Germany WRC: Ogier extends lead over Mikkelsen, Tanak retires

With two more stage wins to his name, Ogier was able to stretch his lead to 33.4s over Mikkelsen at the end of SS14.

The Norwegian's gamble with hard tyres didn't pay off, as he not only lost time on Ogier, but allowed the Hyundai duo of Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo to gain on him in the day's final stage.

"I had to try something different, but in the forest sections it was hard to be confident with the lack of grip. I couldn't have done much more," Mikkelsen said.

Meanwhile, a storming SS14 saw Sordo move into third place behind the Volkswagen duo, displacing teammate Neuville, despite the Belgian having won both SS12 and SS13.

With only a day remaining, the fight for second is on, as a mere four seconds separate Mikkelsen in second and Neuville in fourth, while Sordo and Neuville are separated by only 0.4s.

Behind the top four, the biggest mover was Hayden Paddon, who moved up by three spots to fifth between SS9 and SS14.

With Citroen's Stephane Lefebvre crashing out and Ford's Ott Tanak retiring, the Kiwi gained two positions before he dispatched Mads Ostberg in SS12 to take fifth.

There was heartbreak for DMACK driver Tanak, who was forced to retire from strong fifth with an alternator problem in the 11th stage.

Behind the leading WRC cars, Skoda's Esapekka Lappi took over the WRC2 lead, after early leader Armin Kremer dropped to third. Jan Kopecky slotted in second.

Overall results after SS14 - Top 10:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1.	Sebastien Ogier	Volkswagen	2:25:10.5
2.	Andreas Mikkelsen	Volkswagen	2:25:43.9	+33.4
3.	Dani Sordo	Hyundai	2:25:47.5	+37.0
4.	Thierry Neuville	Hyundai	2:25:47.9	+37.4
5.	Hayden Paddon	Hyundai	2:28:44.4	+3:33.9
6.	Mads Ostberg	Ford	2:29:16.9	+4:06.4
7.	Esapekka Lappi	Skoda	2:32:26.7	+7:16.2
8.	Jan Kopecky	Skoda	2:33:36.6	+8:26.1
9.	Armin Kremer	Skoda	2:33:55.0	+8:44.5
10.	Ghislain de Mevius	Skoda	2:34:41.0	+9:30.5