SS3: Hanninen moves ahead

Juho Hanninen’s morning gets even better as he takes the lead of the rally on the second test at ‘Terranova Sud 1’. The Finn is 4.3s faster than his team-mate Neuville to take the lead by a narrow margin of 0.4s. The left-rear tyre on Hanninen’s i20 WRC is completely devoid of any tread at the end of the stage. “If we can set fastest times in these conditions then we’re fine,” he says with a smile.

Jari-Matti Latvala carries out some roadside repairs before the start of the stage to address the brake issues that stunted his speed on the morning’s opening stage. He’s fifth fastest on the stage. “We lost the fluid from the system in the front right,” he explains. “It looks like one of the screws was a bit lose – not sure if that was the problem. We’ll see how it goes.”

Ford privateer, Martin Prokop, completes the top three in his Fiesta RS WRC. The Czech driver complains about some imperfections in his pace notes but he still manages to find enough speed to sit only 9.1s off the rally lead.