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WRC Rally of Spain: Drivers ask for bigger gaps amid dust worry

Leading World Rally Championship drivers have called for a four-minute gap between the cars on Friday's opening day of the Rally of Spain amid concerns over dust levels

Hot, dry and potentially still conditions are expecting for leg one's gravel stages, with low early morning sun set to exacerbate the visibility problem in the dust.

Drivers have asked to increase the gap between the priority crews from the standard two minutes to three or four.

Sebastien Ogier will run in clear air at the front of the field, though he does not expect the dust to be as costly as the level of loose gravel that he will encounter.

"If I could chose where I would run on the road on Friday, I would still go at the back of the [priority] drivers," said Ogier, who benefited from running on cleaner roads to overturn Jari-Matti Latvala's 46-second lead to win last season.

"There might be some dust in places, but the conditions are very, very loose and the line will clean a lot."

Citroen's Kris Meeke hopes for more of the windy conditions that had accompanied Hurricane Gonzales' passage up through Europe earlier in the week.

"We need it to be really windy tomorrow," he said. "The biggest concern is with the first stage in the morning, that could be tough.

"It's just so difficult to drive when the dust comes up and you just know you're losing so much time to the guy who has a clear run."

NEUVILLE LEADS SHAKEDOWN

Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville topped the event's shakedown on Thursday morning, beating Ogier by two tenths of a second with his second run at the 1.8-mile stage.

Neuville's team-mate Dani Sordo was third.

Despite his pace, Neuville ruled himself out of a second victory of the season.

"It's not possible for me to win," he insisted.

"Yes, we have a good start position for the gravel stages tomorrow, but I think we will be looking at around fourth place tomorrow night - there are others, like Dani who have a better start position than me, who can be really at the front."

Ogier goes into the penultimate rally of the season needing just one point more than his VW team-mate Latvala to clinch a second successive title.

"I don't have any pressure," he said. "I already have a world title and I have a 27-point lead in the championship.

"Everything is in my hands and I feel good. The sun is shining, the gravel roads are beautiful and the asphalt is like a circuit."

RK M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Robert Kubica continued the asphalt pace he had shown last time out in France with fourth fastest time around the Salou stage.

Privateer Yuriy Protasov was fifth in another Fiesta RS WRC, with Andreas Mikkelsen and Latvala sixth and seventh.

Returning American star Ken Block rounded out the top eight in his Monster Fiesta.

Leading shakedown times:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car       Time     Gap
 1.  Thierry Neuville    Hyundai        2m09.2s
 2.  Sebastien Ogier     VW             2m09.4s  +0.2s
 3.  Dani Sordo          Hyundai        2m09.7s  +0.5s
 4.  Robert Kubica       M-Sport Ford   2m09.8s  +0.6s
 5.  Yuriy Protasov      M-Sport Ford   2m10.0s  +0.8s
 6.  Andreas Mikkelsen   VW             2m10.1s  +0.9s
 7.  Jari-Matti Latvala  VW             2m10.3s  +1.1s
 8.  Ken Block           Hoonigan Ford  2m10.4s  +1.2s
 9.  Hayden Paddon       Hyundai        2m11.6s  +2.4s
10.  Mikko Hirvonen      M-Sport Ford   2m11.8s  +2.6s

Follow the Rally of Spain as it happens all weekend with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live. Coverage begins at 7.30am UK time on Friday

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