Tanak holds commanding lead amid red flag confusion

The 2019 world champion won six of the day’s eight stages to move into a 46s lead over M-Sport’s Craig Breen, before the final stage of the day ended in bizarre fashion.

Officials threw the red flag to suspend Stage 17 to allow the recovery of Adrien Fourmaux’s stricken M-Sport Ford Puma after the Frenchman ran off the road and crashed out of fifth position. The crew emerged from the incident unscathed.

Third-placed Dani Sordo was first to come across the incident. The Hyundai driver then squeezed by the stricken Puma that had partially blocked the road and completed the stage at a reduced speed and will receive a notional time.

Organisers elected to restart the stage but it appeared a marshal erroneously showed a red flag, resulting in Breen and Tanak slowing to a crawl.

Fourth-placed Pierre-Louis Loubet, who was ahead of Breen and Tanak on the road, completed the stage at normal speed to add to the confusion. It is unclear if the M-Sport driver was shown the red flag.

It is expected national times will be awarded to Breen and Tanak, but organisers are yet to confirm the overall classification for the day. Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera and Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta will however inherit fifth and sixth positions following Fourmaux’s crash.

A brief statement from an FIA spokesperson read: “After the stage restarted following Fourmaux’s accident crews were shown a red flag and the FIA is investigation the incident.”

The afternoon had begun with crews facing incredibly hot conditions in the afternoon with the ambient temperatures hitting more than 35 degrees on top of the already increased cockpit temperatures.

The heat failed to distract Tanak as he swept to his fourth consecutive stage win on Stage 14 after setting a searing pace in his i20 N, despite battling an engine issue.

Tanak emerged 6.2s faster than an improving Kalle Rovanpera to extend…