Tänak leads in Corsica, Ogier and Loeb behind

Ott Tänak (Toyota) a déjà pris les commandes du Tour de Corse à l’issue du premier passage de la première étape. Le leader du championnat dispose d’une petite seconde d’avance sur Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) qui parvient à suivre le rythme de l’Estonien.

La lutte pour la troisième place se dispute entre les Hyundai de Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. The Belgian took the advantage by 4 seconds over the Spaniard, moving just 3 seconds from the head of the race.

The Fords are in the spotlight on the asphalt since Teemu Suninen climbed into the Top 5 ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) taking advantage of a spin from Esapekka Lappi. The Finn finds himself 7th with a second ahead of Sébastien Ogier, the two drivers being strangely lacking rhythm on the C3 WRC who were expected higher in the hierarchy. The choice of tires has nothing to do with it since all the crews took 5 hard tires.

Kris Meeke (Toyota) was one of the losers of the morning. The Northern Irishman suffered a puncture in the first special and found himself 9th despite very good times. But Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) was the least successful since the nine-time WRC champion lost 2 minutes by breaking his suspension following an impact against a curb on the first course. The Alsatian was able to repair, but his times remain behind.

The fight in WRC 2 is concentrated between Éric Camilli (Volkswagen) and Yoann Bonato (Citroën) who is 8 seconds behind the category leader. Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) completes the provisional podium ahead of Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Volkswagen) and Nicolas Ciamin (Volkswagen). Adrien fourmaux (Ford) is in 6th place. Pierre-Louis Loubet (Skoda) lost several minutes on the last course.

The second passage of the first stage should start from 14:05 p.m. The crews do not have assistance at mid-stage.