SS12 – Ogier marches forward

Sebastien Ogier took his second consecutive stage win on the middle stage of the afternoon loop, inching closer to the lead of the event in the process. He took 1.8 seconds from Kris Meeke, third-fastest but holding second place overall, to close the gap to just 3.7 seconds with the longest stage of the day to go. 

Ogier felt that he was pushing as hard as he possibly could while Meeke admitted that he was driving his own rally and would accept the result that comes to him. 

Jari-Matti Latvala was second-fastest, just 1.9 seconds slower than Ogier but keeping his VW team-mate at bay while the third VW, driven by Andreas Mikkelsen, was fourth fastest with Ott Tanak fifth. Hayden Paddon put in another excellent stage time sixth fastest despite complaining a problem with the car that he felt was not possible to rectify. 

As they did in the morning, all drivers appeared to be conserving tyres as much as possible for the next, long stage with this one likely to see the biggest push for the overnight advantage.