The morning’s first special stage was still fully wet after rainfall. In addition, each car brought more mud and loose gravel onto the road, making the conditions increasingly treacherous for those starting later.
Setting the fastest time on the stage was Jon Armstrong, who was second on the road. Driving a Ford, he avoided the worst of the dirt that hampered many of his rivals starting further back.
Armstrong beat Nikolay Gryazin, the current rally leader and first car on the road, by 0.6 seconds.
“I’m surprised. That was a lot slippier than I was expecting. I just tried to drive the clean line. Being faster than Nikolay is a good thing,” said Armstrong.
In the overall classification, Armstrong sits only 15th after losing more than ten seconds during Friday evening’s opening super special stage when his engine stalled. However, he is just 13 seconds behind Gryazin.
Veteran driver Mads Østberg moved up to second in the tarmac rally. Østberg expressed some frustration at the stage finish.
“I think the road is not improving. There is a lot of mud on the road. I don’t know who is so happy to do that in front of us, but someone is really keen to cut every corner. I guess we will see that in the puncture list at the end of the day,” said Østberg.
“If I would be in the front, I would stay in the tarmac. That’s where the grip is, especially now when it’s wet. But of course it’s tactics. First cars have the benefit knowing that there’s no gravel, so you might as well put it there,” the Norwegian Citroën driver added.
Østberg is 4.1 seconds off Gryazin in the overall standings. The competition is extremely tight at the top, with the top ten drivers covered by just over eight seconds. Right behind Østberg are Robert Virves, Jose Suarez, Stéphane Lefebvre, and Jos Verstappen.
Five more special stages remain to be run on Saturday in Rally Sierra Morena. The asphalt event concludes on Sunday.
Standings in Rally Sierra Morena after SS2/13:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Nikolay Gryazin | Skoda | 5:56.1 |
| 2. | Mads Østberg | Citroen | +4.1 |
| 3. | Robert Virves | Skoda | +5.6 |
| 3. | Jose Suarez | Skoda | +5.6 |
| 5. | Stephane Lefebvre | Hyundai | +5.7 |
| 6. | Jos Verstappen | Skoda | +5.8 |
| 7. | Pepe Lopez | Hyundai | +7.1 |
| 8. | Yoann Bonato | Citroen | +7.2 |
| 9. | Mille Johansson | Skoda | +8.2 |
| 10. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | +8.5 |
