Sebastien Ogier completed Saturday’s opening loop of speed tests at Wales Rally GB with a comfortable lead in his Volkswagen Polo R.
He completed the fan-friendly Chirk Castle parkland stage with a 1min 10.1sec advantage, the Frenchman relaxed after the pressure on his lead was removed in the morning’s opening test when team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala slithered off the muddy gravel road and into a ditch.
Behind Ogier, there was a thrilling three-car fight for second. Mikko Hirvonen held the advantage in his Ford Fiesta RS after Latvala’s crash, but Mads Østberg put together a string of good times in his Citroen DS3 to move ahead of the Finn in Chirk Castle by 0.7sec.
Kris Meeke, who stalled his engine earlier in the morning, was a further 0.7sec behind and the battling trio pulled clear of Thierry Neuville’s Hyundai i20 in fifth.
In WRC 2, Jari Ketomaa led by 56.5sec from Bernardo Sousa, with title favourite Nasser Al-Attiyah up to seventh, which would be sufficient for the Qatari to claim the support category title.
