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WRC - Mikkelsen heads tight trio in Germany

19.08.16
Andreas Mikkelsen, Sébastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville top the standings in Rallye Deutschland amid a tight fight for honours in the ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The battling trio are split by just 5.9 seconds after nearly 100 kilometres of competition over the narrow and bumpy lanes of the Mosel vineyards.
FIA, Motorsport, Mobility, Road Safety, F1, WRC, WEC, WTCC, World RX

Rallye Deutschland got underway last night in the roman city of Trier, the historic Porta Nigra providing a magnificent backdrop for the official start. This morning, however, the crews headed north for two identical loops of two stages, split by service, before tackling the new spectator-friendly super special stage on the outskirts of Trier.

While Ogier took the opening stage win, the Frenchman was overhauled in the second stage by team-mate Mikkelsen after a costly overshoot lost him precious seconds and dropped him to third. Since then Mikkelsen has held the advantage, despite hitting a bank and running the morning tests with wheel vibrations. This afternoon the Norwegian ran well, albeit with understeer, and won one of the repeated stages to take a 4.3 second overnight lead. Neuville wasn’t entirely happy with the set-up of the i20 WRC this morning, but did take one fastest time to hold second position. This afternoon a spin enabled Ogier to close the gap but the Belgian managed to maintain his advantage until the final super special where he lost out to the reigning World Champion and dropped 1.6 seconds behind the Frenchman who set the fastest time in the final test.

Dani Sordo is fourth and while the Spaniard has fared well this afternoon, understeer this morning made it difficult to push harder. He is however within striking distance of the leaders and with a useful advantage over fifth-placed Ott Tänak. The Estonian has had a good day and is battling with Frenchman Stéphane Lefebvre in the DS3 WRC, although some small mistakes have dropped him time. Mads Østberg had a disappointing start to the event with a steering problem and no handbrake and Hayden Paddon will have been equally disappointed with a spin and a puncture in the first two stages respectively. The Kiwi driver was then lucky to escape with nothing more than cosmetic damage after a wild high-speed excursion off the road this afternoon.

Armin Kremer is ninth and leading the FIA WRC 2 Championship contenders in his Škoda Fabia R5. He narrowly heads Pontus Tidemand in 10th overall, although the Swede is not registered for points in Germany. Esapekka Lappi, 11th, is trying to capitalise on his championship position, and he is second in the category. 

Very early casualties in the event include Jari-Matti Latvala who never made it through the first stage after gearbox problems halted him, and Eric Camilli who went off the road in the same stage. Both should be back in action tomorrow under Rally 2 regulations.

In the FIA Junior WRC Championship, Martin Koci led earlier in the day but series frontrunner Simone Tempestini moved ahead as the rivals battled for position. They are split by 12.1 seconds at the end of the opening day with Terry Folb third in the category.

Rallye Deutschland – Unofficial Classification after Section 3

1.   Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

59min 42.6sec

2.   Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia

Volkswagen Polo R WRC

59min 46.9sec

3.   Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul

Hyundai i20 WRC

59min 48.5sec

4.   Dani Sordo/Marc Marti

Hyundai i20 WRC

59min 55.3sec

5.   Ott Tänak /Raigo Molder

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

1hr 00min 38.0sec

6.   Stéphane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau

DS3 WRC

1hr 00min 49.2sec

7.   Mads Østberg/Ola Fløene

Ford Fiesta RS WRC

1hr 01min 15.0sec

8.   Hayden Paddon/John Kennard

Hyundai i20 WRC

1hr 01min 27.6sec

9.   Armin Kremer/Pirmin Winklhofer

Škoda Fabia R5

1hr 02min 45.7sec

10. Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson

Škoda Fabia R5

1hr 12min 32.8sec