Imperial Tänak at Rally Turkey

The last step of Rally of Turkey was significantly calmer than the previous two days, the crews no longer having anything to play with with the significant gaps that were created over the course of the mishaps.

Ott Tänak thus secured his 3rd consecutive victory, the 4th of his season and the 6th of his career, by simply managing his comfortable lead against his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who secured a double at Toyota which takes the lead in the Manufacturers ranking with 5 points ahead of Hyundai.

Hayden Paddon saves the furniture at the Korean manufacturer by completing the podium in front of Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai).

Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) was only able to move up to 10th place by taking advantage of the sacrifice of his teammate Elfyn Evans who voluntarily received a 5-minute penalty to allow the five-time champion of the WRC to gain a place. This does not prevent the Frenchman from slipping to 3rd place in the Championship, 10 points behind Ott Tänak and 23 points behind Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). The Championship leader won the 5 points of the Power Stage by preceding his direct opponents Ogier and Tänak.

Turkey Power Stage – 1: Neuville 4m59.58s (5 points) 2: Ogier +1.6s (4 points) 3: Tänak +3.8s (3 points) 4: Latvala +6.4s (2 points) 5: Evans +7.9s (1 point). #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 16, 2018

WRC Drivers' Standings – 1. Neuville 177pts, 2. Tänak 164pts, 3. Ogier 154pts, 4. Lappi 88pts, 5. Latvala 75pts 6. Mikkelsen 75pts. #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 16, 2018

WRC Manufacturers' Standings – 1. Toyota Gazoo Racing 284pts, 2. Hyundai Motorsport 279pts, 3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 244pts, 4. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi 169pts. #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 16, 2018

Henning Solberg (Skoda) finished first among the R5 crews, taking 6th place. However, it was Jan Kopecky (Skoda) who won in WRC 2 ahead of Simone Tempestini (Citroën) and Chris Ingram (Skoda), securing his 5th victory of the season and moving a little closer to the title he could obtain at Wales Rally GB (October 5-7).

Rally Turkey result – Turkey after SS17: 1. Tänak 3h59m24.5s 2. Latvala +22.3s 3. Paddon +1m46.3s 4. Suninen +4m10.9s 5. Mikkelsen +7m11.7sec 6. Solberg +13m40.6s. #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 16, 2018

Rally Turkey WRC 2 result – WRC 2 after SS17: 1. Kopecký 4h17m49.7s 2. Tempestini +1m11.9s 3. Ingram +1m56.1s 4. Kajetanowicz +2m48.7s 5. Heller +7m41.2s. #WRC

— WRC (@OfficialWRC) September 16, 2018

Emil Bergkvist ensured victory and the JWRC title. His coronation allows him to win a drive next year in the WRC with a Ford Fiesta R5.

Discover the analysis of the Rally of Turkey carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2183 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.