At the end of the second day of Rally New Zealand, Ott Tanak is still leading this iconic event with Elfyn Evans and Sebastien Ogier following him.
Ott Tanak remains out in front at the end of Friday despite the fact that he dropped to third place at the end of Stage 5 as there were dry conditions inside this stage which means that he had to clean the road. After his setting the fastest time in Stage 7, he retook his lead from Sebastien Ogier to be the rally leader overnight.
Elfyn Evans remains second overall despite the fact that he lost 10,6 seconds in Stage 6 as he had poor visibility. Moreover, he said at the end of SS7 that he changed some things to his car and he had better feeling with his Yaris. His gap from Tanak is only at two tenths of a second.
Sebastien Ogier completes the top three and was first overall at the end of the first stage of the afternoon loop as he was the fastest driver there. However, he glanced a tree brunch in SS6 which ripped off the top half of his Yaris's spoiler, but he remained the rally leader after that stage. In Stage 7, he lost 13,3 seconds due to the lack of rear spoiler which had a huge effect on the aerodynamics resulting in slipping behind his teammate.
Kalle Rovanpera climbed into fourth place overall and the rain helped him in Stage 6 as he set the fastest time there.
Gus Greensmith dropped from fourth to fifth at the end of Stage 6 as he struggled to find a good pace as the rain was falling.
Thierry Neuville comes right behind the M-Sport driver for 1,8 seconds and he reported at the end of Stage 6 that no rear tyres left for the next stage.
Oliver Solberg climbed one place and is now seventh overall, but his gap from his teammate is at 42,7 seconds.
Takamoto Katsuta is eighth overall and slipped behind Solberg at the end of Stage 6. The Japanese driver could not find a good rhythm with his Yaris on the afternoon stages.
Craig Breen was in second place overall at the end of the Friday morning loop, but he was forced to retire before the start of Stage 6 as he went off the road on a right-hander 26.7 Km into SS5. However, he managed to get going again and to complete Stage 5, but he dropped more than 18 minutes there.
Watch below the stage times:
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