Advantage for Tanak as Ogier’s title hopes fade

Sebastien Ogier’s hopes of securing a seventh straight world rally driver’s title and denying Ott Tanak his first were dealt a near fatal blow by mechanical problems in Catalonia on Friday.

Ogier is 3 minutes 40 seconds behind Tanak at the end of the first day’s racing following steering and gearbox problems that dogged his Citroen and he confessed the title race is “almost over.”

The French rally ace trails championship leader Tanak by 28 points in the standings with the 32-year-old Estonian only needing to outscore Ogier by two points this weekend to snatch the title.

“No-one can say that what happened to him (Ogier) wouldn’t happen to someone else. We still have work to do,” Toyota driver Tanak said.

Record nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb finished the day of racing in the penultimate event of the campaign in top spot, 1.7sec ahead of Belgium’s Thierry Neuville.

Spaniard Dani Sordi, who led after the fifth of the day’s six stages, is in third spot, less than eight seconds behind Frenchman Loeb.

Ogier’s problems began in the second stage with power steering issues, compounded in the next by a malfunctioning gearbox.

It was only after the third stage that his mechanics could try to get his car back firing on all cylinders.

“My prospects didn’t look fantastic before the start, now it’s even more complicated,” conceded Ogier.

“We have a very good chance of not scoring a lot of points this weekend, so I think we can almost say it’s over.”

He added: “It’s frustrating, especially after our good start (Ogier had the fastest time in the first stage).”

The Rally of Catalonia around Salou, south of Barcelona, is the 13th leg of the season which concludes in Australia next month.

Agence France-Presse





Standings after SS6:

1. Sebastien Loeb-Daniel Elena (FRA-MON/Hyundai i20) 1hrs 21mins 24.7secs, 2. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL/Hyundai i20) at 1.7s, 3. Dani Sordo-Carlos Del Barrio (ESP/Hyundai i20) at 7.6s, 4. Kris Meeke-Sebastian Marshall (GBR/Toyota Yaris) at 13s, at 5. Ott tanak-Martin Jarveoja (EST/Toyota Yaris) 21.7, 6. Jari-Matti Latvala-Mikka Anttila (FIN/Toyota Yaris) 30.1s, 7. Elfyn Evans-Scott Martin (GBR/Ford Fiesta) 44s, 8. Teemu Suninen-Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/Ford Fiesta) 51.8s, 9. Takamoto Katsuta-Daniel Barritt (JPN-GBR/Toyota Yaris) 1m 50.3s, 10. Mads Ostberg-Torstein Eriksen (NOR/Citroen C3 R5) 2m 59.8s

Selected

17. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Citroen C3) 4min 01.4sec