Tyre breach sees Sordo relegated to fourth

Hyundai Motorsport’s Dani Sordo has lost third position to M-Sport World Rally Team’s Mads Ostberg in Rally Guanajuato Corona, round three of the FIA World Rally Championship.
 

Sordo reached the finish on Sunday 1min 58.5sec ahead of Østberg but, having received a report from the FIA Technical Delegate, it came to the attention of rally officials that Sordo had used 29 tyres during the event instead of the 28 permitted in the regulations.
 
After hearing from Hyundai Motorsport’s team principal Michel Nandan and team manager Alain Penasse – who admitted that three new tyres and two used tyres had been used instead of three used tyres and two new tyres – event stewards awarded a two-minute time penalty to Sordo for a breach of Art. 7.2 of the Rally Supplementary Regulations.
 
The resultant penalty demoted the Spaniard to fourth overall. The competitor was reminded of his right to appeal against the decision.
 
Rally Guanajuato Corona 2016 – positions after SS21 @ 17.20hrs:
1. Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN)/Miikka Anttila (FIN) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 4hr 25min 57.4sec
2. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Volkswagen Polo R WRC 4hr 27min 02.4sec
3. Mads Østberg (NOR)/Ola Floene (NOR) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4hr 31min 33.8sec
4. Dani Sordo (ESP)/Marc Marti (ESP) Hyundai New i20 WRC 4hr 31min 35.3sec
5. Hayden Paddon (NZL)/John Kennard (NZL) Hyundai New i20 WRC 4hr 32min 20.0sec
6. Ott Tanak (EST)/Raigo Molder (EST) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4hr 35min 56.9sec
7. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Jan Tománek (CZE) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4hr 38min 55.9sec
8. Lorenzo Bertelli (ITA)/Simone Scattolin (ITA) Ford Fiesta RS WRC 4hr 40min 07.0sec
9. Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) Skoda Fabia R5 (WRC 2) 4hr 43min 59.2sec
10. Valery Gorban (UKR)/Volodymyr Korsia (UKR) Mini Countryman WRC 4hr 58min 34.7sec
11. Hubert Ptaszak (POL)/Maciek Szczepaniak (POL) Peugeot 208 T16 (WRC 2) 5hr 04min 10.8sec

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