By: RACER Staff 6 hours ago Ott Tanak extended his advantage during Saturday’s morning loop of Rally Germany stages, although Sebastien Ogier continues to push to the limit to remain within striking distance of the Toyota driver. Thierry Neuville has slipped into the clutches of the chasing crews fighting for the podium and in the final stage dropped back behind Jari-Matti Latvala, who now sits in third just one-tenth of a second ahead.

Today’s stage distance, at 150.12 kilometers, makes up nearly 50 percent of the entire competitive route and has taken the contenders into the military camp of Baumholder, where avoiding the massive hinkelstein curbs — which are designed to keep tanks on the road — added to the challenge. Two stages through this area were then followed by two more open countryside stages, the four-stage loop to be repeated this afternoon.Tanak started the day with 12.3 seconds in hand to Ogier and while neither won a stage this morning, the pair have been trading times with the Frenchman gaining in some stages and then losing in others. They are split by 14.1 seconds at the mid-leg service with Tanak focused on finding more balance this afternoon and Ogier admitting it looks almost impossible to catch the Estonian.

With Neuville falling away from the leading duo, the battle between third and seventh has been intense. The Belgian came under a bit of pressure from the chasing pack last night and has struggled to keep ahead this morning, the differential on the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC not ideal after a gearbox change yesterday. Losing time to his rivals, he finally slipped down to fourth in the final stage, Jari-Matti Latvala taking the third-placed advantage by just one-tenth of a second.

There is no respite for any of the drivers in this tightly-packed fight, though. Dani Sordo is just 1.8 seconds further behind in fifth, the Spaniard up to fourth at one point after setting fastest time in SS9, and Esapekka Lappi is having a much more enjoyable day on cleaner roads and was even quickest through SS10. He is 6.1 seconds behind Sordo and has 11 seconds in hand to seventh placed Craig Breen. After dropping time yesterday when he got caught in an unlucky rainstorm, the Irish driver is now enjoying today’s stages and the battle with Lappi ahead. He was also fastest in the fourth stage.

Andreas Mikkelsen continues to struggle to find a good driving style in the i20 Coupe WRC in these conditions, and not a lot is really working for the Norwegian at the moment. He is over 20 seconds adrift of Breen. Teemu Suninen, in his first outing in a World Rally Car on tarmac, had an overshoot in the first stage but feels he is heading in the right direction as experience increases. He is ninth ahead of Mads Ostberg who is 6.6 seconds further behind with understeer during the morning. Elfyn Evans was unfortunately forced out of the podium battle when he understeered off the road in the final stage of the loop.

The FIA WRC 2 Championship contenders have had their fair share of issues this morning and the category is now being led by Fiesta driver Eric Camilli. The Frenchman climbed into second this morning behind Jan Kopecky but when the Czech driver was forced to stop and change a puncture, Camilli took the lead. FIA European Rally Champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz is 22.9 seconds adrift in second with Fabio Andolfi piling the pressure on in third.Taisko Lario continues to hold the advantage in the FIA WRC 3 Championship, the Finn nearly three minutes ahead of Enrico Brazolli, the rivals sharing this morning’s stage wins.

By: RACER Staff | August 19, 2018 8:08 AM Ott Tanak scored his second consecutive World Rally Championship victory with a dominant performance at Rally Germany, following a similarly overpowering win in Finland. The Toyota driver again controlled the event, leading from the third stage, to triumph for the third time this season.After a drama-filled final morning, Thierry Neuville finished an unexpected second with Esapekka Lappi moving up to third, giving Toyota its second consecutive double podium finish.Neuville’s finish extended his lead over Sebastien Ogier but by only two points, such was today’s rate of attrition and the Frenchman’s maximum points haul in the Power Stage. Tanak’s victory and four points in the Power Stage sees the Estonian nearly halve the deficit to Ogier and he is now only 13 points adrift in third.The Manufacturers’ Championship continues to be led by the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team but Toyota Gazoo Racing has overhauled M-Sport Ford for second position and is chasing down the Korean manufacturer, 13 points separating the teams.Tanak was able to adopt a cautious approach over today’s closing three stages and the Estonian took a near maximum points haul away from the last full asphalt event of the season. Behind him, however, it was carnage among the front-runners. Starting the day in second position, Dani Sordo had a charging Jari-Matti Latvala just eight-tenths of a second behind him and, while pushing on through the first stage, the Spaniard went off the road into the vineyards. Despite damage to the front end, and a broken windscreen, he was able to continue but was unable to start the next stage with temperatures running too high.Next to hit problems was third-placed Latvala, the Finn stopping in the same stage with a transmission problem. As such, Neuville climbed from fourth to second. The Belgian was fastest through the day’s opener and despite a couple of small mistakes had enough of a buffer to Lappi to secure the position at the end of a dramatic event. Lappi notched up his best result on tarmac and was delighted to have a clean weekend with no problems, the reward being third overall.Ogier eventually secured fourth on an event he had the potential to win, such was his pace. His maximum Power Stage points limited the damage in the title fight and once again he will be looking to reset ahead of the next round in Turkey.Teammate Teemu Suninen was behind in fifth, exceeding his own expectations on his first tarmac event in a WRC car and happy to have shown improved speed over the course of the rally. Andreas Mikkelsen was sixth, enduring a difficult weekend as he tirelessly worked to adapt his driving style to the tarmac spec i20 Coupe WRC.After an accident yesterday, Craig Breen regained his confidence and finished last of the leading WRC cars in seventh. Mads Ostberg rounded out a disappointing weekend for Citroen with an off in the opening stage, forcing him into retirement with underbody damage.In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Jan Kopecky never gave up after losing considerable time with a puncture yesterday. He fought his way through the field and with a string of three fastest times today, he overhauled Kalle Rovanpera and Fabio Andolfi to take the category win by 3.8 seconds and the lead in the series. Taisko Lario took two stage wins today en route to his first WRC 3 victory, the Finn’s first on paved roads. He beat Enrico Brazzoli and Louise Cook.The 10th round of the FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews to Marmaris for the all-new Rally Turkey. Despite the country hosting rounds of the WRC previously, this will be the first time the event has been based in this part of the country and absolutely everything about this gravel encounter will be new for all the contenders.


Toyota and IMSA:
See post #12
https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...ml#post9409735

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/a...w-you-out.html