Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke has soared to the outright lead after the opening four stages at Coates Hire Rally Australia.
Citroen’s Meeke seized the lead from Dani Sordo who won the opening three stages in slippery conditions.
As many of the leading crews struggled with grip and tyre management, Meeke made the most of the challenging start to the World Rally Championship round.
“After the first stage which was only 7km, I was a little bit concerned because the tyre wear was quite high,” Meeke explained.
“So I really tried to manage the tyre wear on the next two because I knew the long one was going to be quite critical and that plan seemed to work.
“We kept ourselves in the mix and on the last stage we were able to find a really good rhythm.”
The tactics have seen Meeke claim a 3.3s advantage over Sordo while the Spaniard’s Hyundai team-mate Hayden Paddon is third following a solid but frustrating opening morning.
“It was just good to get this stage (SS4) out of the way because it is my last favourite stage of the rally. It was just about being conservative,” Paddon said.
“To be honest it will be good to put some new tyres on this afternoon and start pushing.”
Andreas Mikkelsen lead the Volkswagen charge to sit fourth ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala.
World champion-elect Sebastien Ogier was anchored by his road sweeping role in the slippery conditions that marked the newly introduced opening three special stages.
Ogier set off for the extended 29.51km SS4, 19.3s off the lead, and now sits in sixth position 11.8s adrift.
“I was hoping this one (SS4) would be better conditions for me but it was not the case. It is still very, very slippery and cleaning,” Ogier said.
Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) suffered a rear left puncture on SS4 after complaining of a loose car in the earlier stages.
Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt were an early casualty in WRC2, ripping a wheel of their Ford Fiesta R5 in SS2.
The crews repeat the morning loop this afternoon to complete day one.
VIDEO: Morning Stages
Top 10 WRC positions after SS4
| POS | CAR NO | DRIVER | CO-DRIVER | TEAM | ELIGIBILITY | GROUP CLASS | TIME | DIFF PREV | DIFF 1ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 3 | K. MEEKE | P. NAGLE | CITROËN TOTAL ABU DHABI WRT | M | RC1 | 38:06.7 | ||
| 2. | 20 | D. SORDO | M. MARTI | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT N | T | RC1 | 38:10.0 | +3.3 | +3.3 |
| 3. | 8 | H. PADDON | J. KENNARD | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 38:13.7 | +3.7 | +7.0 |
| 4. | 9 | A. MIKKELSEN | O. FLOENE | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT II | T | RC1 | 38:17.0 | +3.3 | +10.3 |
| 5. | 2 | J. LATVALA | M. ANTTILA | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 38:17.4 | +0.4 | +10.7 |
| 6. | 1 | S. OGIER | J. INGRASSIA | VOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 38:18.5 | +1.1 | +11.8 |
| 7. | 6 | O. TANAK | R. MOLDER | M-SPORT WORLD RALLY TEAM | M | RC1 | 38:24.3 | +5.8 | +17.6 |
| 8. | 7 | T. NEUVILLE | N. GILSOUL | HYUNDAI MOTORSPORT | M | RC1 | 38:26.7 | +2.4 | +20.0 |
| 9. | 4 | S. LEFEBVRE | S. PREVOT | CITROËN TOTAL ABU DHABI WRT | M | RC1 | 39:22.8 | +56.1 | +1:16.1 |
| 10. | 5 | E. EVANS | D. BARRITT | M-SPORT WORLD RALLY TEAM | M | RC1 | 39:47.3 | +24.5 | +1:40.6 |
Discussion about this post