Favourite Sébastien Ogier demonstrates his strength

• Latvala and Neuville remain in his cast shadow

Munich/Trier. 22 August 2013 – In the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Sébastien Ogier set the fastest times with his Volkswagen Polo WRC on the first two stages of the short leg from the start in Cologne to the day’s finish in Trier. Frenchman Ogier complained about heavy understeer with his WRC, but he still pulled clear from his Finnish team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala and Belgian Ford driver, Thierry Neuville. At the end of the leg, Ogier commented: “Being first here and now was my goal for the day, but the rally has just started now.”

On a dry track, Sébastien Ogier already built a margin of 5.7 seconds over his closest rival Latvala after almost 38 of the total of 371 kilometres in competition. The best-placed Germans amidst the 113 teams that took the start in the national and international field are Skoda driver Sepp Wiegand in eleventh and Ford driver Armin Kremer in twelfth place, albeit with considerably less powerful WRC2 machines.

In the shakedown on Wednesday and the short leg on Thursday, already over 30,000 enthusiastic spectators witnessed this ninth round of the world championship. Maximum tension is expected for the leg on Friday with six highly demanding special stages (approximately 132 kilometres in competition) in the vineyards along the Moselle.

Standings 1st leg after 2 of 16 special stages:

1. Ogier/Ingrassia FRA/FRA Volkswagen Polo WRC 1:18.52.5 hrs.
2. Latvala/Anttila FIN/FIN Volkswagen Polo WRC - 5.7 sec.
3. Neuville/Gilsoul BEL/BEL Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 12.7 sec.
4. Sordo/Del Barrio ESP/ESP Citroën DS3 WRC - 20.5 sec.
5. Hirvonen/Lehtinen FIN/FIN Citroën DS3 WRC - 25.7 sec.
6. Östberg/Andersson NOR/SWE Ford Fiesta RS WRC - 30.6 sec..
…
11. Wiegand/Christian DEU/DEU Skoda Fabia S2000 - 1.23.0 min.
12. Kremer/Wicha DEU/DEU Ford Fiesta RRC - 1.39.6 min.