Tänak already takes off at Wales Rally GB

Ott Tänak was uncompromising in the first stage of Wales Rally GB. The Estonian won no less than 5 special stages out of the 6 on the program (apart from the two passages in the Salte Mountain super special this morning) and concluded the day with a lead of almost half a minute.

The pilot Toyota a encore profité des soucis de ses adversaires pour asseoir un peu plus sa domination puisque Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) a dû mettre pied à terre peu après être sorti du parc d’assistance, victime de problèmes mécaniques. Le prétendant au titre a même dû lever le pied dans la dernière ES après avoir terminé la précédente avec un pneu avant-gauche crevé.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) a retrouvé du rythme pour devancer Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) d’une poignée de secondes et se porter en deuxième position devant le Finlandais. C’est un peu plus compliqué pour Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) who is in 5th place, 2 seconds behind Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) after losing time this morning with his gearbox problems.

Craig Breen (Citroën) is still in 6th position, but his teammate Mads Ostberg remains 8th after being caught by Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) on the last course of the day. The Norwegian slid against an embankment and stalled, losing valuable time. The Scandinavian precedes his compatriot Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) who remains in difficulty on his mount.

It was Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) who dominated the day in WRC 2. The 18-year-old Finn is almost a minute ahead of Pontus Tidemand (Skoda), still closely followed by Gus Greensmith (Ford). Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) is now 4th in the category, but Pierre-Louis Loubet (Hyundai) was caught by Jari Huttunen (Hyundai).

Stage two of Wales Rally GB begins at 9:35 a.m. this Saturday with the 20,28km Myherin.