Ogier escapes Volkswagen woes at Wales Rally GB

Volkswagen Motorsport will have a busy evening to understand the origin of the problem affecting its Polo R WRC at Wales Rally GB. Andreas Mikkelsen and Jari-Matti Latvala both had transmission problems causing them to lose several minutes. After the Norwegian in SS4, it was Jari-Matti Latvala who encountered the same problem in SS7.

While Sébastien Ogier increased his lead at the top of the Welsh event by winning the first three stages of the second pass of the first stage, the four-time world champion finished the final course feeling as if his transmission was also failing. The Frenchman already had doubts about his car this morning due to “strange noises in the cabin”.

The French driver is nevertheless doing very well since his main opponent is now 37”3 behind. The Estonian lost half a minute on the leader in four races, the fault of a problem with the rear axle of his Ford in Dmack colors.

The battle for 3rd place is still in full swing. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) complète le podium provisoire en devançant de moins de quatre secondes son coéquipier Hayden Paddon. Les pilotes Hyundai ont tous les deux repris l’avantage sur Kris Meeke (Citroën) dans la dernière spéciale, le Britannique complétant le top cinq à deux secondes du Néo-Zélandais.

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) is isolated in 6th place with a half-minute lead over Mads Ostberg (Ford). Jari-Matti Latvala fell to 8th place and now precedes Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) and Esapekka Lappi (Skoda Fabia R5), comfortable leader in WRC 2 who has a 46-second lead over Teemu Suninen (Fabia R5). Éric Camilli (Ford) is playing half a minute from the top ten. His compatriot Quentin Gilbert (Citroën) is 15th.

Craig Breen (Citroën) was fighting for the podium when the Irishman rolled over on SS4. His DS 3 WRC will ultimately not be able to restart in Rally 2.

Martin Koci leads the JWRC with 33 seconds ahead of Simone Tempestini. Yohan Rossel follows in 3rd place, 15 seconds behind the Italian.

Stage two of Wales Rally GB begins at 9:18 a.m. with the 10,55km Pantperthog. The crews will have to tackle 101km timed spread over four special stages, three of which will be contested twice, and one super special. The day will be followed live with our live text.

Live text and results from Wales Rally GB