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WRC Arctic Rally: Tanak holds 24s lead over Rovanpera after day 2

Hyundai's Ott Tanak was serene at the front of the field after the second day of the World Rally Championship's Arctic Rally, winning three of the six Saturday stages

Tanak won two stages in the morning and went fastest again on the first stage of the afternoon after the service, then settled into a rhythm and protected his tyres while Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera and Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville battled it out.

Neuville posted an electrifying time on the final stage of the day, 12.3 seconds faster than Tanak, to close within 2s of Rovanpera, who holds second place overall.

Tyre wear and preserving the Pirelli studded rubber was the major preoccupation for most teams, with drivers finding that their front end grip fell off a cliff through the course of the day.

Irishman Craig Breen in the third Hyundai holds fourth place, but was left frustrated as he fell back from the podium battle by half a minute.

Breen remains 10s in front of Elfyn Evans's Toyota as the Welshman battled a less-than-favourable road position, as did his team-mate and defending champion Sebastien Ogier close behind.

Ogier had suffered worst from sweeping the stages at the front of the field on Friday, which left him continuing to act as sweeper for Saturday's stages and falling more than a minute behind the leaders.

The Frenchman then went off 50 metres from the end of the final stage and has elected to retire the car, allowing his team more time in order to try and maximise his setup for the points-scoring Power Stage on Sunday.

Ogier's misfortune allowed teenage sensation Oliver Solberg up into sixth place overall in his first appearance at the wheel of a full WRC car for Hyundai. The Toyota of Takamoto Katsuta and the M-Sport Fords of Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith round out the top category.

"All to plan: the tyres are quite tired so it was important to get here without any mistakes, so it's all good" said leader Tanak.

Tenth place overall and top of the WRC2 category falls to Esapekka Lappi's Volkswagen, with a 50s advantage over the Skoda of Andreas Mikkelsen.

Just one stage remains on the Arctic Rally, the 22.47 km Aittajarvi test, which will be run twice, with the second pass acting as Power Stage with points on offer to the five fastest cars.

WRC Arctic Rally results - day 2

Pos Class Driver Car Gap
1 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Hyundai 1h43m32.1s
2 RC1 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Toyota 24.1s
3 RC1 Thierry Neuville, M.Wydaeghe Hyundai 25.9s
4 RC1 Craig Breen, P.Nagle Hyundai 53.4s
5 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin Toyota 1m03.5s
6 RC1 Oliver Solberg, S.Marshall Hyundai 1m26.8s
7 RC1 Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt Toyota 1m34.4s
8 RC1 Teemu Suninen, M.Markkula Ford 1m49.3s
9 RC1 Gus Greensmith, E.Edmondson Ford 3m01.8s
10 WRC2 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Volkswagen 4m48.8s
11 WRC2 Andreas Mikkelsen, O.Floene Skoda 5m38.6s
12 WRC2 Nikolay Gryazin, K.Aleksandrov Volkswagen 6m14.6s
13 RC1 Janne Tuohino, R.Hamalainen Ford 6m17.4s
14 WRC3 Teemu Asunmaa, M.Salminen Skoda 6m37.1s
15 WRC3 Egon Kaur, S.Simm Volkswagen 6m49.6s
16 WRC2 Eyvind Brynildsen, V.Engan Skoda 7m20.3s
17 WRC2 Ole-Christian Veiby, J.Andersson Hyundai 7m42.5s
18 WRC3 Eerik Pietarinen, A.Linnaketo Skoda 7m55.1s
19 WRC3 Mikko Heikkila, T.Luhtinen Skoda 7m56.5s
20 WRC3 Mattias Ekstrom, E.Bergkvist Skoda 8m59.4s
21 WRC2 Martin Prokop, V.Chytka Ford 10m52.5s
22 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Toyota 11m04.5s
23 WRC3 Gregor Jeets, K.Pannas Skoda 12m09.6s
24 RC2 Ville Hanhisuanto, M.Toppinen Ford 13m46.5s
25 WRC3 Pekka Keski-Korsu, M.Silfvast Skoda 14m08.2s
26 WRC3 Tuomas Skantz, K.Kallio Skoda 14m16.7s
27 WRC3 Michal Solowow, M.Baran Citroen 14m33.8s
28 RC4 Sami Pajari, E.Malkonen Ford 15m53.7s
29 WRC3 Rakan Al-Rashed, H.Magalhaes Volkswagen 16m40.1s
30 WRC3 Johan Kristoffersson, P.Barth Volkswagen 17m08.1s
31 WRC3 Vladas Jurkevicius, A.Paliukenas Skoda 17m58.4s
32 RC4 Lauri Joona, A.Koponen Ford 18m12.0s
33 WRC2 Sean Johnston, A.Kihurani Citroen 18m23.4s
34 WRC3 Adrian Chwietczuk, J.Baran Skoda 18m44.6s
35 WRC3 Jussi Keskiniva, M.Kaikkonen Skoda 19m38.0s
36 WRC3 Lars Stugemo, K-O.Lexe Skoda 20m22.3s
37 WRC3 Marko Viitanen, T.Suominen Skoda 20m35.2s
38 WRC3 Fabrizio Zaldivar, C.del Barrio Skoda 20m54.8s
39 WRC2 Georg Linnamae, V.Korsya Volkswagen 26m17.2s
40 WRC3 Ville Ruokanen, T.Pallari Skoda 26m33.1s
41 RC4 Teemu Kortesalmi, S.Kuruaho Ford 28m17.3s
42 RC4 Toni Herranen, S.Virtanen Ford 28m26.5s
43 RC1 Pierre-Louis Loubet, V.Landais Hyundai 29m19.2s
44 RC2 Bertrand Pierrat, A.Chevalier Hyundai 29m47.9s
45 RC2 Luca Hoelbling, F.Fiorini Hyundai 30m35.5s
46 WRC3 Ari-Pekka Koivisto, J.Karpijoki Skoda 31m09.3s
47 RC2 Mika Karppanen, A.Heinonen Citroen 31m46.0s
48 WRC3 Miguel Diaz-Aboitiz, D.Sanjuan Skoda 33m29.9s
49 WRC2 Adrien Fourmaux, R.Jamoul Ford 36m28.6s
50 WRC3 Mauro Miele, L.Beltrame Skoda 36m44.4s
51 RC2 Pieter Cracco, J.Vermeulen Skoda 48m14.0s
52 RC1 Lorenzo Bertelli, S.Scattolin Ford 1h01m43.2s
53 WRC3 Albert von Thurn und Taxis, B.Ettel Skoda 1h08m48.4s


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