SS15: Hat-trick for Sordo

Dani Sordo has made it a hat-trick of stage wins on the final morning of RallyRACC-Rally de Espana despite making a small mistake in his Prodrive MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

Sordo was 0.6s faster than Jari-Matti Latvala through the 4.11-kilometre test and reckoned he could have gone even quicker: “I make a mistake in the middle when I did not understand very well if it was a left or right crest and lost one second. I am very happy with the car, it’s really nice.”

Latvala was second fastest, 0.2s quicker than Sebastien Loeb and heads to service in Salou trailing the Citroen ace and rally leader by 24.7s. “It’s good but it’s not a lot to be honest,” said Latvala. “The differences are very small but it’s positive to be going in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, a spin for Ott Tanak has all but ended the Estonian’s bid for a second consecutive podium in the FIA World Rally Championship. “I had a spin, I was pushing too much in some places,” said Tanak, who is almost 30s behind third-placed Mikko Hirvonen in fifth overall.

Hans Weijs has stopped approximately 2.5 kilometres into the stage in his Qatar World Rally Team Citroen with possible suspension damage. His misfortune means Jarkko Nikara is up to sixth overall in his MINI.

Drivers reported slippery conditions with mud and gravel on the road in some places. Following a 30-minute service halt in Salou, stage 16, Riudecanyes 2, gets underway at 11:52hrs local time.