Rally GB: Elfyn Evans extends his lead as M-Sport holds 1-2-3 – WRC

Rally


Elfyn Evans added to his Rally GB lead on Friday afternoon to end the first full day of World Rally Championship action in Britain with a 25-second advantage.

M-Sport driver Evans picked up where he left off at the start of the afternoon loop by winning SS5 Myherin, going 4.3 seconds faster than anyone else in his DMACK-shod Ford Fiesta.

Evans was then beaten to the fastest time on the next two stages by Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville respectively, but still stretched his lead over closest challenger and team-mate Ott Tanak to 24.6 seconds.

Tanak had looked feisty in the morning but was slower than Ogier on all three stages of the repeat loop – although he will head into the second day with 2.2s over his M-Sport team-mate.

Ogier’s victory on SS6 Sweet Lamb was his first since Thursday evening’s superspecial, and was part of a stronger afternoon loop that hoisted him back onto the tail of his team-mates, with M-Sport cars currently occupying a 1-2-3 in the order.

Neuville’s SS7 stage win was the first non-Fiesta victory of the event, and elevated him to fourth in the order.

The Belgian complained that we was not happy with his Hyundai i20 after his stage-winning run through Hafren, but he would be three tenths away from Ogier in the overall order without a 10-second penalty incurred overnight.

Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke, who lost two positions on the afternoon’s final stage in his Citroen C3 – separate Neuville and his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in the classification.

The third and fourth Hyundais of Dani Sordo and Hayden Paddon are eighth and ninth in the order, whle Juho Hanninen is 10th.

Craig Breen stopped on the final stage of the day, with Citroen team-mate Meeke reporting his C3 was stuck in a ditch.

He earlier lost time on the first Hafren run with a slow puncture.

Follow minute-by-minute updates from Saturday’s Rally GB stages with Autosport Race Centre Live from 7:45AM UK time

Leading positions after SS7

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 1h09m20.9s
2 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 24.6s
3 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 26.8s
4 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 37.1s
5 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 41.9s
6 Kris Meeke, P.Nagle Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 42.0s
7 Andreas Mikkelsen, A.Jager Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 52.0s
8 Dani Sordo, M.Marti Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 1m13.9s
9 Hayden Paddon, S.Marshall Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 1m22.9s
10 Juho Hanninen, K.Lindstrom Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 1m43.5s
11 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 1m50.0s
12 Mads Ostberg, E.Axelsson M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 2m00.8s



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