WRC – Germany: Latvala follows the fight from a distance

Despite the wet roads of the first passage of the second stage of the Rally from Germany, the crews avoided the pitfalls to reach mid-stage assistance...except for Sébastien Ogier. The Volkswagen driver who returned to Rally2 was the victim of another off-road accident in Peterberg (SS8). Although the crew was unhurt, the safety rail was sufficiently damaged to force the organizers to cancel the special (and to shorten the second pass) while the world champion and his co-driver Julien Ingrassia were taken to hospital for routine examinations. The Frenchman can now only hope for bonus points in the Power Stage.

On the other hand, the sky is looking good for his rival Jari-Matti Latvala who has a 45-second lead over his closest pursuer. Kris Meeke retains provisional second place at the end of Panzerplatte, the longest special of the event with 42km timed, famous for the stones (hilkensteins) which line the road. But the Citroën driver only has an eight-second lead over Thierry Neuville. The pilot Hyundai, qui a été le seul avec son coéquipier Dani Sordo à opter pour des pneus durs, s’est hissé sur le podium provisoire avec une seconde d’avance sur le vainqueur de la dernière édition, tandis que Andreas Mikkelsen a chuté au cinquième rang à 11 secondes de l’Espagnol.

Elfyn Evans a également pris l’avantage sur son coéquipier Mikko Hirvonen pour le gain de la sixième place, même si le Finlandais reste à quatre dixièmes. Mads Ostberg est également revenu au contact des pilotes M-Sport avec seulement quatre secondes de retard. Bryan Bouffier et Martin Prokop complètent toujours le top dix.

Julien Maurin took the lead in WRC2 with a four-tenths lead over Pontus Tidemand following the stop of previous leader Bernardo Sousa. His compatriot Sébastien Chardonnet, however, had to stop. Stéphane Lefebvre inherits the controls of WRC3 following the stop of Éric Camilli, impressive so far.

The crews will return to the route for the second stage of the Rally Germany from 14:31 p.m. Videos of the event can be viewed on this link.