Tänak takes the lead at Wales Rally GB

Ott Tänak (Toyota) a pris la tête du Wales Rally GB au soir de la première étape en concluant la journée par deux scratchs décrochés de nuit. L’Estonien a pris une légère avance sur ses adversaires puisque Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) and Kris Meeke (Toyota), leader almost all day, are grouped in 2 tenths, less than 4 seconds from first place.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) est également en lutte dans le groupe de tête en accusant moins de 5 secondes de retard sur le podium provisoire. Ses coéquipiers Andreas Mikkelsen et Craig Breen sont à distance respectable, l’Irlandais étant sous la menace de Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) revenu à moins de 4 secondes. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) et Pontus Tidemand (M-Sport) devancent Jan Kopecky (Skoda) qui complète le Top 10 en étant le nouveau leader du WRC 2 Pro.

The second pass of the first stage of Wales Rally GB caused several casualties among the competitors. Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) was in 7th place before going off the road on SS6. Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) was 5th when he rolled over on the following course. The weekend ends there for the Finn, the rollbar of his Yaris WRC having been damaged.

Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda) was leading the WRC 2 Pro before suffering a puncture in the penultimate special stage of the day. The Finn remains less than 8 seconds behind his Czech rival. Mads Ostberg (Citroën) retired with a mechanical problem while Hayden Paddon (Ford) went off the track.

Pierre Louis-Loubet (Skoda) dominates WRC 2 with more than half a minute ahead of Petter Solberg (Volkswagen). “Hollywood” is under pressure fromAdrien fourmaux (Ford) which remains 3 seconds behind its Polo GTI R5.

The second stage of Wales Rally GB is scheduled to begin this Saturday from 9:06 a.m. with the 25,86km Dyfi. The event can be followed live with our live text.