WRC – Spain: Latvala in the lead, Sordo in ambush

Jari-Matti Latvala remains the leader of the Rally of Spain at the end of the asphalt specials. The Volkswagen driver had no choice but to attack in the second passage of the course while his opponent Dani Sordo matched his pace. The Finn was all the more disappointed to only take one point at the end of the Colldejou Power Stage (SS18) at the end of which the starting order was established according to the general classification. The Scandinavian dropped 2 additional points to Thierry Neuville with whom he is fighting for 2nd place in the Championship, while his teammate Sébastien Ogier also beat him to it. “I’m preparing for a new challenge moving from asphalt to dirt, but it’s not going to be easy. I hope the weather will be on my side tomorrow. » If the weather prefers to remain dry, Dani Sordo could be in a good situation to play for victory. The Citroën driver is only one second behind the leader of the event.

Thierry Neuville managed to find his feet behind the wheel of his Ford. The Qatar WRT driver still completes the provisional podium half a minute behind the leaders. “It all came down to the settings and I was able to get back to my normal pace when I took the right ones. We have to think. Maybe we can get Sordo back. It will be a great fight, we have to see how Sordo does on the dirt but I expect him to be fast tomorrow. » However, the Belgian will also have to monitor the performance of Sébastien Ogier who is only 16 seconds behind the Fiesta RS WRC after having punctured in the first pass. “I don’t know what’s possible. There are 140km and we are 4th on the road. »

Behind, Mikko Hirvonen took 5th place from Evgeny Novikov for a tenth lead, but it is the Russian who will start tomorrow ahead of the Citroën driver. “I was able to find a good rhythm today, our rhythm was a little better. There is still room for progress. Tomorrow's stage will be played on dirt and we will at least have a good position on the road. » Mads Ostberg remains in 7th place ahead of Martin Prokop who climbs to 8th place with 2 seconds ahead of Hayden Paddon. Robert Kubica still dominates the WRC2 by completing the top ten with 4 minutes ahead of the Fabia S2000 of Sepp Wiegand. The German finds himself 11th following the exit of Nasser Al-Attiyah and the abandonment of Elfyn Evans who broke a wheel.

The crews will have 138km of time to decide between them tomorrow in the last stage of the Rally of Spain. Jari-Matti Latvala will start at 7:33 a.m. in the 7km from Gandesa (watch out for the change to winter time). Click on this link to watch the videos of the Rally of Spain.