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The opening stage of the day is the 18 kilometre first leg of Grafschaft- a “typical vineyard test”, with conditions proving to be optimal for a good days driving ahead of predicted showers for Sunday.
 The undisputed dominator thus far Sebastien Ogier has yet to slacken his vice like grip on leadership in this years Rally Deutschland with him and the Polo R WRC making for an unbeatable combo on its home turf. However, a 10:44.1 time for Ogier plays teammate Jari-matti Latvalas 10:46.3, making JM a reasonable sized blob in the rear view with a 2 second split time leaving Ogier within sight. Latvala however seems sorely disappointed with his performance. “I did a couple of mistakes in the junctions. I’m unable to do handbrake turns properly and end up on the edge of the road- very strange”. Our very own Elfyn Evans in the M Sport Fiesta snaps ever viciously at Ogiers heels with a hairs width 0.6 second lag behind the leading Polo at 10:44.7. The Welshman keeps his cool: “It’s alright. Maybe we should do the whole rally in this stage? The feeling is better. We Weren’t perfect but overall not too bad”. If Latvala were to adopt a similar more casual stance would he allow himself a better shot at Ogiers dominance? The other Brit hopeful Kris Meeke took it easy on SS9 where he had a significant off last year: “I’ve not completed this one before. I wasn’t confident about where to brake”. Sordo and Neuville continue the Hyundai civil war: a close battle for fourth with Neuville pipping his teammate by 0.3 seconds. Sordo however leads Neuville in the standings by 1.5 seconds. Grafschaft has seen an outstanding performance from Evans on the heels of Ogier. Will he be able to carry that momentum through into the subsequent stages? Ogier should be nervous… |
