Sweden Rally Saturday morning top drivers review 14.02.2015: WRC Rallyes Sweden Rally 2015 Mads Østberg’s 20.8sec lead was slashed

WRC Rallyes  Sweden Rally 2015



Mads Østberg’s 20.8sec lead was slashed to just 1.7sec as Ogier continued his recovery from his own off-the-road incident yesterday afternoon.


“I touched the bank a little with the rear of the car and it spun,” said Mikkelsen, who admitted he was feeling the pressure of fighting for a maiden WRC win in his Volkswagen Polo R.


“I had to turn around but it took a long time because the road was so narrow. It will be an interesting afternoon now but we’ll give it everything. This is a new situation for me but we’ll do the job as well as we can. It will be tough but we won’t give up,” he added.


There was plenty of loose snow in the test, famed for the Colin’s Crest jump, and Ogier opened the road for the final section after first in the start order Lorenzo Bertelli went off.



Mads Østberg had problems on opening Saturday morning stage in Rally Sweden: “We had a few problems with the gearbox in the first stage. That didn’t cause me to hit the bank, but I was out of the rhythm,” he said.


Sébastien Ogier moved ahead of Østberg in Fredriksberg, and the Frenchman was fastest in Rämmen in his Volkswagen Polo R to relegate Thierry Neuville and take second place. The gap between the duo is 7.9sec.


“There was so much fresh snow in the first stage,” said Ogier, who is second in the start order. “The second stage was better with less loose snow.”


Neuville arrived at the finish of Rämmen shaking his head and said: “I’m flat out everywhere and can do no more. I’m over the limit and taking too many risks. I want to fight for second but it will be difficult. I have a perfect racing line but I can’t go faster.”




full results, photos, livetiming on www.wrc.com   photo Willy Weyens