Arctic WRC: Tanak extends lead with double stage wins
Ott Tanak has extended his lead in the Arctic Rally, round two of the World Rally Championship, after claiming two wins out of the three stages on the morning loop in his Hyundai.
The Estonian now holds a 23.6-second advantage over the Toyota of Kalle Rovanpera, who has passed the Hyundai of Craig Breen for second place overall.
Britain’s Elfyn Evans, lying fifth, won the second stage of the day in his Toyota to keep the pressure on the fourth place Hyundai of Thierry Neuville.
Teenage Swedish driver Oliver Solberg holds sixth place in his first-ever appearance at the wheel of a full WRC car, driving a 2020-spec Hyundai and keeping in front of the 2021-spec Toyotas of Takamoto Katsuta and defending champion Sebastien Ogier. The M-Sport Ford Fiestas of Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith complete the top 10.
“In the end a good morning, yes, but very, very demanding,” said Tanak. “The stages are incredibly fast and at that speed, never seeing the roads, the pacenotes are never 100% and you always have places where it’s a bit this way or the other way… so far so good!”
In WRC2, the return of former M-Sport driver Esapekka Lappi in a VW has seen the Finn build a 33s advantage over Norwegian championship leader Andreas Mikkelsen’s Skoda, having won all five of the stages run so far.
The battle for WRC3 honours is currently separated by just 3.3s, the advantage with Finnish driver Teemu Asunmaa’s Skoda ahead of Estonia’s Egon Kaur in his VW.
The same loop of three stages will be repeated this afternoon with large sections of snow expected to have been scrubbed away by the passage of the cars to expose underlying gravel.
Successfully balancing the demands of pace and tyre management is therefore expected to be at a premium to reach the end of the day safely.
| Cla | Driver/Codriver | Car | Total Time | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ott Tanak Martin Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 1:07'28.000 | ||
| 2 |  Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen | Toyota Yaris WRC | 1:07'51.600 | 23.600 | 23.600 |
| 3 |  Craig Breen Paul Nagle | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 1:07'56.900 | 28.900 | 5.300 |
| 4 |  Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 1:08'02.700 | 34.700 | 5.800 |
| 5 |  Elfyn Evans Scott Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | 1:08'05.300 | 37.300 | 2.600 |
| 6 |  Oliver Solberg Sebastian Marshall | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | 1:08'19.300 | 51.300 | 14.000 |
| 7 |  Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt | Toyota Yaris WRC | 1:08'20.400 | 52.400 | 1.100 |
| 8 |  Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | 1:08'22.200 | 54.200 | 1.800 |
| 9 | Teemu Suninen Mikko Markkula | Ford Fiesta WRC | 1:08'38.900 | 1'10.900 | 16.700 |
| 10 | Gus Greensmith Elliott Edmondson | Ford Fiesta WRC | 1:09'20.100 | 1'52.100 | 41.200 |
| View full results | |||||
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