Ott Tänak first leader in Germany

Best time this morning during the shakedown, Ott Tänak continued its momentum this Thursday evening by winning the first special of the Rally of Germany 2018.

The pilot of the Toyota Gazoo Racing showed the most verve over the 2,04 km of the St. Wendel course, by completing the SS in 2’11″2, a tenth ahead of the surprise Kalle Rovenpera (Skoda Fabia R5), and two tenths ahead of Ole Christian Veiby (Skoda Fabia R5).

“It was terrible, never had such a bad SS. It's tight for these cars and there's so much understeer. I guess it must be the same for everyone because it's really terrible. » emphasizes Tänak.

At four tenths, follows the Hyundai i20 by Dani Sordo, ahead of another excellent performance for Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R5) who also took advantage of the agility of his mount on the sector demarcated by numerous straw bales, to rank six tenths behind.

The world champion Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport Ford) follows in sixth position at 0″9 and precedes his former teammate at Volkswagen Motorsport Andreas Mikkelsen, seventh at 1″.

follow Craig Breen (Citroen C3 WRC), Umberto Scandola (Skoda Fabia R5), Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) who enter the top 10 ahead of Eric Camilli (Ford Fiesta R5) and Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), classified with the same time.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) finished the SS in 13th place ahead of Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën C3 R5), and Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota). Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford) took 17th place, Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford) and Mads Ostberg (Citroën C3), victim of engine power problems, climbed to 20th and 21st positions with the same time.

SS1 2:15.0 “I have no power in the engine. I have no clue. I had to spin the wheels because the car was dying all the time” #WRC #RallyDeutschland pic.twitter.com/s9H8ZidrXJ

- Mads Østberg (@MadsOstberg) August 16, 2018

The first special of the day on Friday will begin tomorrow at 10:11 a.m., and will be followed, like the entire event, live on our website via our live-text.

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