LAPPI FASTEST AGAIN AND EDGES FURTHER AHEAD OF OGIER
Date: Friday, March 17th
Day: 2 Flash N°: 6
Special stage: El Chocolate 2 Distance: 29.07 km
Weather: Hot and sunny, 26-29°C
Road conditions: Dry and dusty
LAPPI FASTEST AGAIN AND EDGES FURTHER AHEAD OF OGIER
This would be a first competitive pass through El Chocolate for the non-Rally1 crews after the morning’s stoppage.
Ott Tänak was back on full throttle with a repaired car and carded the target time of 22min 23.1sec but the Estonian was not on the pace of his rivals on his first full gravel stage at speed in the Ford Puma. He dropped 16.6 seconds to Kalle Rovanperä alone.
Elfyn Evans managed to fend off Dani Sordo to retain third but Esapekka Lappi and Sébastien Ogier were embroiled in a terrific tussle for the lead. The Finn again managed to beat his illustrious French rival – this time by 0.8 seconds – and he extended his advantage to 2.2 with the quickest time.
A fastest time for Gus Greensmith enabled the Briton to overhaul a cautious Emil Lindholm and snatch the WRC2 lead. Adrien Fourmaux moved up to second.
Car 8. TÄNAK/JÄRVEOJA
“The turbo is fine now. It was a big job. No feeling at all. It’s tricky.”
Car 69. ROVANPERÄ/HALTTUNEN
“I am still only the 10th car on the road and it’s cleaning for the cars behind. I think we take two tyres.
It’s not so good to have the extra weight on this stage but let’s see later on.”
Car 11. NEUVILLE/WYDAEGHE
“To be honest I had a really good run, no mistakes and really clean and tried to manage the tyres.
thought it was better than that. It was quite hot I am surprised.”
Car 33. EVANS/MARTIN
“It was really slippery. It didn’t feel good but, at the same time, I tried to do the best I could.”
Car 17. OGIER/LANDAIS
“It’s good. I have a good stage. I am happy with this one.”
Car 4. LAPPI/FERM
Fastest overall by 0.8 seconds. “Just clean as well. You cannot attack. You will crash immediately. Stay
on the line, that is the key.”
Car 6. SORDO/CARRERA
“It was good. The time was not so quick. To do the times of Seb and Esapekka is difficult. They are a
little step on top at the moment.”
Car 20. GREENSMITH/ANDERSSON
“As soon as we put the hards on it felt better. At the end we had a big drop in power. I don’t think it’s
anything massive but we definitely lost power.”
Car 21. SOLBERG/EDMONDSON
“I think I took a little bit of a risk with my tyres. I took soft tyres on the rears. The first time with the car
on gravel and it’s interesting to see how it works with these tyres.”
Car 22. FOURMAUX/CORIA
Left the stage finish in a hurry…“It was a clean stage.”
Car 24. LINDHOLM/HÄMÄLÄINEN
“Nothing, I did not have the chance to check the pace notes. It was a decent run. It is still quite slippery.
It’s okay. The race is still long.”
Car 25. KAJETANOWICZ/SZCZEPANIAK
“Some guys in front of us did this stage on the previous loop. I tried to be smooth. My driving is very
delicate and is safe at this moment.”
