Subscribe

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

Rally Germany: Ott Tanak extends lead over Andreas Mikkelsen

Ott Tanak extended his Rally Germany lead over Andreas Mikkelsen to 23 seconds during Saturday's opening loop

M-Sport Ford driver Tanak started the morning with a 5.7s advantage over Mikkelsen heading into the short Arena Panzerplatte superspecial.

Tanak topped the opening stage of the day, but he really started to build a gap on the full version of Panzerplatte, as Mikkelsen struggled with the tricky conditions and ended the 26-mile stretch 15.3s behind.

The Estonian continued to capitalise on Mikkelsen's troubles through Freisen, and was once again quickest through the stage, but his Citroen rival ran into more difficulties.

Mikkelsen spun at a late junction and stalled, which increased Tanak's lead to 25.7s.

On the final stage of the opening loop, Mikkelsen did regain 2.7s and finished the Romerstrasse section quickest to head into the afternoon 23s off the lead.

Sebastien Ogier spent the morning edging closer to his former Volkswagen team-mate for second, after title rival Thierry Neuville retired following the opening stage of the day with irreparable damage to his left rear wheel.

A cautious Ogier made the most of Mikkelsen's early incidents to go into the afternoon loop just 6.3s adrift of second spot.

Toyota's Juho Hanninen was one of the surprises of the day as the Finn completed the fearsome Panzerplatte 2.4s faster than Ogier to take the stage win.

Hanninen is currently locked in a tight battle with Elfyn Evans for fourth.

He gained significant time on the DMACK Ford driver through the final three stages of the loop to head to service just 0.8s behind the Welshman, who completed Romserstrasse with visible cosmetic damage after clipping a hay bale.

Craig Breen and Jari-Matti Latvala are separated by 17s in sixth and seventh.

Both drivers finished the opening loop visibly upset, with Latvala particularly disappointed with his run through Freisen, which included an off-road excursion into a field.

Jan Kopecky continued to extend his lead in WRC2 ahead of Eric Camilli.

He holds a 12.5s lead following the opening loop, while WRC2 points leader Pontus Tidemand is currently on course to claim the championship in third.

Leading positions

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 1h49m07.5s
2 Andreas Mikkelsen, A.Jager Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 23.0s
3 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 29.9s
4 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 1m16.3s
5 Juho Hanninen, K.Lindstrom Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 1m17.1s
6 Craig Breen, S.Martin Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 2m03.9s
7 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 2m10.9s
8 Hayden Paddon, S.Marshall Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 4m17.9s
9 Jan Kopecky, P.Dresler Skoda Motorsport Skoda 6m04.3s
10 Eric Camilli, B.Veillas M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 6m16.8s


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rally Germany: Ott Tanak retakes lead from Andreas Mikkelsen
Next article WRC leader Thierry Neuville explains Rally Germany retirement

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

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