MOTORSPORT NEWS Rally

SS9/10: TÄNAK REGAINS LEAD

Andries Van der WaltComments Off on SS9/10: TÄNAK REGAINS LEAD

OTT TÄNAK MOVED BACK INTO THE LEAD OF RALLY SWEDEN ON SATURDAY MORNING AS A MISTAKE FROM OVERNIGHT LEADER TEEMU SUNINEN SENT HIM PLUNGING DOWN THE LEADERBOARD.Tänak regained top spot with second fastest time in the opening Rämmen speed test. His advantage became much more comfortable when Suninen conceded almost 90sec and all hopes of a maiden WRC victory less than 1km from the end of the following Hagfors stage.

The Ford Fiesta driver was too fast into a right corner and slid wide on the next left bend. “The snow sucked us into a snowbank and we got stuck and lost time. Too much speed and quite a lot of loose snow,” explained the disappointed Finn, who dropped to eighth.

Tänak, who was also second quickest through Hagfors, emerged with a 34.2sec lead in his Toyota Yaris. “We had a clean run in both stages. The first one was new so it would have been stupid to take any risks there. I’m in a good rhythm at the moment,” he said.

A cautious Andreas Mikkelsen climbed to second in his Hyundai i20. The Norwegian was seventh in both tests and was almost 15sec clear of Elfyn Evans’ Fiesta.

The battle for fourth raged between Esapekka Lappi, Thierry Neuville and Kris Meeke. Lappi was the man in control after Hagfors, despite admitting he was not brave enough at the wheel of his Citroën C3 in the high-speed sections.

He had 4.3sec in hand over Thierry Neuville, who struggled with his i20’s handling, with Meeke a further 1.7sec back. Sébastien Loeb slipped away from the scrap in seventh, the Frenchman complaining his pace notes were too slow for the fast and icy Swedish forest roads.

Jari-Matti Latvala and Sébastien Ogier, both restarting today after retiring yesterday, claimed a stage win each.

Top fifteen overall provisionally after stage 11

POS CAR NO DRIVER CO-DRIVER TEAM ELIGIBILITY GROUP CLASS TIME DIFF PREV DIFF 1ST
1. 8 ESTO. TÄNAK ESTM. JÄRVEOJA TOYOTA GAZOO RACING WRT M RC1 1:43:32.7
2. 89 NORA. MIKKELSEN NORA. JAEGER-AMLAND HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:44:06.5 +33.8 +33.8
3. 33 GBRE. EVANS GBRS. MARTIN M-SPORT FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:44:23.4 +16.9 +50.7
4. 11 BELT. NEUVILLE BELN. GILSOUL HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:44:24.5 +1.1 +51.8
5. 4 FINE. LAPPI FINJ. FERM CITROEN TOTAL WRT M RC1 1:44:25.5 +1.0 +52.8
6. 5 GBRK. MEEKE GBRS. MARSHALL TOYOTA GAZOO RACING WRT M RC1 1:44:31.5 +6.0 +58.8
7. 19 FRAS. LOEB MCOD. ELENA HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:44:47.8 +16.3 +1:15.1
8. 3 FINT. SUNINEN FINM. SALMINEN M-SPORT FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:44:56.8 +9.0 +1:24.1
9. 7 SWEP. TIDEMAND NORO. FLØENE M-SPORT FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM M RC1 1:45:51.1 +54.3 +2:18.4
10. 42 NORO. VEIBY SWEJ. ANDERSSON OLE CHRISTIAN VEIBY WRC2 RC2 1:47:32.3 +1:41.2 +3:59.6
11. 47 SWEJ. KRISTOFFERSSON NORS. SKJÆRMOEN JOHAN KRISTOFFERSSON WRC2 RC2 1:47:59.6 +27.3 +4:26.9
12. 46 FINJ. HUTTUNEN FINA. LINNAKETO JARI HUTTUNEN WRC2 RC2 1:48:00.7 +1.1 +4:28.0
13. 21 NORM. OSTBERG NORT. ERIKSEN CITROEN TOTAL WRC2PRO RC2 1:48:35.8 +35.1 +5:03.1
14. 48 FINE. LINDHOLM FINM. KORHONEN EMIL LINDHOLM WRC2 RC2 1:48:47.1 +11.3 +5:14.4
15. 45 SWEE. BERGKVIST SWEP. BARTH EMIL BERGKVIST WRC2 RC2 1:48:58.5 +11.4 +5:25.