23h
Kris Meeke (Citroën) signed the scratch in the second passage of Duarte-Derramadero by completing the 26,05km in 16'56"7. The Northern Irishman took more than four seconds from Dani Sordo (Hyundai) who made a daring choice by opting for a mixture of soft and hard tires while most of his opponents preferred hard compounds.
Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) is more comfortable since he finishes just three tenths off the scratch, ahead of Andreas Mikkelsxen (Hyundai) and Ott Tänak (Toyota).
Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) finished six seconds behind his teammate but the nine-time WRC champion lost a handful of seconds by missing a corner.
Dani Sordo sees his lead reduced to 12 seconds against Kris Meeke. Ott Tänak moved up to third place, half a second ahead of Sébastien Loeb. Sébastien Ogier completes the Top 5 ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen, Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and Thierry Neuville who recovers a position after an error by Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) who left the Top 10 after losing more than two minutes.
23h
Neuville has already started on SS7 at El Chocolate.
23h
Loeb finished 6s behind his teammate despite his mistake which cost him a handful of seconds. “I missed the turn thinking I had to go straight. » Tänak took 3rd place from the nine-time WRC champion by half a second.
23h
Sordo lost 4″3 on Meeke “I tried to be conservative with the tires because I have soft compounds at the rear. » The choice of the Hyundai driver could cost him time since he only has a dozen seconds ahead of the Northern Irishman.
23h
Suninen gave up more than 2 minutes. 'I hit a barrier. » His wheel is damaged but the tire seems to have held up.
23h
Suninen appears to be suffering from a left-rear puncture, where he hit an embankment a few minutes earlier.
23h
Loeb missed a turn and had to turn around. Just a few seconds lost for the former champion.
23h
Suninen almost made a mistake again. The M-Sport driver hit an embankment but lost no time in the incident.
23h
Suninen reportedly stopped briefly on the stage. The M-Sport driver was in 8th place ahead of Neuville.
23h
Meeke improves the reference. The Citroën driver preceded Ogier by 3 tenths. He remains leader Sordo's closest rival. “Ogier was already very fast this morning, he will be even faster this afternoon. I'm happy with my pace. »
23h
Mikkelsen took the 2nd provisional time, 1″5 behind the provisional reference. The Norwegian is 6th.
23h
Tänak is the closest to Ogier. The Toyota driver finished 2s behind the Frenchman. The Estonian is in 4th place.
23h
Lappi is the slowest at the finish, 14 seconds behind Ogier. “Everything is the same as this morning. » The Toyota driver is in 10th place.
23h
Latvala finished 6″4 behind Ogier. The Toyota driver is in 7th place. “The mechanics seem to have found the solution. We will check this in the next SS. »
23h
Ogier ended the special by hitting the shoulder at the finish but the Ford resisted the impact. “There’s a lot more grip, that’s for sure. There are lots of fights in the peloton. » The M-Sport driver in 5th position improved Neuville's time by 12 seconds.
23h
Neuville sets a first time of 17'09″2, 3 tenths from Meeke's scratch this morning. “We lost time with this mechanical problem, that’s how it is. We will try to avoid problems but we will still suffer from our position on the road tomorrow. »
23h
The strategies evolve for the second pass:
The Citroën and Toyota drivers, as well as Mikkelsen, opted for 5 hard tires.
Ogier and Suninen took 4 hard and one soft.
Neuville and Sordo chose 3 soft and 2 hard.
23h
Neuville took over the start from Duarte-Derramadero. Meeke took the scratch in the first run in 17'08"9.
