Sébastien Ogier maintains his lead for Volkswagen in the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France after Day 2.
The three-times World Rally Champion took a cautious approach on the Corsican asphalt, with the rain coming in on the afternoon stages. The Frenchman now extends his lead by +46.5 seconds from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Citroën Racing’s Kris Meeke won SS5 on Day 2, breaking Ogier’s four stage-winning streak before crashing on SS6, 400 metres into a tree on SS6, effectively ending the Northern Irishman’s rally.
Ogier took a cautious approach to win SS6 and SS7, while Neuville won SS8 despite suffering a scare with his i20 WRC sliding wide onto some stones. But that didn’t stop the Belgian from claiming the final stage win of Day 2, leaving him second overall in the rally.
The second Volkswagen of Andreas Mikkelsen finished Day 2 in third, +21.5 seconds behind Neuville after narrowly missing some cows this morning, as well as suffering with overheating tyres on the penultimate stage of the day.
Jari-Matti Latvala is fourth after suffering all day with brake problems on his Polo R WRC. Meeke’s team-mate Craig Breen is fifth on his WRC asphalt début.
Hayden Paddon was the second Hyundai in the top six in sixth place, while his team-mate Dani Sordo was seventh. The M-Sport trio of Eric Camilli, Mads Østberg and WRC2 Championship Leader Elfyn Evans completes the top ten after Day 2 in Corsica.
Credit: McKlein/M-Sport
In WRC2, Elfyn Evans leads the Czech Republic’s Jan Kopecký by +37.8 seconds coming into the final day in Corsica.
Yoann Bonato is third in the Citroën DS 3 R5, ahead of his fellow Frenchman Julien Maurin in fourth place. Kevin Abbring is fifth in the Hyundai i20 R5, which is making its début in Corsica this weekend.
Pierre-Louis Loubet, Quentin Gilbert and Hubert Ptszaek complete the finishers in the WRC2 category for Day 2 of the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France.
Meanwhile, in WRC3, Yohan Rossel extends his lead to Laurent Pellier by nearly 15 seconds after Day 2 in Corsica.
Slovenia’s Martin Koči is third, over a minute and a half behind the WRC3 Rally Leader Rossel. Simone Tempestini is fourth, ahead of Michaël Burri and Terry Folb who complete the top six with just one more day to run on the Corsican asphalt.
Credit: @World Photography/Citroën Racing
Finally, in Junior WRC, Yohan Rossel leads ahead of Laurent Pellier and Martin Koči coming into the final day of Tour de Corse.
Championship Leader Simone Tempestini is fourth, ahead of his nearest rival Terry Folb in fifth. Romain Martel, Vincent Dubert and Ole Christian Veiby complete the finishers in the Junior WRC category.
Day 3 of the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France comes to a conclusion with SS9 and the Power Stage from 08:58am French time (07:58 UK time).
