Ott Tänak takes a 21.4 second lead into the closing stages of Rallye Deutschland on Sunday, the Estonian on fine form and on track to scoop his second FIA World Rally Championship victory of the season.

Behind him, however, the battle for second will be thrilling between Andreas Mikkelsen and Sébastien Ogier, the rivals split by 8.2 seconds with 52 kilometres of competition remaining.

Saturday’s afternoon loop of stages was almost identical to those of this morning, kicking off with two runs through the short Panzerplatte stage where Rally 2 contender Dani Sordo set the pace.

Tänak has again performed faultlessly and while he has dropped a couple of seconds the Estonian has enjoyed the conditions and looks comfortable to take the win in the Fiesta WRC. Mikkelsen, in only his third rally for Citroën and first on asphalt, felt he had finally mastered the daunting Panzerplatte stage and is enjoying the fight.

The Norwegian is confident he can maintain position tomorrow but is all too aware of the potential fight ahead, despite Ogier claiming he won’t risk everything for second place.

The Frenchman was fastest in SS16, amazingly his first stage win since Rally de Portugal in May, but dropped a couple of seconds to Mikkelsen in the final test with some small mistakes. 

Behind the leading trio Elfyn Evans has climbed into fourth at the expense of a charging Juho Hänninen who carried a broken damper through three of the five stages. Even so, the leading Toyota driver only dropped 4.2 seconds behind Evans and will surely be fighting hard to regain the position tomorrow.

Craig Breen maintains sixth, an overshoot into a field his only mistake this afternoon and he too has the potential to be in the mix with Evans and Hänninen. Jari-Matti Latvala has had another frustrating few stages; he had a puncture in the long Panzerplatte stage and then sustained some damage to the Yaris when he brushed the bushes in the final stage.

Too far adrift of Breen, the Finn will now doubtless be targeting top Power Stage points on Sunday. After Thierry Neuville was forced out after the first stage, Hayden Paddon flies the flag for Hyundai. The Kiwi has enjoyed today’s stages, despite this not being his preferred surface.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Eric Camilli has moved into the lead, benefitting when asphalt ace Jan Kopecky had to stop and change a puncture.

He heads the Czech driver by over a minute with Pontus Tidemand third in the category and within sight of the Championship title. Local driver Julius Tannert continues to top the Junior standings and the German now has an enormous lead over series leader Nil Solans.

The only leading retirement of the day was Kris Meeke, the Northern Irish driver out this afternoon with an unconfirmed mechanical problem.

Rallye Deutschland – Provisional results after Section 5

After a faultless drive over Saturday morning’s Rallye Deutschland stages, Ott Tänak has pulled ahead of the field and holds a 23 second advantage over Andreas Mikkelsen, the Norwegian dropping time with a couple of small mistakes.

The battle between championship contenders Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier came to an abrupt halt after the first stage when Neuville suffered damage to the rear wheel and suspension, gifting third position to the Frenchman.

Today’s route is the longest of the rally and takes in nine stages, the majority over the daunting military ranges of Baumholder.

Tänak was fastest out of the blocks this morning and gradually extended his lead, aided when Mikkelsen was a bit cautious in the 42 kilometre Panzerplatte stage and then spun and stalled in the following one.

In contrast, the Estonian has driven faultlessly, his only problem being a delaminated tyre. Mikkelsen won the last of the morning’s four stages to claw back a few precious seconds and he remains determined to fight to the finish in his first outing in the C3 WRC on tarmac.

The battle between Neuville and Ogier looked set to continue this morning, the rivals starting the day just 2.4 seconds adrift. However in the shortest stage of the rally, the left rear wheel hub became detached from the suspension arm and while Neuville was able to limp to the end of the stage, he then had to retire with the wheel sticking out at a 45-degree angle.

As such, Ogier instantly moved into third, his rival’s misfortune potentially giving him the opportunity to move back ahead in the Championship standings. He is still fighting and has closed the gap to Mikkelsen to 6.9 seconds at the mid-leg service.

Elfyn Evans is now fifth; the Welshman got distracted when the co-driver’s door kept opening in the Panzerplatte stage and he then spun in the following test and is having to fight hard to stay ahead of Juho Hänninen, the Finn a mere eight-tenths of second behind in the lead Yaris WRC. Craig Breen holds sixth, the Irish driver also suffering with a delaminated tyre.

He also had two overshoots and will doubtless be relieved to be back at service after a tricky morning. Jari-Matti Latvala has had a disappointing and frustrating morning with a couple of excursions off the road and then no handbrake in the final stage. He is seventh with over two minutes in hand to Hayden Paddon, the Kiwi the highest of the Hyundai crews. 

Jan Kopecky continues to head the FIA WRC 2 Championship in his Škoda Fabia R5 but is in a close battle with Eric Camilli, the Frenchman overhauling Pontus Tidemand who lost nearly a minute with a puncture.

In the FIA Junior WRC Championship, Nicolas Ciamin lost the lead with a bent rear axle and Julius Tannert now heads the category in front of Nil Solans.

Dani Dordo claimed a Panzerplatte hat-trick at Rallye Germany when he won all three Saturday afternoon speed tests over the abrasive tank training roads.

Dry and sunny conditions suited the Spaniard and he won both passes through the short Arena Panzerplatte before adding a third victory with fastest time in the monster 41.97km test that followed.

Sordo briefly led this 10th round of the FIA World Rally Championship yesterday before plunging off the road and down the bank. He returned in his Hyundai i20 today under Rally 2 rules.

“I enjoyed these stages a lot more now,” he said. “I’m disappointed about the mistake on the first day but we work on things like the differentials now and the car works well.”

It was status quo at the top of the leaderboard. Ott Tänak stretched his lead slightly over Andreas Mikkelsen after setting top three times in all three stages in his Ford Fiesta.

Mikkelsen lost a couple of seconds after stalling his Citroën C3 at the start of SS14, but the Norwegian recovered well to post second fastest time in the long stage. The gap between the pair is 25.2sec with two more tests remaining in today’s penultimate leg.

Sébastien Ogier drove at a measured pace to retain third, still well in touch with Mikkelsen at 7.7sec behind. Juho Hänninen relegated Elfyn Evans from fourth in his Toyota Yaris, but the Finn was concerned about a possible broken damper after the long test.

Toyota team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi hanged punctures in their Yaris cars, Latvala retaining seventh place behind Craig Breen and ahead of Hayden Paddon.

Kris Meeke retired his C3 after the short stages with a suspected broken water pump, while Jan Kopecký yielded his WRC 2 lead to Eric Camilli after changing a puncture.

Championship leader Thierry Neuville suffered a crushing blow to his title hopes when he retired from the second leg of Rallye Deutschland on Saturday morning

He finished the opening Arena Panzerplatte speed test with the rear left wheel hanging off his Hyundai i20 and parked the car shortly afterwards.

Neither Neuville nor co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul had any explanation for the breakage, which left the hub detached from the suspension upright.

“It was just a slow junction, a left turn with a cut and we don’t understand what happened. We felt a small touch on the rear axle. We probably touched something but we don’t understand right now,” said Gilsoul.

“It looks like something broke on the suspension. We need to analyse first and then we will know more. It looks like a catastrophe right now but I’m a positive man and a lot will still happen here in Germany.”

Neuville and Sébastien Ogier are tied at the top of the championship and the Belgian’s early exit gives Ogier, who is now third in the rally, the opportunity to rebuild his points lead.

Leader Ott Tänak was fastest in the test, a curtain-raiser for the mammoth 41.97km stage across the Baumholder tank training area that followed. He was quickest in his Ford Fiesta by 0.4sec from Ogier, with second-placed Andreas Mikkelsen a further 0.2sec back.

The Estonian was third in the long stage, beating Mikkelsen by 9.0sec to extend his advantage to 15.3sec. Conditions were drier than expected as yesterday’s rain gave way to sunshine and both regretted not choosing hard compound tyres all round.

Tänak’s rear left tyre delaminated 6km from the finish and Citroën C3 driver Mikkelsen admitted: “We should have had at least two hard tyres on. I did a clever stage and didn’t push the tyres too much. I was perhaps too cautious even.”

Only Toyota Gazoo Racing pair Juho Hänninen and Esapekka Lappi opted for four hard tyres, and Hänninen capitalised to win the stage by 2.4sec from a careful Ogier.

“A bit too cautious,” Ogier said. “Thierry’s stop made me drive a bit differently, things have changed a bit. But I still want maximum points and the gap in front is too big. I didn’t push enough in this one to catch them."

Hayden Paddon dropped 90sec after changing a rear left puncture in his i20.