Ogier controls, Neuville resists

Sébastien Ogier (Volkwagen) further increased its lead in the first passage of the two special stages of the second stage of the Tour de Corse. The leader of Rally of 10 Virages returned to service almost a minute ahead of Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), his closest pursuer.

The hierarchy could change in the top three since Andreas Mikkelsen (Volkswagen) has come back to within six seconds of Thierry Neuville. Jari-Matti Latvala was unable to keep up with his Norwegian teammate, with the Finn struggling on his Polo R WRC, and slipped to fourth place more than 14 seconds behind the Scandinavian.

Craig Breen (Citroën) completes the top five and now represents the only hopes of Abu Dhabi WRT. His teammate Kris Meeke, author ofa superb scratch in the 53,72km of La Porta – Valle di Rostino, abandoned in the next special leaving the road and ending up in a tree. The crew is doing well.

Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) reste en sixième place avec une bonne avance sur Éric Camilli (Ford). Le pilote M-Sport est désormais menacé par Dani Sordo (Hyundai), en bien meilleure forme que la veille sur sa i20 WRC, qui est revenu à moins de deux secondes du Français.

Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta R5) slipped to ninth position and remains seven seconds ahead of Mads Ostberg (Ford) who is still struggling on the asphalt. The Welshman maintains a lead of 16 seconds over Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R5) at the head of WRC 2, whose provisional podium is now completed by Yoann Bonato (DS 3 R5). Kevin Abbring (Hyundai i20 R5) finds himself 40 seconds behind the Frenchman after suffering a puncture 10km from the finish of the second special of the day.

At the end of SS5, Laurent Pellier took the lead of the JWRC. The Frenchman now has a five-second lead over Yohan Rossel, the previous leader in the category. Martin Koci still completes the provisional podium with an 11 second lead over Simone Tempestini.

The second passage of the special stages of the second stage of the Tour de Corse will begin at 15:20 p.m.

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