After the service park today the main target for Thierry Neuville is to attack Latvala at the top. In SS6 Mittelmosel 2 Neuville finished first with 0.4 seconds faster than Latvala to close the gap in overall to 2.0 seconds. The rally leader comments: At the beginning of the stage there was a compression. Impact after jump was heavier than I expected, since that time we felt the vibration on left rear wheel.
At the same time Novikov continue after the yesterday incident with fifth position in the stage and 24th overall.
Latvala keeps the leader position in SS7 Moselland 2 with another stage win 2.6 seconds faster than Neuville to keep the overall distance to 4.6 seconds. Dani Sordo keeps the third position with advantage to fourth Mikko Hirvonen. Novikov moves for one stage from 24th to 18th position.
In the last stage today SS8 Grafschaft 2 Latvala extend his advantage with extra 2.7 seconds by Neuville who finished the stage second.
Comments:
Neuville: Last two stages we were on maximum, we cannot do more. No mistakes, always very fast, sideways.
Sordo: We made a mistake here. In a hairpin, we brake too late and go straight. After that, Latvala is impossible. I try to catch but it is very very difficult.
Results at the end of Day 2:
1. J. Latvala / M. Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) 1:38:04.1
2. T. Neuville / N. Gilsoul (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +7.3
3. D. Sordo / C. Barrio (Citroen DS3 WRC) +26.3
4. M. Hirvonen / J. Lehtinen (Citroen DS3 WRC) +47.6
5. M. Ostberg / J. Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +2:12.3
6. M. Prokop / M. Ernst (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +4:17.6
There are another 6 stages to run in day 3 with the start of the first one at 8:03 AM CET.