Latvala leads in Germany

Jari-Matti Latvala moved into the lead of ADAC Rallye Deutschland when Sébastien Ogier crashed in the vineyards of the Moselland stage. Also in trouble was Thierry Neuville, who drove all but the opening 2km with smoke in his Hyundai i20.

Ogier's demise handed Latvala a 37.0sec advantage over Kris Meeke's Citroen DS3 with last year's winner, Dani Sordo third in a Hyundai i20, a further 5.6sec behind, the Spaniard was always among the leaders and could threaten Meeke tomorrow when the start order is reset to tonight's classification in reverse. Andreas Mikkelsen is 3.0sec behind Sordo in fourth in a Polo R, despite a morning puncture, with Thierry Neuville fifth after mechanics worked all last night to repair the Belgian's i20 after his shakedown roll.

Mikko Hirvonen is just 1.9sec behind in sixth, despite overshooting his Ford Fiesta RS into a field in the opening stage. Team-mate Elfyn Evans and Mads Østberg are next, the Norwegian slipping back from third as he struggled on the dirty roads. Bryan Bouffier and Martin Prokop complete the leaderboard, but Robert Kubica dropped four minutes after his Fiesta RS went off and had to be lifted back onto the road by spectators.

Tomorrow's second leg starts at 06.30. Drivers face two loops of four stages covering 148.30km, including two passes over the daunting Panzerplatte tests in the Baumholder military area.

22nd August, 2014