WRC Rally of France: Latvala leads as Ogier hits trouble
Jari-Matti Latvala leads Rally of France after the opening morning's stages, as Volkswagen team-mate Sebastien Ogier dropped over four minutes after hitting engine trouble
Latvala led Ogier by three tenths of a second through the first stage, with the factory VW of Andreas Mikkelsen just a further two tenths adrift.
But on SS2 drama struck for points leader Ogier, who suffered an early half-spin before his Polo R WRC ground to a halt around midway through the stage.
Ogier was able to resume at reduced pace, but was passed by both Latvala and Mikkelsen before finally reaching the end of the 34km test.
At the end of the stage, Ogier explained that his car's engine had cut out, and that he was suffering gear change problems too. His total time loss was 4m12.5s, dropping him well out of the points.
Ogier could yet be set to lose even more time thanks to a penalty for arriving at the start of SS3 four minutes early, a legacy of the previous stage being delayed.
The Frenchman started the stage at his original allotted time rather than at the amended one reflecting the delay to the schedule, meaning he risks dropping a further four minutes in penalties.
Mikkelsen took the second stage by 3.3s from Latvala to take the lead of the rally, but the Norwegian dropped four seconds relative to his team-mate on SS3, allowing Latvala to retake the lead by just 0.7s.
Citroen's Kris Meeke was the best of the non-VW runners and sits third after the morning loop, 7.2s adrift of Latvala, ahead of countryman Elfyn Evans, who appeared to be nursing an overheating issue with his M-Sport Ford on SS3.
Dani Sordo is the lead Hyundai driver in fifth, 20 seconds away from the lead. Thierry Neuville lost two-and-a-half minutes with engine issues of his own, as well as a brief trip into a ditch towards the end of the second stage.
The second Citroen of Mads Ostberg is sixth, 0.9s behind Sordo, while the top eight is completed by the M-Sport Fords of Robert Kubica and Mikko Hirvonen.
LEADING POSITIONS AFTER SS3:
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