Ott Tänak has led Toyota’s crushing 1-2-3 at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019, tenth scale on the World Rally Championship calendar. Right behind the Estonian have entered his teammates, the Briton Kris Meeke (+20.8 seconds) and the Finn Jari-Matti Latvala (+36 seconds).

As for the rest of title hopefuls, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), currently third in the standings, has finished fourth, while Sébastien Ogier (Citroën), the greatest disappointment at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019, has seen the checkered flag  in the eighth position.

Dani Sordo (Hyundai) has sealed a sensational fifth position after ‘givig’ his P4 to Neuville. Thanks to a great performance, the Spaniard managed to come back from nine, where he had fallen on Friday after suffering a fault in his i20 Coupe WRC.

The driver from Kärla has thus dealt a heavy blow to his rivals for the crown. With this result, he has extended his advantage in the standings to 33 points against Neuville and to 40 points against Ogier.

This is also Tänak’s third consecutive victory at the German round, and fourth over the last five races this season (Chile, Portugal, Finland and Germany). So far Tänak has comfortably demonstrated that he is the strongest candidate to take the final glory.

Sunday: A quiet day for Tänak

With Neuville and Ogier at a very respectable distance, Tänak started a laid-back Sunday at the head of the table. With both his lieutenants Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala guarding his back, he just had to worry about managing the advantage he had over his pursuers.

Saturday: Tänak leads undisturbed after Neuville’s puncture

After Friday’s vibrant head-to-head between Tänak and Neuville, fans were hoping for a re-match on Saturday, the most important day of the rally, covering a total of 157.92 km across 8 sections.

Framing the battle would be the terrifying pavement of the military tracks of Panzerplatte, ready to pass their sentence on the competitors. As predicted, the Estonian from Toyota and the Belgian from Hyundai started the day with a fierce fight.

In the following special, however, Neuville suffered a very inconvenient puncture. He lost 90 seconds and fell to seventh place, managing to rise to fifth place during the afternoon. 

By the end of the day, the three Toyotas were riding on the podium positions. Tänak confidently managed his very comfortable lead of 32.4 seconds over a surprising Kris Meeke and of 41.8 seconds over Latvala.

Immediately behind the Japanese squad was Dani Sordo. Thanks to an extraordinary comeback, the Spaniard from Hyundai climbed five places to beat teammate Andreas Mikkelsen, who finished fifth.

Sordo recovered, with a great display of strength and skill, from a mechanical fault suffered on Friday, which hampered his fight for success. And what about second in the standings and defending champion, Sebastien Ogier? He remained glued to eighth place at over two minutes behind the leader.

Friday: Fierce duel between Tänak and Neuville

After Thursday’s inaugural special, the first full day of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019 was witness to a spectacular battle between Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville.

It was immediately apparent that this would be a battle between the two strongest candidates for both the victory in Germany and the WRC title. Right from the beginning, the Estonian from Toyota imposed a brutal rhythm.

He was the fastest in four of the six Friday sections and over the 101.42 km of the day. But Neuville, his annoying companion, kept in his wake and managed to snatch the remaining two specials.

The day ended with the Kärla driver holding a slim 2.8–second advantage over the driver from Saint Vith. Despite the close result, the pair made up of the Yaris WRC and the season’s leader came out as the rival to beat.

A desperate Sebastien Loeb finished in third position. Understeering issues with his Citroën C3WRC had him lose 22.1 seconds with the head of the race. All in all, however, Loeb managed to keep Dani Sordo at bay.

A very inconvenient fault in the gearbox of his i20 Coupe WRC stole any hopes that the Spaniard might have harboured to taste the champagne. He fell to ninth place at +1.15 seconds.

Profiting from the Spaniard’s misfortune, the Toyotas of Meeke (+25.6 seconds) and Latvala (+27.8 seconds), inherited the provisional fourth and fifth positions at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019.

Images of ‘ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019’: Toyota.