Hyundai Motorsport took the overnight lead of RallyRACC Catalunya - Rally de España with new recruit Andreas Mikkelsen behind the wheel of the i20 Coupe WRC. The Norwegian briefly lost his advantage over Mads Østberg in the afternoon but remained at the head of the leaderboard with Sébastien Ogier now second, Østberg having dropped time in the final stage. Kris Meeke also moves up the standings as a consequence and the battling trio are split by a mere three seconds after 115.90 competitive kilometres.
Heading into the repeated stages in the afternoon with just sixth-tenths of a second in hand, Mikkelsen lost his lead to Østberg in the first stage but the two Norwegians continued to fight with Mikkelsen retaking the upper hand in the second after Østberg made a few small mistakes. Mikkelsen thought he had a puncture or broken damper in the final stage but was fortunate to hold onto his lead with Østberg having problems too. Having struggled with billowing dust in the car this morning, the same problem arose in the final stage and this, along with a faulty heater, distracted the Fiesta driver and he then dropped nearly 15 seconds down to fifth overnight. Considering his disadvantageous road position, Ogier expected to lose more time to his rivals so the Frenchman remains upbeat in second and only 1.4 seconds adrift of the lead as the rally now swaps onto tarmac for the remaining two days. Meeke, winner of two stages, has been enjoying the feeling behind the wheel of the C3 WRC and was happy with his day, despite a small mistake in a hairpin.
Ott Tänak, having led this morning, is now fourth and has struggled to find a good rhythm this afternoon. He also had an intermittent brake problem and will be in a close fight with Østberg tomorrow with less than a second separating them. Local hero Dani Sordo remains sixth with a better feeling this afternoon but he will be battling with team-mate Thierry Neuville as they too are in a close fight. The Belgian struggled this afternoon with the weight of two spare wheels and will need to up the pace tomorrow to continue mounting his challenge for a maiden world title even though he is just 12.8 seconds adrift of the lead. Juho Hänninen is now the lead Toyota driver in eighth, team leader Jari-Matti Latvala forced out with an unconfirmed technical problem before the final stage. Stéphane Lefebvre sandwiches Hänninen and Esapekka Lappi, who rounds off the top 10. Elfyn Evans, struggling with tyres in the heat, dropped to 11th this evening.
The FIA WRC 2 Championship is being led by runaway leader Teemu Suninen. The Finn won five of the day’s six stages, only losing out in the final one when he lost the power steering. He heads Simone Tempestini by over 75 seconds with Jan Kopecky third in the category. The battle for FIA Junior WRC Championship honours continues between series leader Nil Solans and Nicolas Ciamin. Solans needs just one more stage win to take the title but Ciamin leads the category by 22.1seconds overnight.
1. Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jæger Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 11min 56.3sec
2. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 11min 57.7sec
3. Kris Meeke / Paul Nagle Citroën C3 WRC 1hr 11min 59.3sec
4. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 12min 02.6sec
5. Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 12min 03.4sec
6. Dani Sordo / Marc Marti Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 12min 07.1sec
7. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 1hr 12min 09.1sec
8. Juho Hänninen / Kaj Lindström Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 12min 29.9sec
9. Stéphane Lefebvre / Gabin Moreau Citroën C3 WRC 1hr 12min 58.5sec
10. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 13min 01.8sec
