Mikkelsen leads Rally Turkey

Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) pointe en tête à la mi-journée de la première étape au Rally from Türkiye. The Norwegian scored the scratch in SS4 to take over the Citroën C3 WRC de Craig Breen and ahead of the Irishman by a little more than 6 seconds.

Citroën made a good start to the event with Mads Ostberg completing the provisional podium with less than 2 seconds behind his teammate. Although the Red crews benefit from a good position on the road, the conditions nevertheless reduce this advantage, with several drivers complaining in particular about the dust disrupting visibility.

By notably signing the scratch in SS3 despite his position as opener, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) is in 4th place, 7 seconds behind the top three. The championship leader has more than 7 seconds ahead of his teammate Hayden Paddon and sees his main rival Sébastien Ogier (m-Sport) pointer à la 7e position derrière Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota).

Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) is in 8th place ahead of his teammate Ott Tänak no longer struggling with this test. Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) completes the Top 10.

Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) suffered mechanical problems, notably with an oil leak and a differential problem probably following contact with a stone. If Malcolm Wilson, the Team Principal of the British team, mentioned a withdrawal, the Welshman managed to reach the finish of the first passage even if he lost several minutes.

WRC standings after SS4 –
1. Mikkelsen 57m 33.2sec
2. Breen +6.3sec
3. Østberg +8.2sec
4. Neuville +13.1sec
5. Paddon +20.4sec
6. Latvala +23.2sec #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 14, 2018

The Skoda drivers are celebrating WRC 2. Jan Kopecky leads the category with a 5-second lead over Pontus Tidemand. Simone Tempestini (Citroën) follows several tens of seconds behind.

WRC 2 standings after SS4 –
1. Kopecký 1h 00m 12.9sec
2. Tidemand +5.0sec
3. Tempestini +43.1sec
4. Ingram +2m 02.9sec
5. Avci +2m 54.1sec
6. Kajetanowicz +2m 59.6sec #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 14, 2018

The second pass of the first stage of Rally Turkey is scheduled to start from 12:27 p.m.