Tanak takes lead in Wales Rally GB despite lights scare
Ott Tanak took the Wales Rally GB lead from team-mate Kris Meeke in the closing kilometres of Friday's second leg, overcoming a late technical scare in the Welsh gloom. World Championship leader Tanak moved clear of his Toyota teammate in the darkness of the final Aberhirnant speed test to carry a 3.4sec advantage into Saturday's marathon stages. Meeke took the lead in Thursday's curtain-raising test but despite failing to win any of Friday's nine gravel road special stages in north and mid-Wales, the Ulsterman fended off a string of challengers until the last stage. He was also overhauled by world champion Sebastien Ogier, Tanak's closest challenger in the battle for the 2019 world title. But the leading trio are blanketed by only 3.6sec. Estonia's Tanak was fortunate to remain in contention after a problem with his auxiliary lights in the penultimate stage as dusk was turning to full darkness. "It was quite stressful in there. In the previous stage we lost the lights and the wires were damaged so we had a lot of work to do on the liaison section before the final one. Luckily we had some lights in there," Tanak said. Ogier upped the pace in his Citroen in the afternoon, climbing from fifth to pose an ominous presence behind Tanak in his quest for a fifth GB win in six years. Thierry Neuville, the third driver in the title battle, ended fourth in his Hyundai, 4.8sec behind Meeke. Standings after SS10 1. Ott Tanak-Martin Jarveoja (EST/Toyota Yaris) 1hr 14mins 30.8secs, 2. Sebastien Ogier-Julien Ingrassia (FRA/Citroen C3) at 3.4s, 3. Kris Meeke-Sebastian Marshall (GBR/Toyota Yaris) 3.6s, 4. Thierry Neuville-Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL/Hyundai i20) 8.4s, 5. Andreas Mikkelsen-Anders Jaeger (NOR/Hyundai i20) 25.7s, 6. Craig Breen-Paul Nagle (IRL/Hyundai i20) 33.5s, 7. Teemu Suninen-Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN/Ford Fiesta) 37.4s,8. Elfyn Evans-Scott Martin(GBR/M-Ford Fiesta) 51.8s, 9. Pontus Tidemand-Ola Floene (M-Sport Ford) 2 mins 56.6s, 10. Jan Kopecky-Pavel Dresler (Skoda Motorsport) 4m 01.1s Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja drive their Toyota on the Slate Mountain stage of the Wales Rally GB at Penmachno
