Sebastien Ogier takes the lead early on day 2 after the opening stage, and also winning straight 7 of the 8 stages of the day. Fellow ...
Sebastien Ogier takes the lead early on day 2 after the opening stage, and also winning straight 7 of the 8 stages of the day. Fellow VW Polo R driver Jari-Matti Latvala regains his rhythm by taking the final stage victory. Baseline, it was an all Volkswagen day.
First pass through the three main stages, were reported very slippery with too much loose ground. This didn't stop the Frenchman to regain an early lead and start building up the gap with the other drivers. Mikko Hirvonen was looking in good form and started tailing Ogier, although it was not enough to slow him down.
Latvala suffered with lack of confidence since morning stages, although started to regain his for by the rest half of the day. M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville too suffered in the opening stages, still his time was not so bad and finished third overall by the day's finish.
Citroen's latest driver Kris Meeke was quick enough to settle through the dusty stages, with the running order of last of the WRC cars seemed to be of some help.
Latvala suffered with lack of confidence since morning stages, although started to regain his for by the rest half of the day. M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville too suffered in the opening stages, still his time was not so bad and finished third overall by the day's finish.
Citroen's latest driver Kris Meeke was quick enough to settle through the dusty stages, with the running order of last of the WRC cars seemed to be of some help.
Top 10 scoreboard by the end of SS10, Day 2
| Pos | No | Driver | Time | Diff
Prev
| Diff 1st | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 8 | S. OGIER | 58:46.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 2. | 2 | M. HIRVONEN | 59:06.6 | +20.0 | +20.0 | |
| 3. | 11 | T. NEUVILLE | 59:24.7 | +18.1 | +38.1 | |
| 4. | 3 | K. MEEKE | 59:25.2 | +0.5 | +38.6 | |
| 5. | 7 | J. LATVALA | 59:44.8 | +19.6 | +58.2 | |
| 6. | 4 | M. OSTBERG | 59:48.3 | +3.5 | +1:01.7 | |
| 7. | 9 | A. MIKKELSEN | 59:50.4 | +2.1 | +1:03.8 | |
| 8. | 5 | E. NOVIKOV | 59:55.8 | +5.4 | +1:09.2 | |
| 9. | 22 | N. QUINN | 1:02:49.2 | +2:53.4 | +4:02.6 | |
| 10. | 10 | K. AL QASSIMI | 1:03:28.0 | +38.8 | +4:41.4 |
Here is an exclusive ride with Ogier's onboard camera in SS5.
Tomorrow features a marathon stage, Nambucca [49.9 km] and Valla [14.84 km], that are run twice after a 30min mid-day service.
A couple of final SSS at Coffs Harbour will mark the end of the day for Saturday's leg. See you tomorrow.
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