Craig Breen has slid down a bank and out of contention on the first day of Rally New Zealand, on the same corner Colin McRae was caught out on 20 years ago.
Breen had joint second overall after the opening morning in New Zealand with Elfyn Evans, just 2.6 seconds down on rally leader Ott Tänak.
And on the repeat pass of Whaanga Coast – which was won by M-Sport team-mate Gus Greensmith the first time round – Breen was setting some sensational pace, looking more than capable of taking back the lead he had held earlier in the day.
But approaching a tight right-hander through a cattle guard with a bank on the outside, Breen came in too hot and had to pitch his Puma Rally1 into a slide to attempt to make the corner.
However in doing so, the rear skirted over the edge of the road and down a bank was gleefully swallowed his M-Sport Ford and left him stranded, down a bank.
The car was barely damaged but it took nearly 18 minutes to get the car back onto the road. It’s Breen’s fourth mistake in the last five events.
Breen’s drama overshadowed what was a superb performance from Sébastien Ogier, who leapt from fifth to first with a stage time 8.4s than anybody else could manage.
He therefore leads the rally by 1.3s over Toyota team-mate and title rival from the past two years Evans.
“We said the plan was to push this afternoon, but this is only the first one,” he said.
Ogier immediately jumped out of his GR Yaris Rally1 after the stage, but there was no major cause for concern.
Asked what he was checking, he said: “Tire wear. It was a lot drier than expected, but it should be alright.”
For the second time this weekend, Kalle Rovanperä and Tänak shared the exact same stage time – both stopping the clocks 2.6s short of 20 minutes on the second pass of Whaanga Coast.
But neither driver was happy with their performance as the first two cars onto the road, still sweeping a line clear for those behind. And with conditions drier than they had been in the morning, the road sweeping effect was further exaggerated.
Rovanperä described running first as “difficult still” while Tänak added: “If we can beat R5s here it will be good! It was hard for the tires, really trying to manage through this one.”
Although he lost the rally lead, Tänak remains in a podium position – 7.5s down on new leader Ogier. Rovanperä is fifth, 4.7s behind Greensmith who could’ve passed Tänak for third but for a misted windshield that left him not being able to “see s***”.
Thierry Neuville believed “everybody was trying to save the tires” on SS5 but he also admitted he “struggled to concentrate” on Whaanga Coast. His pace was better than it had been in the morning as he was the quickest i20 N Rally1 through the test.
“It will be good to get some rain in the upcoming stages,” Neuville smiled, “otherwise it’s going to be difficult.”
Oliver Solberg battled power problems in the morning and is therefore a minute down on the lead. But he was fourth quickest on SS5 to jump ahead of Takamoto Katsuta into seventh overall by 3.9s.
