Croatia Rally: Hanninen leads ahead of Gassner Jr.

Škoda Motorsport driver Juho Hanninen extended his lead in the overall classification of Croatia Rally, third round of 2012 FIA European Rally Championship. The Finn was able to defend the lead against the attacked launched by German Hermann Gassner Jr.

After special stage 10 Gassner is 17.1 seconds behind Hanninen and although this gap sounds pretty safe, it’s still not enough for Juho to switch into cruise mode.

“Good race. Hermann is probably driving his best rally ever”, said Hanninen after day 2 in Croatia.

And cruise mode is exactly what third placed Luca Betti is applying – he is over 1 minute behind Gassner and over 2 minutes ahead of Michal Solowow and if the leading duo stays out of trouble he is sure to claim bronze in Croatia.

Already slim starting list was further decimated by numerous retirements, so only 23 crews ended the penultimate day of the rally.

Tomorrow crews will one again climb the Učka mountain as part of one stage, while another one will be held on the track of the season’s finale of European Hillclimb Championship in Buzet.

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