Tänak starts well at Wales Rally GB

Ott Tänak (Toyota) reste sur le même rythme que celui montré lors des dernières épreuves. L’Estonien a signé le scratch dans les trois principales spéciales disputées dans le premier passage de la première étape du Wales Rally GB. Il possède à la pause de la mi-journée une avance de 9 secondes sur Elfyn Evans (M-Sport), dernier vainqueur de l’épreuve.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) completes the provisional podium with a lead of 6 seconds over his compatriot Teemu Suninen (M-Sport).

Despite his position as opener, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) est parvenu à se maintenir dans le Top 5 en pointant à seulement 3 dixièmes de Teemu Suninen. Mais le Belge reste menacé par Craig Breen (Citroën) which is only one second behind the i20 WRC preceding Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) by a few tenths.

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) was in more difficulty. The five-time WRC champion lost the first two gears of his gearbox in SS4 and had to limit the damage in the two passages of the Slate Mountain super special. The Frenchman occupies 8th place ahead of Mads Ostberg (Citroën) and the two Hyundais of Hayden Paddon and Andreas Mikkelsen.

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) sets brilliant times. The Finn already has more than half a minute ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda). Gus Greensmith (Ford) completes the top three in the category ahead of the French Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroënà and Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai). Éric Camilli (Ford) retired before joining the service following a second puncture forcing him to dismount.

Crews will contest the second pass of the first stage of Wales Rally GB from 15:37 p.m.