Sebastien Ogier tops morning loop of WRC Rally Islas Canarias day 2

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier has topped the first morning of action in the World Rally Championship’s Rally Islas Canarias as the nine-time world champion heads Sami Pajari. 

Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool

Ogier stands as the rally leader after the morning concludes on day two of Rally Islas Canarias, with the world champion heading a Toyota 1-2-3 after only two stages completed on Friday. 

There were meant to be three stages that made up the action on Friday morning’s loop, but the third stage of the event (second test of the day) was cancelled due to ‘wrongly parked’ cars that belonged to spectators. 

It meant there was a significant gap between the second stage and the fourth stage of Rally Islas Canarias, making up the first two stages of today’s running. 

Ogier had taken over the rally lead, which was previously held by the championship leader, Takamoto Katsuta, who had held onto it following Thursday’s sole stage. The Frenchman had topped the timing boards 0.8 seconds ahead of the Japanese driver going from SS2 to SS4.

WRC Rally Islas Canarias: SS3 cancelled due to spectator cars

However, as the loop finished, Ogier had extended that lead to 5.9 seconds, ahead of Pajari, who had climbed into second place. Toyota’s championship contender, Elfyn Evans, rounded out the top three, six seconds off the pace. 

Regardless, Toyota still holds onto a top-five lockout with Oliver Solberg and Katsuta occupying fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Whilst Jon Armstrong was able to improve his standing in the overall leaderboard, he still found himself outside the top 10, in 11th overall. It was certainly not helped when the Irishman slid down an access road.

The Puma driver was racing on SS4 and quickly approached a right-hand bend. When he applied steering to navigate the road, his car refused the order, and eventually slipped into a slide, sliding down a downhill access road. 

Thankfully, he was able to get the Rally1 Puma turned around and back onto the course. However, the mistake had ultimately cost him around 14 seconds. 

Rally Islas Canarias: The full WRC stage guide and times

So, who sits where ahead of the afternoon loop?

1. Sebastien Ogier, Toyota – 21m 58.4s
2. Sami Pajari, Toyota +5.9s
3. Elfyn Evans, Toyota +6s
4. Oliver Solberg, Toyota +6.5s
5. Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +9s
6. Daniel Sordo, Hyundai +19.2s
7. Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +26.2s
8. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +27.1s
9. Joshua McErlean, M-Sport Ford +37.8s
10. Yohan Rossel, Lancia (WRC2) +47s
11. Jon Armstrong, M-Sport Ford +54.6s

Read more WRC here:

• WRC Rally Islas Canarias: SS3 cancelled due to spectator cars
• Takamoto Katsuta takes overnight lead at Rally Islas Canarias
• Oliver Solberg tops opening test of Rally Islas Canarias shakedown
• Sebastien Ogier aiming for Rally Islas Canarias victory to go ‘one better’ than last year
• Hyundai to reset and refocus for WRC Rally Islas Canarias after Croatia heartbreak
• Rally Islas Canarias: The full WRC stage guide and times

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.