RALLY GERMANY: TÄNAK DOMINATED ONCE MORE

Ott Tänak won Rally Germany today, his second consecutive WRC win, and his third of the year. These two wins now mount a serious challenge for the title, whilst championship favourites Thierry Neuville and Sebastian Ogier were nowhere near the Toyota driver. Neuville finished a fine second, whilst a puncture damaged Ogier's chances, finishing a respectable fourth, behind Esapekka Lappi.

FRIDAY

On Friday Ott Tänak won all but the opener to announce himself and the person to beat for the win on the tarmac roads in Germany. Meanwhile Sebastian Ogier were jostling against each other, the two only focused on each other. At the end of the day the defending champion was faster than the championship leader, only 13 seconds behind Tänak with Neuville a further 14 seconds behind the M-Sport driver.

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Meanwhile behind them there wasn't much between 4th place all the way down to tenth place. Elfyn Evans, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi were separated by less than four seconds at the end of the opening seven stages, with Craig Breen in eighth, Mikkelsen a distant ninth and Teemu Sunninen edging Mads Østberg for the final spot in the top ten.

SATURDAY

Saturday was going to be the make-or-break day for everyone, with the longest stages on the second day of the rally.

Immediately Jari-Matti Latvala and Dani Sordo mounted charges, winning SS8 and SS9, moving themselves closer to Thierry Neuville, who was already struggling on what was such an important day for him.

Stage 10, 11 and 12 saw a titantic change, Tänak and Ogier could not be separated, still at thirteen seconds, but Latvala and Sordo had moved themselves past Neuville, with Lappi not that far behind the Belgium. All of a sudden Ogier was about to make some big inroads into the championship lead.

Stage 13, and disaster! Ogier has a puncture, losing 100 seconds, dropping him down to seventh place. This promoted Dani Sordo to second, who had overtaken Latvala on that stage and the Finn was in third. All of a sudden everything was fine for Neuville.

By the end of the day, the Rally was Tänak's, claiming a 45 second lead over Sordo. Sordo, Latvala, Neuville and Lappi were only separated by fifteen seconds heading into the final three stages of Sunday.

SUNDAY

Stage 16, and late drama in Rally Germany. First Latvala has a mechanical, forcing him to retire, and next Dani Sordo crashes, costing him valuable time and eventually on Stage 17 he retired. All of this promoted Thierry Neuville to second place, Lappi now in third, and Ogier was on the move, already up into fourth, but with a 50 second gap to Lappi, it looked like he would loose points to Neuville this rally.

Stage 17, and not much changes. Ogier wins the stage, Neuville a close second, with Tänak playing it cautiously, 12 seconds slower than the Frenchman. Heading into the final stage Tänak lead by over thirty seconds from Neuville, and Lappi was secure in his third place from the charging Ogier. With all of these crashes it promoted Teemu Sunninen into a respectable fifth place, Mikkelsen a close sixth, with Breen looking like he will have to settle for seventh.

Onto the power stage, and this was an important time for now the three title contenders, and we saw the Sebastian Ogier that toppled Sebastian Loeb, nearly seven seconds faster than Neuville on a 14km long stage. He won it, Neuville claiming just one point, meaning the Belgium extended his lead by two points this rally. Ott Tänak was just one tenth slower than Ogier on the power stage. That means the Estonian took 59 points over the past two rallies. Watch out Ogier and Neuville, Taänak is a man on a mission.

Here are the rally standings:

1. Tanak

2. Neuville

3. Lappi

4. Ogier

5. Sunninen