Andreas Mikkelsen was fastest in the first super special stage of Rally Turkey. It was on the streets of Marmaris – this year’s WRC event in Turkey is taking place around the resort.
The Hyundai driver was the only one who took on medium tyres. Earlier today he had a gearbox problem which his team managed to repair.
Craig Breen was second fastest in SS1 – at 2.5sec from Mikkelsen. Ott Tanak gave the third time, which was 2.8sec slower than the achievement of the Norwegian.
Sebastien Ogier made a mistake in the stage. He did not land properly after a jump, missed a junction and hit the nearby barriers. The Frenchman explained that he could not brake for the corner after having “a massive kick on the jump which I didn’t expect”.
Mikkelsen leads in Turkey after Neuville was fastest in the shakedown
Earlier on Thursday Thierry Neuville was fastest in the shakedown. The 4.7 km stage provided the crews with the opportunity to get their bearings on the both technical and rough surface which has become less common in the WRC in recent years. Most of them focused on identifying the specific features of the roads and finding the right balance between pushing and looking after the tyres and the car.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it – there’s literally no room for error on these roads. It looks like being more of an endurance race than a sprint”, Craig Breen commented.
His Citroen teammate Mads Østberg added: “This morning’s shakedown was very hard on the cars, but we were expecting it to be like that. I think you’ll need to be smart during the race: stay in the lines and don’t cut the corners too much.”
?? SS1 times & O/A
1. ?? #Mikkelsen
2. ?? Breen +2.5
3. ?? Tanak +2.8
4. ?? #Neuville +3.1
5. ?? Lappi +3.5
6. ?? Ostberg +3.9
7. ?? Latvala +4.0
8. ?? Evans +4.3
9. ?? Suninen +5.3
10. ?? Ogier +7.5
11. ?? #Paddon +9.6#WRC #HMSGOfficial— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) September 13, 2018
