Day 1: Andreas Mikkelsen & Anders Jaeger lead the 53 RallyRACC

06/10/2017

- The first leg of the rally, on gravel, concluded today
- Seven tarmac stages scheduled for tomorrow
- Salou's street stage will closet the second day

PortAventura World, Salou, 6 October 2017.- The times tumbled throughout the day in the 53 RallyRACC Catalunya-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2017, with as many as five different teams conquering the six stages, and the top seven drivers all within 13 seconds. In an amazing opening leg, the Spanish World Rally Championship event concluded with a surprise lead for Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger and their Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC. World championship leaders Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) trailed them by a mere 1.4s, with Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroën C3 WRC) just 3s behind.

The 11th round in the calendar kicked off this morning under ideal weather conditions, under a bright sunshine and temperatures increasing as the day went by. With only two more events in the championship, all drivers focused on the first gravel day. The layout was identical to last year, with two loops run over Caseres (12.50 km), Bot (6.50 km) and Terra Alta (38.95 km). Both loops ended with the longest stage in the rally, which includes sections on tarmac.  

The 70 cars authorised to race after yesterday's scrutineering left their PortAventura World base at 8.15am for the first pass. Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Ford) clinched the first SS and inaugurated the top of the timesheet, and hung in there despite Meeke/Nagle claiming the second SS for Citroën. The third special stage would prove decisive for the final classification, with Mikkelsen/Jaeger posting an amazing time on his first race with the Hyundai livery. They climbed to the top of the standings, with Mads Østberg/Torsten Eriksen hot on their heels, just 0.6s away. The Norwegians started from the back and were really effective on the first loop, overcoming the many troubles caused by dust flooding their Ford Fiesta WRC cockpit. They are the single privateers racing on a 2017 car.

Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford) finished the loopin third place, 4.6s adrift. Dani Sordo/Marc Martí finished 6th fastest (+ 12.3s) after some trouble in their Hyundai. Just a bunch of seconds covered the top 9 drivers by the end of the first pass, a meagre difference with a demanding Terra Alta repeat still ahead of them.

Terra Alta reached its verdict
The second loop, with another pass through the three stages of the day, followed the same path as in the morning. Latvala/Anttila won in Caseres, where Østberg/Eriksen snatched the lead from Mikkelsen/Jaeger, but the latter recovered it in the following stage, Bot, where Meeke/Nagle, won, setting again the fastest time in the shortest stage of the day. Terra Alta was definitive again, as Ogier/Ingrassia delivered a crushing blow that allowed them to finish the day in second place, just 1.4s behind the lead and in an enviable position for the next two days on tarmac. The same happened to Meeke/Nagle, in third place, 3s behind, while Sordo/Martí finished sixth at 10.8s, which leaves them with a chance to achieve their first victory in the RallyRACC. Another duo that stood out during the gravel day was Østberg/Eriksen, which set a great pace thanks to their starting position, but still had a problem with the dust that entered their Ford's cockpit and even impaired their vision in some moments.

One of the negative circumstances of this first day was the retirement, due to a mechanical failure, of Latvala/Anttila while going from Bot to Terra Alta when they were in seventh position. Another of the day's incidents took place in the morning, when the Bot stage was neutralized after Max Vatanen/Thierry-Luc Salva's accident, in which the driver was evacuated by helicopter as a precaution, but no injuries were found after the medical check-up.

Over at the other categories, Temmu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta R5) finished in the lead of WRC2 after winning 5 of the 6 stages held today. The Spanish duo of Cristian García/Pablo Marcos (Ford Fiesta R5) are now in ninth place after an off-track excursion in the third stage. At WRC3 and the junior championship, the leaders are Nicolas Ciamin/Thibault de la Haye (Ford Fiesta R2T) after a beautiful day-long battle with the Spaniards Nil Solans/Miquel Ibáñez -who need three stage wins to clinch the Junior title, but they only managed two so far so they are not champions yet.

Provisional standings of the 53 RallyRACC after Day 1
1-Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC), 1h11'56''3
2-Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC), a 1''4
3-Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroën C3 WRC), a 3''0
4-Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC), a 6''3
5-Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen (Ford Fiesta WRC), a 7''1
6-Daniel Sordo/Marc Martí (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC), a 10''8
7-Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC), a 12''8
8-Juho Hänninen/Kaj Lindström (Toyota Yaris WRC), a 33''6
9-Stéphane Lefebvre/Gabin Moreau (Citroën C3 WRC), a 1'02''2
10-Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC), a 1'05''5

14-Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta R5, 1º WRC2), a 3'20''3

28-Nicolas Ciamin/Thibault de la Haye (Ford Fiesta R2T, 1º WRC3 y Junior), a 9'40''4