Day 3: Ogier leads a Volkswagen 1-2-3; Sordo (Hyundai), 4th

24/10/2015

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) continue to dominate the 51 RallyRACC CATALUNYA-COSTA DAURADA, Rally de España 2015, after three competitive days and with just one day left. The problems suffered by their main rivals at the beginning of the day, Estonian Ott Tänak (Ford) and local hero Dani Sordo (Hyundai), had to give way to the three Volkswagen driver's momentum.

Today was the first of the two tarmac days and included 8 timed stages, three of them, 'La Figuera' (26,26 km), 'Poboleda' (10.63 km) and 'Capafonts' (19,80 km) were run twice and 'Porrera' (7,43 km) as well as the street stage of Salou' (2,24 km) only once. With the arrival of the tarmac stages, the VW Polo showed their usual dominance and won the 8 stages run today, 5 of them Ogier (in one of the stages he finished tied with Neuville) and 3 Latvala, so the team's dominance is clear.

The driver that last night was more involved in the battle against the German cars, Ott Tänak (Ford), was forced to retire in 'La Figuera' due to an off-track excursion and even Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) hit his tyre and retired in 'Poboleda', so not only Ogier was left alone on top, but also the battle for the rest of the podium places was a lot closer in the afternoon between Sordo (Hyundai), Mikkelsen (VW) and Latvala (VW).

When they restarted with 'La Figuera' stage, the provisional standings of the 51 RallyRACC did not change on top, but the second place did change as Sordo lost a place to Mikkelsen. Both in 'Poboleda' and Capafonts' the VWs hit with two overwhelming 1-2-3 which left Sordo in fourth. The result was repeated in 'Salou', with the stage victory shared by Ogier and Neuville (Hyundai).

In WRC2, the leader is still Sweden's Pontus Tidemand, followed by the Czech Jan Kopecky, in aclassification where the Skoda Fabia R5s have the first two spots. The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah,4^th and also driving a Skoda, is about to secure his World Title in the class. WRC3 is already firmly dominated by the FIA Junior Champion, Quentin Gilbert (Citroën DS3 R3T), so he nearly secured also the third category of the Championship.

While Sordo-Martí are offering a good performance to their home crowd, the rest of the Spanish drivers are not very lucky, as Nil Solans and José Antonio Suárez, both with a Peugeot 208 T16 R5, are in the lower positions due to some technical problems, as is Pepe López (Peugeot 208 VTI R2) and the driver from Andorra Joan Carchat (Mitsubishi), which is a setback for him to be able to secure the World Cup in his class.

Tomorrow, the fourth and last day of competition will be held again on tarmac, with 76.4 timed kilometres and 6 stages with no service between them. The last stage, 'Duesaigües' will serve as power stage for the first three to gather additional Championship points. The arrival is scheduled at the Salou podium from 13.41h.

Provisional classification of the 51 RallyRACC after day 3
1-Sébastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC), 2h.34'56"4
2-Jari-Matti Latvala-Miikka Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC), a 54"
3-Andreas Mikkelsen-Ola Floene (Volkswagen Polo R WRC), a 56"9
4-Dani Sordo-Marc Martí (Hyundai i20 WRC), a 1'01"4
5-Kris Meeke-Paul Nagle (Citroën DS3 WRC), a 1'42"2
6-Mads Østberg-Jonas Andersson (Citroën DS3 WRC), a 1'43"7
7-Hayden Paddon-John Kennard (Hyundai i20 WRC), a 1'56"5
8-Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC), a 1'56"5
9-Martin Prokop-Jan Tománek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC), a 4'22"9
10-Pontus Tidemand-Emil Axelsson (Skoda Fabia R5, WRC2), a 7'12"6