Dani Sordo-Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai), in the lead

27/10/2018

Ott Tänak's (Toyota) puncture in the middle section of El Montmell stage, that forced them to change the wheel in the middle of the stage, turned around the 54 RallyRACC overall standings, which are now led by Dani Sordo (Hyundai). Tänak, who was a solid leader up to that last stage, lost 1'43" to Latvala's fastest time, and incident that means he has lost any chance to take the win.

The cancellation of today's first stage (Savallà), apart from the natural disappointment for the spectators, was one less chance for the participants to fight for the top positions. Nevertheless, the two following stages, Querol and El Montmell, were a new phase of the ongoing battle for the podium positions between the Toyota, Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Citroën teams.

At Querol, Tänak pushed hard and set the fastest time, with his team mate Latvala in second place and Dani Sordo, who knew this leg was a good chance to consolidate his excellent position, in third. The rain was a constant companion this morning and at El Montmell, Tänak suffered his puncture, although the Toyotas did not give up and the two first places were for Latvala and Lappi.

After this first loop, Sordo-Del Barrio (Hyundai) lead the rally with a 3-tenths advantage over Latvala-Anttila (Toyota), 8"6 ahead of Evans-Barritt (Ford), 11"1 in front of Loeb-Elena (Citroën) and 13"1 ahead of Ogier-Ingrassia (Ford). This situation makes the battle for the lead even more exciting and will undoubtedly continue like this until the end of the second loop this evening.

These three stages will be run for the second time this afternoon and afer that (17h), the 2.24km Salou stage will take place. The teams will arrive in PortAventura World from 17.20h and then they will have a 45' service to make any repairs or setup changes.