Lappi first leader of Wales Rally GB

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) a remporté la super spéciale d’ouverture du Wales Rally GB. En bouclant le parcours de 1,7km de Tor Prince en 1’21’’6, le Finlandais a précédé de 3 dixièmes son coéquipier Jari-Matti Latvala ainsi que le leader du Championnat Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).

The Top 5 was completed by the two other title contenders, Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) and Ott Tänak (Toyota) which got a scare in the shakedown disputed earlier in the day. The Estonian beat the Hyundai i20 WRC by Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon.

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) leads WRC 2 in 8th place in the general classification, enjoying the luxury of ahead of the C3 WRC of Craig Breen. Pontus Tidemand (Skoda) is at the gates of the Top 10, ahead of Mads Ostberg (Citroën) tied with Elfyn Evans (M-Sport).

Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën C3 R5) is in 15th place, 1''5 behind Pontus Tidemand who remains the benchmark in the category while his compatriots Éric Camilli Ford Fiesta R5) and Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai i20 R5) are respectively 19th and 23rd.

The first stage of Wales Rally GB begins this Friday at 8:56 a.m. with the 7,67km Clocaenog. The event will be followed live with our live text.