Kris Meeke takes the lead at RACC

Kris Meeke (Citroën) took control of the Rally of Catalonia at the end of the first passage of the special stages of the second stage which marks the transition to the asphalt special stages.

The Northern Irishman made the difference on the first course of the morning and increased his lead to have more than 13 seconds ahead of Ott Tänak (M-Sport) who now occupies second position, three tenths ahead of his teammate Sébastien Ogier.

The fight for the podium remains very close since Dani Sordo (Hyundai) is only eight tenths behind the Championship leader with a little more than six seconds ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai), the leader on the evening of the first stage, who fell to fifth position in seeming more in difficulty on asphalt.

Juho Hänninen (Toyota) made a good comeback to climb to the edge of the top five after having signed the scratch in the last two specials. The Finn took advantage of the mechanical problems of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) now eighth, more than six seconds behind Mads Ostberg (M-Sport).

The Belgian suffered a loss of oil pressure and went off the road on the link leading to SS9, causing some damage to the rear of his i20 WRC. Due to his three-minute delay at the start of the special, he received a half-minute penalty while battling for third place.

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) and Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) complete the top ten ahead of Elfyn Evans (M-Sport). Éric Camilli (Ford) is the first R5 driver with his 12th place where he is ahead of Teemu Suninen (Ford), the leader of WRC 2 ahead of Jan Kopecky (Skoda) and Simone Tempestini (DS 3).

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) did not return to the road in the second stage. The Finn definitively retired following an impact against the underbody which caused a breakage in the lubrication system.

The second passage of the second stage of the RACC will begin from 13:08 p.m. and will be followed live with our live text. SS10 will be broadcast live on the L’Équipe channel.