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Neuville takes Tour of Corsica World Rally Championship lead

Thierry Neuville took a shock World Rally Championship Tour of Corsica lead on Saturday morning after Citroen's Kris Meeke suffered engine trouble.

The Belgian Hyundai driver started the day 25.8s behind Meeke, but rapid times on both of the Saturday morning stages allowed him to overturn Sebastien Ogier, who was struggling with the springs on his M-Sport Ford Fiesta, for second.

That became the net lead when Kris Meeke's engine expired after completing the Novella special stage, just before service.

Dani Sordo gave Hyundai two cars in the top three after he used the morning to get ahead of Craig Breen.

The Spaniard described SS5 as "the worst stage I have driven in my life" but his pace didn't reflected that as he held third place.

Breen suffered when he completed the whole of SS6 without an intercom, and despite the number of corners on the Corsican roads, he completed the stage only eight seconds behind the Spaniard.

Breen is the sole remaining Citroen after Stephane Lefebvre crashed out on SS5, although he could return under Rally2 tomorrow.

Toyota driver Jari-Matti Latvala cursed the brake-feel on his Toyota, the Rally Sweden winner lying 10.7s behind Craig Breen in fifth.

Hayden Paddon made sure all three Hyundais are in the top six, struggling with trusting his i20 WRC but only 14.6s behind Latvala. He was quicker than the Finn on both the morning stages.

Elfyn Evans joined Lefebvre in crashing out of the event. The Welshman went off on a quick left hander.

Also outside of the top 10 after a crash yesterday, Juho Hanninen set third and second fastest times in his Toyota Yaris WRC, leaving the 14th-placed Finn wondering what could have been after crashing out yesterday.

Ott Tanak, the second M-Sport Fiesta, is 13th and joins Hanninen well down the order as he struggles with a suspected spark plug issue on his Fiesta. He went off the road yesterday.

Andreas Mikkelsen, eighth overall, leads WRC2 in his Skoda Fabia R5, as Teemu Suninen's Fiesta trails by over a minute, second in class and 10th overall

If Stephane Sarrazin was registered for WRC2, he would be 19.9s behind the Norwegian, in his first rally in a Fabia R5. Instead, he lies ninth overall only.

Zdroj: autosport.com