Sébastien Ogier continues to lead the Tour De Corse in dominating fashion with a 44.5s lead going into todays final day.
The Frenchman increased his lead despite not winning any of the six stages on Saturday as he controlled his margin at the front of the field.
Ogier said on his performance: “Anything can always happen but I don’t take the extra risk and I feel like I’m still in control. I feel comfortable, but if someone says they are 100% in control they’re lying. We must stay focused.”
Behind Ogier is a close battle between Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi with Tänak moving into second from fourth after winning the final stage of Saturday’s action. The Fin leads Neuville in second by just one tenth of a second.
Photo Credit: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
The three-way fight had another competitor in Kris Meeke going into stage 10, but the Irishman missed a pacenote and went off the road. This is the third time in a row that he has retired on this stage.
Another close battle sees Dani Sordo and Elfyn Evans separated by just 3.1 seconds going into today’s final two stages in fifth and sixth overall, while the third Hyundai of Andreas Mikkelsen is in seventh overall.
Another man to retire yesterday was Jari-Matti Latvala in the third Toyota with the Fin crashing into a tree, while Bryan Bouffier suffered engine issues with his Ford Fiesta and also retired as a result. Sebastien Loeb restarted under Rally2 rules and won three stages on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
WRC2 sees Jan Kopecký continue to pull away in the Skoda Fabia R5, with a 1m24.4s lead over Yoann Bonato in one of the new Citroen C3 R5’s, with Italian Fabio Andolfi in third.
Kopecký looked set to have a challenge from fellow Skoda driver Ole Christian Veiby, who won the first two stages of the day, but the Norwegian suffered gearbox problems on stage 10 and could only salvage fourth place in the class at the end of Saturday.
Both of the new C3’s have suffered issues; Bonato’s car repeatedly having GPS issues, while Stéphane Lefebvre spectacularly hit the side of a house on stage five which ripped two wheels of the side of the car and forcing him out of the rally. JWRC sees Jean-Baptiste Franceschi lead from Terry Folb and Irishman Callum Devine.
