Catalunya WRC: Sordo claims lead on home soil as Latvala retires
Local driver Dani Sordo took over first place in Rally Catalunya from Sebastien Ogier after he won two out of the three Friday afternoon stages.
Photo by: Hyundai Motorsport
Despite having been only fourth in the morning, Sordo took the lead already after SS5 as he beat Sebastien Ogier by 16 seconds and took advantage of Thierry Neuville and Jari-Matti Latvala both hitting trouble.
The Belgian lost his front bumper and had a wheel bent after spinning in a slow corner and gave up nearly 20 seconds as a result.
Latvala, meanwhile, was forced to retire from the day because of a broken suspension. He will return tomorrow under Rally-2 regulations.
Sordo extended his lead to over 10 seconds by also topping SS6 and while he was narrowly beaten by Kris Meeke next time around, he again managed to be quicker than Ogier.
After dropping to fifth in SS5, Neuville saw out the day with his damaged machinery and even took fourth from teammate Hayden Paddon, who continued to struggle with his engine.
Andreas Mikkelsen was third ahead of the Hyundai duo with a gap of 11 seconds.
Mads Ostberg ended up sixth with Kris Meeke continuing his recovery from his morning roll by shrinking the gap to the Norwegian from half a minute to 10 seconds.
Craig Breen, who received a 10-second time penalty for showing up a minute late to the final morning stage, followed Meeke.
Standings after SS7
| Cla | Driver/Codriver | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Daniel Sordo Marc Marti |
Hyundai i20 WRC '16 | |
| 2 |  Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia |
Volkswagen Polo R WRC | + 17.0s |
| 3 |  Andreas Mikkelsen Anders Jæger |
Volkswagen Polo R WRC | + 35.1s |
| 4 |  Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul |
Hyundai i20 WRC '16 | + 46.3s |
| 5 |  Hayden Paddon John Kennard |
Hyundai i20 WRC '16 | + 47.5s |
| 6 | Mads Ostberg Fløene Ola |
Ford Fiesta RS WRC | + 54.3s |
| 7 |  Kris Meeke  Paul Nagle |
Citroën DS3 WRC | + 1m06.3s |
| 8 | Craig Breen Scott Martin |
Citroën DS3 WRC | + 1m44.6s |
| 9 |  Ott Tanak Raigo Molder |
Ford Fiesta RS WRC | + 2m04.4s |
| 10 |
|
Ford Fiesta RS WRC | + 3m44.3s |
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