Friday
SS1 Sauertal 1 (14.14km)
This was a repeat of the 2013 stage, with a short extension at the finish. It ran through open countryside between fields and crossed a couple of villages. It was narrow and bumpy at the beginning, but fast throughout.
Sébastien Ogier was fastest out of the blocks to win the opening Sauertal stage at ADAC Rallye Deutschland in his Volkswagen Polo R. The Frenchman was quickest by 0.4sec from team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, but it wasn’t a clean run for either.
“I expected better grip and was surprised by no grip. I made two mistakes at junctions, so it wasn’t quite perfect,” said Ogier.
Latvala’s error could have been more serious. “I made a mistake at a place I marked in the notes. There was a bank on the inside of a corner and I thought we could cut, but I cut too much and hit the bank. The car went onto two wheels,” he told WRC Live.
Also in difficulties were Mikko Hirvonen, who overshot a junction into a field in his Ford Fiesta RS, and Kris Meeke who damaged the rear of his Citroen DS3.
“I spun at the midpoint,” said Meeke. “I came round a tight right bend and there was gravel on the edge of the road. I got the back wheel on it and didn’t get turned in so I pulled the handbrake and did a 360 degree spin. Not the start I wanted, but the car feels fine.”
A heartening sight was the appearance of Thierry Neuville after Hyundai mechanics worked all night to rebuild his i20 following yesterday’s shakedown roll. The Belgian paid tribute to their tremendous efforts but reported an intermittent handbrake issue.
click:
wrc.com/news/germany-update-1/
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SS2 Waxweiler 1 (16.40km)
This new stage in the Eifel hills lies close to the Belgian border. It climbed or descended throughout with plenty of hairpin bends as it darted in and out of the trees.
First in the running order was the place to be in Waxweiler as mud and dirt dragged onto the roads made it impossible for those further down to match the pace of the early starters through the second stage of ADAC Rallye Deutschland.
Sébastien Ogier took full advantage to set fastest time by 1.7sec from Volkswagen team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala to extend his lead to 2.1sec.
“It was damp and I attacked a bit less than the first stage, but I was more consistent. Perhaps I tried a bit too hard in the first one,” said the Frenchman.
Even though Latvala was immediately behind Ogier in the order, the deteriorating conditions were apparent by the mud caked on the Finn’s Polo R.
“It’s getting quite dirty. There’s quite a lot of mud at the beginning and that’s where we lost time. For the rest of the stage we matched the speed of Seb,” he said.
Kris Meeke was third in his Citroen DS3, and summed up the conditions for the later starters. “It was full mud for the first three-quarters of the stage,” said the Northern Irishman, who was almost 10sec slower than Ogier.
Andreas Mikkelsen reported understeer issues in his Polo R, while Martin Prokop admitted he could not settle into a rhythm in his Ford Fiesta RS, but was confused as to whether that was due to the conditions or the tricky roads.
click:
wrc.com/news/germany-update-2/
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SS3 Moselland 1 (21.02km)
Moselland is a Rallye Deutschland classic. It runs alongside the Mosel river, twisting and turning through 60 junctions in vineyards on steep hillsides. Narrow but fast service roads, linked by strings of hairpin bends are its hallmarks. It was used in the opposite direction to last year.
Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest by two-tenths of a second from Sébastien Ogier in this morning’s final stage at ADAC Rallye Deutschland as the Volkswagen pair continued to dominate.
It was the first win for the Finn after Ogier took the honours in the opening two tests. The gap between them was 1.9sec in Ogier’s favour as drivers returned to service in Trier.
“It seemed more slippery than last year, maybe there’s more dirt on the road. It was difficult to feel what the grip was like, but it wasn’t as bad as the previous stage,” said Latvala.
The Polo R duo are already more than 20sec clear of Kris Meeke in third, but Ogier hinted there was more to come.
“I’m not completely happy with the car but my pace was good. The first stage was more slippery than expected. I tried to be aggressive but made two mistakes and lost time. We’re still in the lead and quite well ahead of everyone except Jari-Matti, so that’s OK,” he said.
Meeke is 24.0sec off top spot in his Citroen DS3, a gap exaggerated by a first stage spin, with Dani Sordo a further 4.6sec back in fourth.
Sordo, winner in 2013, is enduring the worst of the road conditions. A low start position means the roads are covered in mud and dirt, dragged onto the surface by those starting earlier.
Andreas Mikkelsen slipped from third to fifth after swiping the rear left of his Polo R near the start of Moselland. Although the wheel rim was badly damaged, the Michelin rubber stayed inflated until 4km from the finish.
Clustered close behind are Mads Østberg, Mikko Hirvonen and Thierry Neuville, just over 10sec splitting the six drivers from Meeke to Neuville, The latter lost time as the brakes on his Hyundai i20 faded near the finish and the Belgian also reported losing the place in his pace notes as he and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul made corrections mid-stage.
Elfyn Evans and Bryan Bouffier complete the top 10 but Robert Kubica dropped four minutes after sliding off 600 metres after the start of Moselland, buckling his front left wheel and damaging the clutch.
“We went off in a tightening corner. I wasn’t holding the steering wheel strongly enough and when I hit something I lost the line. By the time I recovered it was too late. We had two wheels off the road and although spectators helped us, we couldn’t get out. The wheels were just spinning,” said Kubica.
click:
wrc.com/news/germany-update-3/
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