Autosport6:19am 6 October 2015
Jari-Matti Latvala took his third World Rally Championship win of the 2015 season in Corsica, and only his second career win on asphalt, beating Elfyn Evans by 43.1 seconds.
Volkswagen driver Latvala took the lead away from Evans on Saturday’s final stage and never looked like conceding it from that point on.
Evans was sublime on Friday. He was 10s faster than anyone else through the wet and treacherous SS3, which gave the Welshman an overnight lead of 18s over Kevin Abbring after the young pair had jumped from sixth and seventh to first and second overall.
Latvala was dominant on Saturday’s opening stage, though, taking 21.2s out of Evans’s lead and bringing the overall gap down to just 1.7s heading into the afternoon.
He eventually snatched the lead away on SS6, despite suffering gearbox issues. Latvala made it back to service for a new gearbox and headed into Sunday with only a 2s lead, but was clearly on a charge.
After the morning loop it became clear that there would be no stopping Latvala and Evans’s first WRC win would elude him.
The Finn emerged 32.7s ahead of Evans in second, with Mikkelsen breathing down the M-Sport Ford driver’s throat in third.
Heading into the powerstage the gap between the two was 9.8s and it seemed as though Mikkelsen would snatch second place away from Evans when he came through the second split 8.3s up.
Evans wasn’t ready to give up, though, and he pulled out a brilliant end to the stage to secure his second WRC podium, and his best result to date.
Kris Meeke was locked in a tight battle with Kevin Abbring over fourth for much of the rally, before Abbring had a crash midway through SS8 and was forced to retire.
Hayden Paddon was able to hold on to fifth place ahead of Mads Ostberg. The Kiwi was down in 15th and almost a minute off the pace on Friday, but was able to find his rhythm and be consistent for the remainder of the rally to fight his way ahead of Ostberg on SS8.
Dani Sordo completed his remarkable comeback following a puncture on SS3 to steal seventh place away from Bryan Bouffier on the powerstage.
Past Corsica winner Bouffier impressed on his return to the WRC. He was able to jump ahead of and keep fellow Corsica winner Stephane Sarrazin behind in ninth.
A struggling Ott Tanak completed the top 10.
World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier collected the powerstage win but it could have been much better had he not picked up a puncture on SS3. He also suffered a gearbox problem on his way to parc ferme on Friday night and had to rejoin under Rally2.
It was a similar missed opportunity for Robert Kubica, who shared the lead with Ogier on Friday but picked up a puncture on SS5 to rule him out of contention. He also secured points on the powerstage by going second quickest.
Julien Maurin took the WRC2 victory ahead of Esapekka Lappi. Eric Camilli completed the top three almost four minutes down on the leaders, with early leader Craig Breen only 6.8s behind in fourth.
LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS9:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 2h39m46.7s |
2 | Elfyn Evans | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 43.1s |
3 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 46.3s |
4 | Kris Meeke | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 1m33.4s |
5 | Hayden Paddon | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai | 1m53.6s |
6 | Mads Ostberg | Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT | Citroen | 1m59.8s |
7 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 2m10.4s |
8 | Bryan Bouffier | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 2m12.8s |
9 | Stephane Sarrazin | First Motorsport | Ford | 2m39.3s |
10 | Ott Tanak | M-Sport World Rally Team | Ford | 3m43.0s |
LEADING POWERSTAGE TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastien Ogier | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 10m23.2s |
2 | Robert Kubica | RK World Rally Team | Ford | 8.6s |
3 | Jari-Matti Latvala | Volkswagen Motorsport | Volkswagen | 10.2s |
4 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai Motorsport | Hyundai | 12.9s |
5 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Volkswagen Motorsport II | Volkswagen | 14.0s |
8:51am 13 October 2015
WRC.com | 0 |
The belgian has been dropped to the second string squad and will line up alongside kevin abbring for the… More >
3:36am 13 October 2015
WRC.com | 0 |
Jari-matti latvala and hayden paddon led a stellar turnout of world rally championship stars at the rallylegend festival in… More >
12:12am 8 October 2015
WRC.com | 1 |
Expert advice from asphalt trainers was key to hayden paddon achieving his best sealed surface result at tour de… More >
7:16am 6 October 2015
Relish Communications | 0 |
Kiwi rally drivers hayden paddon and john kennard have secured their fifth top-five finish in a world rally championship… More >
7:11am 6 October 2015
Autosport | 0 |
World rally championship manufacturers have slammed the tour of corsica after its weather-hit return to the calendar last weekend. the… More >
6:31pm 3 October 2015
Stuff.co.nz | 0 |
Kiwi rally ace hayden paddon had a “heart in mouth moment” on the french island of corsica. dubbed the ‘rally… More >