Esapekka Lappi plays Turkish tracks

On tracks where the numerous large rocks represent (bad) chances of puncturing and quickly losing ground, Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) showed himself most at ease this Friday morning in Turkey.

The Finn notably set the best time in the longest special of the rally, offering more than 38 km against the clock, allowing him to take the lead of the race after SS3.

The former resident of Toyota Gazoo Racing devance après cette première boucle Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) de 9″ alors que Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), déçu de sa prestation en retrait dans l’ES3, a haussé le rythme dans le quatrième secteur de l’épreuve pour revenir sur le podium provisoire à 13″.

Victim of a puncture in SS2, Sébastien Ogier (Citroen) a toutefois limité les dégâts, malgré une stratégie bouleversée, et achève la boucle matinale au 4e rang à 2″1 de Latvala et 1″5 devant Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford).

Ogier is the best placed of the contenders for the world title, since Ott Tänak (Toyota), who opened the road this morning, is only in 6th place at 21″6 from Lappi (6″5 from Ogier), Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), not satisfied with his i20 Coupe WRC, being relegated to 8″6 behind Tänak.

Followed by Kris Meeke (Toyota), Dani Sordo (Hyundai), victim of a puncture in SS2, as well as Pontus Tidemand, whose return to the WRC category is rather difficult, with a delay of 1'50"8 on Lappi.

In WRC 2 Pro, the punctures and the rollover of Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo), as well as the puncture of Gus Greensmith (Ford Fiesta R5) offer an avenue to Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo), wide leader with 2 '25” margin.

But the Czech is not the most prominent driver in the R5 category, since Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda Fabia R5) is the best in the general classification, with a provisional 11th place, 28″3 ahead of Kopecky, who however lost some time. time after seeing Greensmith leave in front of him after his puncture.

Ranking after ES4:

The Rally of Turkey will resume at 13:17 p.m., with the second loop to be followed live and in full with our live text.