Thierry Neuville has shot into the lead of Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés following a sensational run through Saturday’s first stage.
Driving a Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg 207 Super 2000, the Belgian was 6.6s faster than Jan Kopecký through the 23.42-kilometre San Mateo test.
“It’s really good, I pushed really hard and tried to drive very clean,” said the 22-year-old. “The car was working very well, it’s beautiful.”
However, it was defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Juho Hänninen, in the second factory Škoda Fabia, who was fastest of all. It means one second now covers the top three drivers with Freddy Loix 4.1 seconds further back in the overall standings.
“It was good, quite okay rhythm and no mistakes on the whole stage,” said the Finn.
Kopecký, the overnight leader, said he wasn’t happy at the stage end: “The rhythm was changing a lot so it was not so nice in there.”
Guy Wilks moved up from seventh to sixth in his Peugeot UK 207. He is now just 1.1s behind fifth-placed Andreas Mikkelsen.
Standings after SS9:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neuville Thierry / Gilsoul Nicolas | Peugeot 207 S2000 | 1h09m57.7s |
| 2 | Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +0.9s |
| 3 | Hänninen Juho / Markkula Mikko | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1.0s |
| 4 | Loix Freddy / Miclotte Frédéric | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +5.1s |
| 5 | Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +38.8s |
| 6 | Wilks Guy / Pugh Phil | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +39.9s |
| 7 | Bouffier Bryan / Panseri Xavier | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +44.5s |
| 8 | Magalhaes Bruno / Grave Paulo | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1m19.4s |
| 9 | Basso Giandomenico / Dotta Mitia | Proton Satria Neo S2000 | +1m50.5s |
| 10 | Gardemeister Toni / Suominen Tapio | Škoda Fabia S2000 | +1m51.7s |
| 11 | Perez Jonathan / Velasco Enrique | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +3m25.6s |
| 12 | Vinyes Joan / Mercader Jordi | Suzuki Swift S1600 | +3m59.5s |
| 13 | Settembrini Massimiliano / Bonato Corrado | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +5m01.8s |
| 14 | Antxustegi Gorka / Suárez Gabriel | Suzuki Swift S1600 | +5m09.7s |
| 15 | Marrero Angel / Marrero Victor | Honda Civic Type R | +5m13.4s |