two days. Both drivers benefited from low start positions in the sweltering mountain speed tests above León. Ott Tänak, 11 seconds off the pace in third, drove around overheating problems in his Toyota Yaris, ahead of last year winner Kris Meeke. Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier limited his losses from second in the start order in fifth place, despite a spin. Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen was sixth, only 1.5 seconds behind the Frenchman. It was a nightmare catastrophe for championship leader Thierry Neuville. The road opener fared worst in the conditions and lost more than 20 seconds due to a fuel pressure problem and a power steering issue in his i20. He placed seventh overall when Jari-Matti Latvala retired with alternator problems before SS9. Elfyn Evans retired from the rally because of rolling out though he managed to reach the finish line, while teammate Teemu Suninen and Esapekka Lappi retired from the day due to hitting a barrier and crashing respectively. WRC 2 leader Pontus Tidemand, Gus Greensmith and Pedro Heller completed the top ten. Saturday Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb took an early lead from Dani Sordo, who finished third after the day, until he suffered a front left puncture. The 44-year-old Frenchman conceded almost two and a half minutes when he stopped to change the wheel after hitting a stone in his Citroën C3 and plunged to fifth, while defending world champion Sébastien Ogier took over the lead position with four consecutive stage wins in the afternoon. Teammate Kris Meeke was over half a minute off the pace, second place overall. Ott Tänak's overnight third vanished in the opening stage. The Estonian limped through the second half with a turbo boost problem in his Toyota Yaris and retired soon after, which made Andreas Mikkelsen and championship leader Thierry Neuville climb up to fourth and sixth respectively. WRC 2 leader Pontus Tidemand was seventh, ahead of category second Gus Greensmith. Jari-Matti Latvala returned to the rally after the previous day's alternator-induced retirement. The Toyota leader finished ninth, while Chile's Pedro Heller completed the leaderboard. Sunday Sébastien Ogier sealed his forty-second career victory, despite receiving a 10-second penalty for cutting a chicane. By virtue this win, he recaptured the position of championship leader from Thierry Neuville, who had a terrible weekend and finished sixth overall. Kris Meeke lost second place to Friday leader Dani Sordo after a half roll this morning.