Evans takes the lead at the Tour de Corse

Elfyn Evans took control of the Tour de Corse against Ott Tänak. The Welshman, however, thought he was losing his lead when he was slowed down by Kris Meeke.

Published on 29/03/2019 à 17:12

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Evans takes the lead at the Tour de Corse

It was an unusual situation that occurred in the Alta-Rocca special which concluded the first stage of the Tour de Corse. So in the lead with more than 4 seconds ahead of Ott Tänak (Toyota), Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) lost time by finding himself stuck behind the Yaris WRC of Kris Meeke who was moving at a slow pace after damaging his suspension against a curb on the previous course.

Elfyn Evans was ultimately credited with the same time as Ott Tänak on SS6. The M-Sport driver thus returns to service with a lead of 4”5 over the Estonian.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) consolidated his 3rd place by moving around ten seconds from the lead of the race and distancing his teammate Dani Sordo who dropped off the pace in the second pass. The Spaniard finds himself under pressure from Teemu Suninen (M-Sport).

Toyota saw two of its crews in difficulty in SS5. Jari-Matti Latvala, then in 6th position, dropped out 3 minutes after having to change a wheel following a puncture, while Kris Meeke lost further time following his contact with a curb.

Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) took the opportunity to climb to 6th place ahead of his teammate Esapekka Lappi, but the C3 WRC clearly seems in difficulty on the Corsican asphalt. The six-time WRC champion notably mentioned significant understeer. Sebastian Loeb (Hyundai) painfully climbed back to 8th place.

Éric Camilli (Volkswagen) remains in control of WRC 2, occupying 9th place in the general classification, 20 seconds ahead of Yoann Bonato (Citroën). Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) remains on the provisional podium in the category with a handful of seconds ahead of Nicolas Ciamin (Volkswagen).

 

 

The second stage of the Tour de Corse should start this Saturday at 7:38 a.m. The event can be followed live with our live text.

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