Trier (Germany) (AFP)
Ott Tänak clocked the best time of the first stage of the German Rally, the 10th round of the 14 WRC World Rally Championship on Thursday night, ahead of Dani Sordo (Hyundai) and Sébastien Ogier (Citroën).
The Estonian, current world championship leader, has thus declared his claims for a fifth victory this season, showing himself as comfortable on the German asphalt as on the Finnish land 15 days ago.
"It's going to be extremely tight," he said at the finish of this special stage of the day, 5.2 km long, adding: "it will be interesting tomorrow" (Friday).
The rally will then enter the heart of the matter with seven specials played in the day and will end Sunday at the end of 19 specials.
"The roads are much dirtier than I expected," said Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, who is currently 22 points behind Tänak in the world championship.
As for Belgium's Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), currently third in the Tänak 25-point championship, he finished fourth on Thursday night, admitting he was embarrassed by the setting sun.
© 2019 AFP