WRC – Germany: Ogier falls, Latvala struggles against Neuville

While the Polo R WRC had got off to a flying start in the first stage of the Rally from Germany, the ranking hierarchy was shaken up from the Mittelmosel special (SS3) where the second day started. Sébastien Ogier went off the road when he failed to brake and damaged his front left wheel as well as his suspension. Despite makeshift repairs carried out on the connecting course, the Championship leader had to throw in the towel on the next course and will have to wait until the third day to restart in Rally2. His teammate Jari-Matti Latvala logically took control of the event, but the Finn must resist the intense pressure from Thierry Neuville.

The Qatar WRT resident shines once again on this rally close to his native lands since the Belgian took all the scratches of the morning to come back to only 2” of the remaining Polo R WRC, despite the course being wet in places. Dani Sordo, who chose to start like the Volkswagen drivers with four hard and two soft tires, now completes the provisional podium by remaining in contact with the leaders since the Spaniard is only 4 seconds behind the first Ford. His teammate Mikko Hirvonen, who preferred to start with five hard tires like Thierry Neuville, also showed a good pace with 12 seconds behind the first DS13 WRC.

Mads Ostberg marks the break in the peloton. After damaging his left rear wheel following an off-road accident in Mittelmosel, the Norwegian continued to lose time against the leading teams. The pilot M-Sport finds itself somewhat isolated in fifth position. Martin Prokop managed to gain the advantage over Nasser Al-Attiyah, leading him by almost 10 seconds, even though he remains more than a minute out of the top five. Despite mechanical problems encountered with his DS3 RRC, Robert Kubica retains the lead in WRC2 and eighth place in the general classification, eight seconds ahead of the Ford Fiesta R5 of Elfyn Evans. Michal Kosciuszko completes the top ten ahead of Sepp Wiegand. Several Citroën Top Driver crews have retired, but Sébastien Chardonnet remains at the head of the category with half a minute ahead of Quentin Gilbert.

The second passage of the special stages of the second stage of the Rally Germany will be contested from 16:12 p.m. and will be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Click on this link to watch videos from the Rally Germany.