SS7 – Another win for Meeke

After the earlier dramas of the day, Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team’s Kris Meeke continued to build on his success by claiming yet another stage win. Battling through the rough and rutted stage, littered with large rocks and stones, he managed to bring his Citroen DS3 WRC over the line 5.7 seconds ahead of Volkswagen Motorsport’s Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier completed the stage third fastest, losing out to fellow Volkswagen driver, Andreas Mikkelsen, who completed the stage just 0.4s faster than the current champion.

Bad luck befell returning WRC star Henning Solberg, who reportedly overshot a braking area, taking his Fiesta RS WRC off the course in the process, to such an extent it was unable to re-join the rally.

In WRC2 it was Pontus Tidemand who continued to build on his pace, taking the win in his class for the stage, though Nicolas Fuchs was snapping at his heels with stage time of 11:03.8, a mere 0.1s behind Tidemand. Elvyn Evans took third in WRC2 over the stage with a time 1.2s behind Tidemand.