Patrik Flodin has claimed his maiden stage victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge by going fastest on the repeat of the 28.50-kilometre Gâtu Berbecului stage.
But while Flodin celebrated, there was despair for Sepp Wiegand who retired from second place one kilometre from the stage finish with a broken right-rear shock absorber. His exit has promoted Flodin up to second with François Delecour holding third place despite a huge time loss through stage 10.
Andreas Mikkelsen, who was second fastest, 7.8s behind Flodin, now leads by 5m19.9s with two stages remaining.
Dan Gitofan was third quickest in his ŠKODA Romania-backed Fabia but there was no such luck for Marco Tempestini, who failed to start the stage as a result of clutch failure on his similar car.
Renault driver Robert Consani has slashed Harry Hunt’s lead in the IRC 2WD Cup to 2.9s. Vitaliy Pushkar’s advantage in the IRC Produciton Cup over Edwin Keleti is a slightly more comfortable 41.3s.