Ogier retakes rally lead in Spain after the first full day

The eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier has snatched back the rally lead in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada and he is the overnight leader after the first full day of action in Spain. Thierry Neuville was leading the rally after the morning loop but when stage five opened up the afternoon lop the Frenchman was back in the top and he managed to hold off the fast-charging teammate Kalle Rovanperä who currently sits 4.8 seconds back in second.

Neuville however is 7.7 seconds back on Rovanperä, he has complained about his pace during the afternoon and he didn´t want to push the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 too much for fear of sliding. Neuville´s teammate Ott Tänak who had an eventful morning is still holding on to fourth place with 7.5 seconds back on the Belgian while the Spanish home hero Dani Sordo in a similar Hyundai ends the day in fifth despite having a puncture on stage seven.

Sordo wasn´t the only one who suffered from punctures on the afternoon, Toyota´s Elfyn Evans dropped down to sixth after hitting the same rock which caused the puncture for Sordo, Takamoto Katsuta also managed to hit the very same rock and also caught up a puncture. The two Toyotas are in sixth and eighth respectively with M-Sport´s Craig Breen sandwiched between them in seventh.

Adrien Fourmaux also in a Ford trails Katsuta by just 2.7 seconds in ninth while his teammate Gus Greensmith completes the top ten with 7.5 seconds down on the Frenchman.

Teemu Suninen. Credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool

In the WRC2 class, Teemu Suninen is looking to take his first victory of the season after he passed Nikolay Gryazin on the final stage before the midday service and he has been holding on to it since then. In the title fight between Emil Lindholm and Kajetan Kajetanowicz, it is currently going in Lindholm´s favor as he is sitting in front of the Pole with 11 seconds to spare.

In the WRC3 class, where the title will be decided this weekend it is Lauri Joona who is leading, he managed to pass Jan Cerny on stage six and he is leading the class by 19.7 seconds over the Czech.

Overall result after SS8

Pos.	Number	Driver / Co-driver	Nat.	Team	Car	Time
1.	#1	Sébastien Ogier / Benjamin Veillas	France	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:06:07.9
2.	#69	Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen	Finland	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+ 4.8
3.	#11	Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe	Belgium	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+ 12.5
4.	#8	Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja	Estonia	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+ 20.0
5.	#6	Dani Sordo / Cándido Carrera	Spain	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+ 50.9
6.	#33	Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin	United Kingdom	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+ 1:01.2
7.	#42	Craig Breen / Paul Nagle	Ireland	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Puma Rally1	+ 1:03.7
8.	#18	Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston	Japan / Ireland	Toyota Gazoo Racing NG WRT	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+ 1:28.6
9.	#16	Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria	France	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Puma Rally1	+ 1:31.3
10.	#44	Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson	United Kingdom / Sweden	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Puma Rally1	+ 1:38.8

WRC2 result after SS8

Pos.	Number	Driver / Co-driver	Nat.	Team	Car	Time
1.	#21	Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula	Finland	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	1:10:04.1
2.	#24	Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov	RAF	Toksport WRT 2	Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo	+ 12.7
3.	#20	Yohan Rossel / Arnaud Dunand	France	PH Sport	Citroen C3 Rally2	+ 16.7
4.	#25	Jari Huttunen / Mikko Lukka	Finland	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta Rally2	+ 38.7
5.	#35	Stéphane Sarrazin / Jacques-Julien Renucci	France	Sarrazin Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo GTi R5	+ 45.1
6.	#22	Emil Lindholm / Reeta Hämäläinen	Finland	Toksport WRT 2	Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo	+ 1:00.5
7.	#23	Kajetan Kajetanowicz / Maciej Szczepaniak	Poland	Race Seven	Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo	+ 1:11.5
8.	#41	Fabrizio Zaldivar / Marcelo Der Ohannesian	Paraguay / Italy	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	+ 1:36.9
9.	#37	Grégoire Munster / Louis Louka	Luxembourg / Belgium	BMA	Hyundai i20 N Rally2	+ 1:39.1
10.	#39	Mikolaj Marczyk / Szymon Gospodarczyk	Poland	Sports Racing Technologies	Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo	+ 1:46.3

WRC3 result after SS8

Pos.	Number	Driver / Co-driver	Nat.	Team	Car	Time
1.	#59	Lauri Joona / Mikael Korhonen	Finland	Lauri Joona	Ford Fiesta Rally3	1:14:19.7
2.	#57	Jan Cerny / Petr Cernohorsky	Czech Republic	All Racing	Ford Fiesta Rally3	+ 19.7
3.	#58	Diego Dominquez Jr. / Rogello Penate	Paraguay / Spain	M-Sport Poland	Ford Fiesta Rally3	+ 2:12.4
4.	#60	Zoltan Laszlo / Tamas Kurti	Hungary	Topp-Cars Rally Team	Ford Fiesta Rally3	+ 7:35.5