Rally Turkey 2019
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End of this live-text for this day. Thank you for your loyalty, and see you tomorrow morning at 8:38 a.m. for the live commentary of the last stage of the 2019 Rally of Turkey.
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In WRC 2 Pro, Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo) sets a new best time, but it is Gus Greensmith (Ford Fiesta R5) who will approach the last stage as leader of the category with 1′ ahead of Jan Kopecky (Skoda Fabia R5 Evo), slowed down by punctures this Saturday.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda Fabia R5) still dominates in WRC 2.
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Here is the general classification after this 2nd Turkish stage:
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“It doesn’t bother me not to be in the lead,” admits Lappi. I made a small mistake during the previous SS. Even if we lead tomorrow, the points are very important for Seb, so I will try to support him. There's one day left, we can make it. »
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“It was a very good day,” Ogier said of his performance this Saturday. We had no problems, a good pace. That's a big difference from three weeks ago. We came here with a positive feeling after a good test and we knew the car would perform well on gravel. »
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Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) completed the second stage of the Rally of Turkey with the best time in SS13, won with a 1″4 lead over Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and 4″5 over Sébastien Ogier (Citroën).
The latter retains control of the race by two tenths against Esapekka Lappi, while the battle for third place is far from over between Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) and Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford).
Both drivers gave everything at the end of the day, with aerodynamically damaged cars, and the Norwegian maintained a 9″8 margin over the Finn.
Dani Sordo (Hyundai) remains installed in 5th position and precedes Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) who took advantage of Kris Meeke (Toyota) going off the road in this SS to overtake his teammate. The gap between the two Yaris is 15″1 before the final stage.
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Pontus Tidemand (M-Sport Ford) complete the WRC rankings at 4'38" and 6'55".
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Best time for Esapekka Lappi, but the Finn fails to regain control of the race by two tenths against Sébastien Ogier.
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4″1 ahead of Ogier in the 2nd partial! Lappi is on his way to regain first place!!!
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And Lappi is 2″8 ahead of Ogier in the first partial!
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Sébastien Ogier concedes 3″1 on Thierry Neuville’s best time. The Frenchman will now wait for Esapekka Lappi's time.
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Mikkelsen showed up for interviews after the SS with a slightly rear-damaged Hyundai i20.
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7'17″4 and 4″5 better than Suninen for Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).
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“I had no tires left on the back and the car went sideways and we ended up with a puncture. » explains Meeke after leaving the road.
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Provisional best time for Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford) in 7'21″9, 2″5 ahead of Mikkelsen. The Finn reduces the gap to 9″8 on the Hyundai driver before the final stage in the fight for the podium.
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7'24″4 for Mikkelsen (Hyundai), 0″4 better than Sordo.
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Sordo improves Latvala's reference by 6″1, confirming Latvala's clear loss of time in the last sector of the SS, since the Toyota driver was still ahead of Sordo in the 2nd intermediate.
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Finally, 20″5 behind Meeke on Latvala’s best time. The Briton will lose 6th place to the Finn.
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Meeke limits the damage with 21″3 behind Latvala in the second half.
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Kris Meeke goes off the road! The Toyota driver went too wide from a left turn. But the Briton was able to leave.
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3″5 better at the finish for Latvala, who lost time in the last portion.
