WRC Tour of Corsica: Neuville leads overnight after Tanak drama
Hyundai's Thierry Neuville holds a shock Tour of Corsica lead of 4.5 seconds over M-Sport's Elfyn Evans overnight, as Toyota's World Rally Championship leader Ott Tanak hit trouble
Tanak had led the rally heading into the afternoon in his Yaris WRC ahead of Evans, with Neuville's i20 Coupe WRC 17.2s behind.
Fiesta WRC driver Evans started the afternoon with intent, trimming Tanak's 2.3s advantage down to 1.6s on the first stage of the loop, Cap Corse.
The pair's epic battle defused however when Tanak stopped on SS11 with a punctured tyre. The Estonian lost over two minutes changing the tyre to stage winner Neuville and plummeted from first to seventh.
Tanak recovered on the final stage of Saturday to end the leg sixth, but the frustration was obvious.
Neuville had begun to drift away slightly from Tanak and Evans ahead of him throughout Saturday, but smelled blood when Tanak hit trouble.
He put in a sublime performance to slash 16s out of Evans on the final stage -Castagniccia - which was almost 30 miles in distance, turning a 11.5s deficit into a 4.5s to set up a dramatic finish on Sunday.
This came as a surprise to Evans, who had thought he had set a competitive stage time.
Five-time world champion Sebastien Ogier momentarily lost the anti-lag in his Citroen C3 on the final stage of the day which caused him significant distraction, but the Frenchman still manged to pass Dani Sordo to end the day third after starting sixth.
Sordo dropped 19.5s to Ogier in the 30 miles of Castagniccia to trail by 5.1s overall, lamenting his speed in the second pass of the stage he won in the morning.
Teemu Suninen was rejuvenated in the afternoon after dropping from fifth to sixth in the morning.
The M-Sport driver struggled to make any ground on Ogier and Sordo ahead of him but crucially kept his car on the road. He is now fifth after Tanak's demise.
Esapekka Lappi looked the same downbeat figure he has all weekend on the afternoon loop, as he continues to work on optimising the set-up of his Citroen in seventh.
Sebastien Loeb was unhappy with changes he'd made to his Hyundai at midday service, complaining of understeer. He ended the day where he started it in eighth.
Kris Meeke "enjoyed" his afternoon as he continues to hold ninth overall in his Toyota, avoiding any drama in stark contrast to his Friday.
Jari-Matti Latvala picked up his second puncture of the weekend on the penultimate stage of the day, almost understeering into the undergrowth before stopping to change it.
The Finn admitted it was his mistake as he was trying to push but cut a corner and destroyed his tyre. Despite this setback, Latvala is still 10th.
The final stage of the day was red flagged after Eric Camilli's Volkswagen Polo R5 caught on fire. Camilli had lost his WRC2 lead in the morning but was hunting down new class leader Fabio Andolfi.
Leading positions after SS12
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai | 2h56m50.0s |
2 | Elfyn Evans, S.Martin | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford | 4.5s |
3 | Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia | Citroen Total WRT | Citroen | 44.8s |
4 | Dani Sordo, C.del Barrio | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai | 49.9s |
5 | Teemu Suninen, M.Salminen | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford | 1m32.1s |
6 | Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota | 1m54.5s |
7 | Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm | Citroen Total WRT | Citroen | 1m59.3s |
8 | Sebastien Loeb, D.Elena | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai | 3m21.4s |
9 | Kris Meeke, S.Marshall | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota | 3m55.9s |
10 | Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota | 6m35.4s |
11 | Fabio Andolfi, S.Scattolin | Fabio Andolfi | Skoda | 9m15.4s |
12 | Nikolay Gryazin, Y.Fedorov | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | 9m47.0s |
13 | Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson | Ole Christian Veiby | Volkswagen | 9m59.5s |
14 | Kajetan Kajetanowicz, M.Szczepaniak | Kajetan Kajetanowicz | Volkswagen | 12m05.3s |
15 | Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt | Takamoto Katsuta | Ford | 12m40.1s |
16 | Rhys Yates, J.Morgan | Rhys Yates | Skoda | 12m57.7s |
17 | Olivier Capanaccia, F.O.Piazza | Olivier Capanaccia | Skoda | 16m12.6s |
18 | Sebastien Bedoret, T.Walbrecq | Sebastien Bedoret | Skoda | 16m55.9s |
19 | Manu Guigou, A.Coria | Emmanuel Guigou | Renault | 22m34.7s |
20 | Jean-Charles Beaubelique, J.Pesenti | Jean-Charles Beaubelique | Citroen | 24m51.7s |
21 | Tom Kristensson, H.Appelskog | Tom Kristensson | Ford | 24m56.4s |
22 | Dennis Radstrom, J.Johansson | Dennis Radstrom | Ford | 24m56.8s |
23 | 'Pedro', E.Baldaccini | Pedro | Ford | 25m01.5s |
24 | Julius Tannert, J.Heigl | ADAC Sachsen | Ford | 25m03.0s |
25 | Guillaume de Mevius, M.Wydaeghe | Guillaume de Mevius | Citroen | 25m37.7s |
26 | Lukasz Pieniazek, K.Heller | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford | 26m47.1s |
27 | Yannick Vivens, C.Valibouze | Yannick Vivens | Citroen | 28m07.0s |
28 | Florent Joly, C.Machi | Florent Joly | Citroen | 29m17.8s |
29 | Armando Pereira, R.Tutelaire | Armando Pereira | Ford | 29m43.4s |
30 | Jan Solans, M.Barreiro | Rally Team Spain | Ford | 29m48.8s |
31 | Enrico Brazzoli, M.Fenoli | Enrico Brazzoli | Abarth | 29m57.5s |
32 | Tom Williams, P.Hall | Tom Williams | Ford | 30m40.7s |
33 | Mathieu Biasion, T.Barichella | Mathieu Biasion | Peugeot | 31m05.9s |
34 | Alain Vauthier, G.Dini | Alain Vauthier | Ford | 31m12.3s |
35 | Roland Poom, K.Jarveoja | Roland Poom | Ford | 31m16.6s |
36 | Enrico Oldrati, E.De Guio | Enrico Oldrati | Ford | 31m47.5s |
37 | Raul Badiu, G.Lazar | Raul Badiu | Ford | 32m19.4s |
38 | Nico Knacker, T.Braun | Adac Weser-Ems | Ford | 32m28.8s |
39 | Adrien Fourmaux, R.Jamoul | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | 32m54.4s |
40 | Jean-Philippe Martini, Y.Raffaelli | Jean-Philippe Martini | Peugeot | 33m14.9s |
41 | Fabrizio Zaldivar, F.Mussano | Fabrizio Zaldivar | Ford | 33m42.6s |
42 | Stefan Gottig, N.S.-Schmidt | Stefan Gottig | Skoda | 33m59.4s |
43 | Frederic Perrard, F.Leclercq | Frederic Perrard | Peugeot | 34m26.9s |
44 | Cedric Cardi, G.Dini | Cedric Cardi | Peugeot | 35m10.5s |
45 | Eric Filippi, F.Mazotti | Eric Filippi | Renault | 36m16.1s |
46 | Pierre Tanci, S.Malet | Pierre Tanci | Peugeot | 36m37.0s |
47 | Eric Giannini, S.Marquez | Eric Giannini | Renault | 37m01.5s |
48 | Philippe Catudal, M.Chianea | Philippe Catudal | Peugeot | 37m01.9s |
49 | Nicolas Ciamin, Y.Roche | Nicolas Ciamin | Volkswagen | 37m09.8s |
50 | Nicolas Leca, A.Torre | Nicolas Leca | Peugeot | 38m11.1s |
51 | Thomas Argenti, F.Gordon | Thomas Argenti | Skoda | 39m54.9s |
52 | Pierre-Louis Loubet, V.Landais | Pierre-Louis Loubet | Skoda | 40m24.0s |
53 | Jean-Michel de Meyer, E.Fratti | Jean-Michel De Meyer | Peugeot | 40m45.7s |
54 | Andrea Nucita, G.Princiotto | Andrea Nucita | Hyundai | 41m08.1s |
55 | Simone Tempestini, S.Itu | Simone Tempestini | Hyundai | 41m11.4s |
56 | Sylvain Lemaire, J.Pacaud | Sylvain Lemaire | Citroen | 41m35.6s |
57 | Paul Gardere, J-L.Bufferne | Paul Gardere | Peugeot | 41m46.6s |
58 | Yoann Bonato, B.Boulloud | Yoann Bonato | Citroen | 43m39.5s |
59 | Michel Branca, G.Forns | Michel Branca | Peugeot | 44m00.9s |
60 | Petr Nesetril, J.Cernoch | Petr Nesetril | Porsche | 46m38.9s |
61 | Emmanuel Bracconi, F.Saoletti | Emmanuel Bracconi | Renault | 46m43.1s |
62 | Alain Mari, J-D.Cesari | Alain Mari | Renault | 47m09.1s |
63 | Yohan Merlenghi, P-P.Hentges | Yohan Merlenghi | Citroen | 47m59.9s |
64 | Gregory Perrard, A.Malfoy | Gregory Perrard | Peugeot | 48m33.4s |
65 | Thierry Bousquet, E.Defrance | Thierry Bousquet | Renault | 48m45.0s |
66 | Martin Lemaire, P.Barboni | Martin Lemaire | Citroen | 52m35.7s |
67 | Guy Dutreuil, L.Mallon | Guy Dutreuil | Citroen | 53m25.5s |
68 | Dirkjan Schram, A.Moncada | Dirkjan Schram | Renault | 53m33.7s |
69 | Francois Fraymouth, R.Felicelli | Francois Fraymouth | Peugeot | 55m06.3s |
70 | Frederic Souffez, P.Darras | Frederic Souffez | Peugeot | 1h03m30.4s |
71 | Alberto Sassi, F.Cangini | Alberto Sassi | Citroen | 1h04m46.7s |
72 | Michael Coufranc, A.Caddeo | Michael Coufranc | Renault | 1h04m59.4s |
73 | Claude Bensimon, I.Barbe | Claude Bensimon | Ford | 1h06m09.9s |
74 | Nicolas d'Ulivo, A.Paolini | Nicolas d'Ulivo | Renault | 1h06m55.7s |
75 | Thierry Agostini, D.Agostini | Thierry Agostini | Citroen | 1h07m41.1s |
76 | Florian Picchioni, M.Bellavarde | Florian Picchioni | Citroen | 1h07m52.8s |
77 | Robert Simonetti, C.Simonetti | Robert Simonetti | Citroen | 1h08m24.9s |
78 | Williams Zanotto, C.Buccino | Williams Zanotto | Peugeot | 1h11m45.0s |
79 | Pierre Kemp, J-M.Kemp | Pierre Kemp | Renault | 1h21m28.6s |
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