Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text

WRC Tour of Corsica

Live Text

Sort by
When we do get going, the order looks like this:

1= Kubica/Ogier
3 Latvala +5.8s
4 Sordo +12.5s
5 Ostberg +14.3s
6 Evans +16.0s
7 Abbring +24.4s
8 Meeke +27.8s
9 Mikkelsen +31.4s
10 Sarrazin +35.0s
11 Prokop +38.4s
12 Tanak +39.7s
13 Lefebvre +49.0s
14 Bouffier +53.7s
15 Paddon +54.3s

Tidemand leads Breen by 2.3s in WRC2, Dumas leads Delecour by 11.3s in R-GT.
Looks like there's going to be a further hold, Ogier is on the startline but he's been given a 15-minute delay. The final course car is also yet to take to the stage.
That sinking car in the tweet included Molly Taylor on note duty for Abbring, and pretty much sums up quite how bad conditions have been...

Welcome back to AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live's coverage from Corsica -  where it all looks a little like this in the service park:




With SS2 cancelled, there's quite a long break now, join us back here for SS3 at 1.30pm UK time.
Some intriguing news from elsewhere in motorsport, the World Touring Car Championship is launching a new, Tour de France-inspired, team time trial concept called MAC3 as an extra attraction for its race weekends in 2016. Here's the full story of how it will work, and series boss Francois Ribeiro's exclusive thoughts:
WTCC news: WTCC adds Tour de France-inspired MAC3 'team time trial' for 2016
The WRC2 frontrunners are all now through, and it's Tidemand leading from Craig Breen by 2.6s, the Julien Maurin and Lappi.

Bit of extra Breen news - he's still going to have a shot at rescuing his ERC title bid, he'll be doing the Acropolis next weekend. Kajetan Kajetanowicz has pulled out quite a points lead, so Greece will be pretty crucial to deciding who wins that crown.
Definite shame to lose Casamozza-Ponte Leccia, it's a 27-mile beast that's also scheduled to be used tomorrow.
Bad news, our Friday schedule is down from three stages to just two. Torrential rain has caused too much damage to the planned SS2 and the roads around it - pictures of landslides and floods are flying around.

That means our next stage won't be until 2.47pm local time.
Lappi is in an unusual position now actually - not leading WRC2. Skoda team-mate Pontus Tidemand comes in 7s faster.

Lead battle excitement reiteration: Kubica and Ogier are in joint first place overall.
Excellent swearing avoidance by WRC2 man Esapekka Lappi as he reaches the finish: "It's understeering like... much".
Dumas agrees it's "quite funny, a lot of slides". And as it feels a bit rude to mention the R-GT Porsches without a picture, here's a look at Dumas'... attention-grabbing... livery.




Dumas is the pacesetter in the 'sportscar class', he's 11s faster than team-mate Delecour.
Delecour (who's 16th quickest ahead of Bertelli) on driving a rear-wheel-drive Porsche GT car on muddy and wet roads: "It's funny".
And one top-class retirement already: Neuville clouted a bridge a mile onto the first stage.
World Rally Car order after SS1:

1= Kubica + Ogier
3 Latvala +5.8s
4 Sordo +12.5s
5 Ostberg +14.3s
6 Evans +16.0s
7 Abbring +24.4s
8 Meeke +27.8s
9 Mikkelsen +31.4s
10 Sarrazin +35.0s
11 Prokop +38.4s
12 Tanak +39.7s
13 Lefebvre +49.0s
14 Bouffier +53.7s
15 Paddon +54.3s
16 Bertelli +1m37.5s
Sarrazin: "It's my first time in the wet with this car and this is a world championship, I'm just trying to enjoy myself." A top 10 place already is a good way to enjoy yourself, Stephane.
Sarrazin is the 16th and last of the World Rally Cars in the entry this weekend, next up will be the mighty R-GT Tuthill Porsches with their all-star driver line-up of Francois Delecour and Romain Dumas, then the Skoda-headed WRC2 field.
Better return to the WRC for last year's Corsica winner (and Formula E and LMP1 racer) Stephane Sarrazin - he's 10th quickest in his First Motorsport-run Ford.
Quiet return to the WRC for Bryan Bouffier, the 2013 Corsica winner is 13th fastest on SS1 in the additional M-Sport Ford he's piloting this weekend.
If you're just joining us, let's reiterate: Kubica and Ogier hold a joint lead of the Tour of Corsica.
Great stuff from Hyundai's fourth driver Abbring - he's seventh quickest. It's fair - or maybe harsh - to say the European Rally Championship graduate hasn't starred in his first big WRC chance so far, but that's a very decent beginning to Corsica for him. In the intra-team battle he's faster than Paddon by a full 30s and hit fewer bridges than Neuville.
Still a few more World Rally Cars to come through, Citroen's young star Stephane Lefebvre is 11th quickest, Ford privateer Lorenzo Bertelli is 13th.
SS1 order so far:

1= Kubica + Ogier
3 Latvala +5.8s
4 Sordo +12.5s
5 Ostberg +14.3s
6 Evans +16.0s
7 Meeke +27.8s
8 Mikkelsen +31.4s
9 Prokop +38.4s
10 Tanak +39.7s
"We took it quite steady," says Kubica, who's actually quite frustrated. He's hinting that there was some organisational problems in the team that left him "quite upset" before the start.

Asked by local interviewers what's made him "pissed off", Kubica replies "I've already told you too much."

Pushed to elaborate, he says "We didn't have the right set-up. I have to go..." And off he goes.

You wouldn't be able to tell from his mood, but Kubica holds the joint lead of this rally with Ogier.
After 18 miles and 19 minutes of rallying on wet, dirty asphalt, Kubica and Ogier are exactly tied on times of 19m44.0s. Fantastic.
Kubica is in and he's equalled Ogier's time! He holds the joint lead!
Meanwhile, here's third-placed Sordo's view on SS1: "The middle was good, but many, many corners are very dirty already and there's a lot of rubbish on the stage. For a start and with cleaning the road, not so bad."
Martin Prokop reaches the finish 38s off the pace. He generally trails the works cars in his private Ford, but he's outpaced Tanak and Paddon there. Like Kubica, Prokop is on the Pirelli tyres rather than the frontrunners' Michelins.
As Ogier didn't trigger the penultimate split, we don't know how Kubica compares to him there - but the Pole is just four tenths off Latvala there. He's on for a very close third place at the end right now...
Cheer up Hyundai, Dani Sordo's in and he's third fastest - a respectable 12s off Ogier.
"I don't enjoy this at all," says Paddon. "In this sort of stuff I've got no confidence at all. We're just taking this as a learning experience, trying not to do anything silly and keep it on the road."
Hayden Paddon has been off the pace all stage in the first Hyundai to get through without hitting a bridge. He's 54s down at the end, slowest so far.
Tanak puts his lack of pace down to a simple lack of confidence on the wet asphalt.

"The conditions were not so bad as expected and I was really, really cautious. I'm not confident to push in these conditions. It's better to survive at the moment. I need to find the feeling to go faster."

By: Matt Beer

Published: