Rally of Catalonia 2018
16h
Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) set a good pace in the 6th special of the Rally of Spain, the 26,59km of Pesells. By finishing 4''2 from the scratch of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota), author of a time of 14'12''5, and two tenths from his teammate Craig Breen and Ott Tänak (Toyota), the nine-time WRC champion took more than 5 seconds from Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) while ahead of Dani Sordo (Hyundai) by more than a second. Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) followed 7 seconds from the benchmark, preceding her compatriot. Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) are more than 10 seconds behind.
Ott Tänak now has a 14”4 lead over Elfyn Evans who sees Dani Sordo come back to 5 seconds. Sébastien Loeb gained two places to climb to 4th place with 7 tenths ahead of Craig Breen and a second over Andreas Mikkelsen. Sébastien Ogier also lost two positions to find himself 7th, 3 seconds behind the Norwegian Jari-Matti Latvala moved up to 8th place against Thierry Neuville. Esapekka Lappi completes the Top 10 ahead of his compatriot Teemu Suninen (M-Sport).
16h
This is the 4th time for Loeb who ranks 2 tenths behind Tänak and Breen. The Citroën driver took 4th position with a 7 tenths lead over his teammate Breen and a second over Mikkelsen. " It was not bad. I tried to be a little more aggressive by changing the settings because I had understeer since this morning. It's better now. »
16h
Evans only set the 5th fastest time, almost 7s behind Latvala and 3s behind Tänak and Breen. The M-Sport driver remains 2nd but his delay on Tänak increases to more than 14s.
16h
Suninen is still behind with more than 18 seconds behind. The M-Sport driver is still outside the Top 10. “I'm trying to keep the car on track but I'm having trouble. I have to learn how to drive in these stages. »
16h
Breen achieves the same time as Tänak, 4 seconds behind Latvala. The Citroën driver takes over Mikkelsen and Ogier to finish in 4th place. “I really like the car at the moment, it does what I want. »
16h
Sordo finished with the 3rd time, 5″6 behind Latvala and 4 seconds ahead of his teammate Mikkelsen. The Spaniard protects his 3rd place well. “I was looking to preserve the tires with the special stage ahead which has quite a bit of asphalt. »
16h
Mikkelsen sets the 3rd fastest time, around ten seconds behind Latvala. “I was scared when I hit a big stone, I thought I had broken something. » The Norwegian in any case pushes Ogier back to 3s from his 4th position.
16h
Latvala puts everyone in agreement with 4 seconds ahead of his teammate Tänak. The Finn gains at least one position by taking over Neuville. “I'm happy with how the car behaves. It's very intense. The next ES will be the most important. »
16h
Lappi regains the rhythm by being closest to his teammate Tänak with a little more than 6 seconds behind. The Finn comes back a dozen seconds behind Neuville. “It’s not going well but that’s how it is. »
16h
Tänak still teaches the lesson with a 7s lead over Ogier and almost 10s over Neuville. The Frenchman is now 34s behind the leader of the event.
16h
Ogier improves Neuville’s time by 2″4. “We continue to sweep the road but I can't do more. » The M-Sport driver looks to seize 4th position from Mikkelen while resisting pressure from the Citroëns of Loeb and Breen.
16h
Neuville finished with a time of 14'26"0, 10 seconds better than Latvala's scratch this morning. “I did a very good SS. I won't be able to have the same rhythm in the next one. »
16h
Tänak resumes his usual pace with almost 3 seconds ahead of Neuville and Ogier in the 3rd split.
16h
The first crews are already in the special. Neuville is currently the fastest, ahead of Ogier and Tänak by a few tenths.
