WRC Spain: Neuville closes on win, Tanak nears title – WRC

Rally


Thierry Neuville is on the brink of his third World Rally Championship victory of the year on Rally of Spain as Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo resisted Ott Tanak’s advances.

But third place for Tanak would be enough for him to claim his first WRC title, provided he either beats or is just one place behind Neuville on the powerstage later on Sunday afternoon.

Despite holding a secure 21.5-second lead, Neuville came out the blocks with a fastest stage time on Riudecanyes, stretching his lead by a further 0.7s over Sordo in second. Sordo was 0.4s quicker than Tanak through the test as his gap over the Toyota grew to 3.5s.

On the La Mussara powerstage dress rehearsal Tanak was strong but Sordo was even stronger. He eked another second clear to hold Tanak to a 4.5s deficit.

Neuville’s lead stands at 17.5s with two stages remaining as he opted to back off with brake fade.

Loeb remains fourth for Hyundai but has lost touch with the podium places. He lost 7.5s to Tanak on Riudecanyes as he struggled to find confidence in the i2 Coupe WRC.

He then lost a further 11.6s on La Mussara to lie 19.7s adrift overall, and is in danger of falling into the clutches of Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala who is now just 10.1s behind.

Elfyn Evans broke further clear of his M-Sport team-mate Teemu Suninen across Sunday morning’s two stages and nicked some time from Latvala ahead too.

But Latvala’s buffer is still secure as the Toyota driver “took it a bit easier” on Sunday morning to protect his fifth place by 21.3s.

Suninen was consistently around three seconds slower than Sebastien Ogier across Saturday’s stages, and the trend continued on Sunday morning with Suninen exactly three seconds off Ogier’s pace on Riudecanyes.

But a strong time on La Mussara spurred by “hating being Seb plus three seconds” bucked the trend as he went five seconds quicker.

Ogier remains in eighth overall, one place behind Suninen, on a day where his six-year reign as world champion looks set to come to an end. But due to his hydraulic issues on Friday, the gap between the pair stands at 2m47.4s.

The leading WRC2 runners occupy ninth and 10th places. Mads Ostberg heads the WRC2 Pro category in ninth but had been under pressure from recently crowned champion Kalle Rovanpera.

Rovanpera took over 30s from Ostberg on five of Saturday’s six stages only to lose 40s and position to team-mate Jan Kopecky on the short Salou stage with broken suspension. Eric Camilli heads the WRC2 class and is 10th in a Citroen C3 R5.

Kris Meeke restarted on Sunday following his crash into an armco barrier on Saturday morning.

Esapekka Lappi, whose Citroen ground to a halt on Friday’s final test, missed a second day of action with an engine related issue denying him the opportunity to compete.

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 RC1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 2h35m29.3s 0
2 RC1 Dani Sordo, C.del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 2h35m51.5s 22.2s 0
3 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h35m55.0s 25.7s 0
4 RC1 Sebastien Loeb, D.Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai 2h36m03.1s 33.8s 0
5 RC1 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 2h36m21.8s 52.5s 0
6 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2h36m40.2s 1m10.9s 0
7 RC1 Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2h36m59.9s 1m30.6s 0
8 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Citroen Total WRT Citroen 2h39m42.3s 4m13.0s 0
9 WRC2 Pro Mads Ostberg, T.Eriksen Citroen Total WRT Citroen 2h42m30.3s 7m01.0s 0
10 WRC2 Eric Camilli, F-X.Buresi Eric Camili Citroen 2h42m33.3s 7m04.0s 0
11 WRC2 Pro Jan Kopecky, J.Hlousek Skoda Motorsport Skoda 2h43m11.3s 7m42.0s 0
12 WRC2 Pro Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Skoda Motorsport Skoda 2h43m25.4s 7m56.1s 0
13 WRC2 Pierre-Louis Loubet, V.Landais Pierre-Louis Loubet Skoda 2h43m41.6s 8m12.3s 0
14 WRC2 Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz Volkswagen 2h43m57.3s 8m28.0s 0
15 WRC2 Emil Lindholm, M.Korhonen Emil Lindholm Volkswagen 2h44m04.3s 8m35.0s 0
16 WRC2 Pro Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson M-Sport Ford WRT Ford 2h45m24.6s 9m55.3s 0
17 WRC2 Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson Ole Christian Veiby Volkswagen 2h45m40.4s 10m11.1s 0
18 WRC2 Jose Antonio Suarez, A.Iglesias Jose Antonio Suarez Skoda 2h45m53.6s 10m24.3s 0
19 WRC2 Fabio Andolfi, S.Scattolin Fabio Andolfi Skoda 2h45m59.0s 10m29.7s 0
20 WRC2 Jan Solans, M.Barreiro Jan Solans Ford 2h48m14.6s 12m45.3s 0
21 WRC2 Guillaume de Mevius, M.Wydaeghe Guillaume de Mevius Citroen 2h48m19.6s 12m50.3s 0
22 WRC2 Nil Solans, M.Marti Nil Solans Volkswagen 2h50m36.6s 15m07.3s 0
23 WRC2 Nikolay Gryazin, Y.Fedorov Nikolay Gryazin Skoda 2h54m05.0s 18m35.7s 0
24 RC2 Jean-Michel Raoux, L.Magat Jean Michel Raoux Skoda 2h55m50.3s 20m21.0s 0
25 WRC2 ‘Pedro’, E.Baldaccini Pedro Ford 3h01m06.4s 25m37.1s 0
26 RC4 Sergi Francoli Comellas, M.S.El Hage RACC Motorsport Peugeot 3h05m38.4s 30m09.1s 0
27 RC4 Ruairi Bell, D.Garrod Ruairi Bell Peugeot 3h07m25.8s 31m56.5s 0
28 RC4 Jose Luis Pelaez, R.Del Barrio Tineo Auto Club Peugeot 3h07m32.4s 32m03.1s 0
29 RC4 Delbin Garcia, C.Carrera RACE Peugeot 3h11m09.2s 35m39.9s 0
30 RC2 Eamonn Boland, M.J.Morrissey Eamonn Boland Ford 3h11m31.8s 36m02.5s 0
31 RC2 Francisco Antonio Lopez, B.Odriozola RMC Motorsport Ford 3h12m59.4s 37m30.1s 0
32 RC4 Fabrizio Zaldivar, F.Mussano Fabrizio Zaldivar Ford 3h15m43.2s 40m13.9s 0
33 RC1 Kris Meeke, S.Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota 3h17m37.9s 42m08.6s 0
34 RC4 Georg Linnamae, V.Korsya ALM Motorsport Peugeot 3h17m50.1s 42m20.8s 0
35 WRC2 Adrien Fourmaux, R.Jamoul Adrien Fourmaux Ford 3h18m14.3s 42m45.0s 0
36 RC4 Miquel Labarias, J.S.Prades Escuderia Motor Terrassa Peugeot 3h18m15.6s 42m46.3s 0
37 RC4 Jean-Christophe Guibert, L.Gracial Jean Christophe Guibert Ford 3h20m26.0s 44m56.7s 0
38 RC4 Carlo Covi, S.Angi Carlo Covi Ford 3h20m55.0s 45m25.7s 0
39 RC4 Paulo Moreira, M.Macedo Paulo Moreira Peugeot 3h21m38.1s 46m08.8s 0
40 RC4 Nabila Tejpar, H.Magalhaes Nabila Tejpar Peugeot 3h25m59.6s 50m30.3s 0
41 RC1 Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt Tommi Makinen Racing Toyota 3h30m45.8s 55m16.5s 0
42 RC2 Mauro Miele, L.Beltrame Mauro Miele Skoda 3h34m31.1s 59m01.8s 0
43 RC5 Roberto Antonucci, H.Antonucci Roberto Antonucci Renault 3h47m27.7s 1h11m58.4s 0
44 RC2 Fabrizio Arengi Bentivoglio, M.Bosi Fabrizio Arengi Skoda 3h56m18.4s 1h20m49.1s 0



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