead after the fall of Ogier

Ott Tänak (Toyota) est bien parti pour remporter sa seconde victoire consécutive au Rally from Germany. The Estonian now has a lead of more than 43 seconds after his direct opponent Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) a perdu près de deux minutes suite à une crevaison survenue dans l’ES13 de Panzerplatte.

C’est désormais Dani Sordo (Hyundai) qui est le plus proche rival de Tänak, même si l’Espagnol est pourchassé par Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) qui pointe à moins d’une seconde de la première i20 WRC.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) remains in difficulty, but the Championship leader clings to his 4th place while still having more than 6 seconds ahead of Esapekka Lappi (Toyota).

Andreas Mikkelsen places the third Hyundai in the Top 6, but the Norwegian only has a half-second lead over Ogier who has moved up from 9th position to beat his teammate Teemu Suninen. The Scandinavian took advantage of the error of Craig Breen who tore off the left rear suspension of his C3 WRC when going off the road in the last special. The Irishman was able to reach the finish but lost more than a minute in the adventure and found himself completing the Top 10 behind his teammate Mads Ostberg.

WRC standings after SS15 –
1. Tänak 2h 23m 27.1sec
2. Sordo +43.7sec
3. Latvala +44.5sec
4. Neuville +52.5sec
5. Lappi +58.8sec
6. Mikkelsen +1m 50.7sec. #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) August 18, 2018

The rankings have been shaken up in WRC 2 since Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) is the new leader in the category. The Finn, lacking success on home soil, took the advantage of Fabio Andolfi (Skoda) on the last course of the day to beat the Italian by almost 3 seconds. Previous leader Éric Camilli (Ford) fell outside the Top 10 after encountering alternator problems. His compatriot Stéphane Lefebvre also lost more than a minute and finds himself on the outskirts of the Top 5.

WRC 2 standings after SS15 –
1. Rovanperä 2h 34m 29.8sec
2. Andolfi +2.9sec
3. Kopecký +5.9sec
4. Kajetanowicz +7.8sec
5. Kreim +40.2sec
6. Ciamin +1m 04.0sec #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) August 18, 2018

The final stage of the Rally Germany will feature two special stages, including the Grafschaft course (29km) completed twice before the Bosenberg Power Stage (14km). Departure is scheduled for 7:49 a.m.