Lappi leads, championship leader Tanak retires in Turkey

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EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PROFANITY IN SHOW NO. 13

SHOWS: YESILBELDE TO KIZLAN, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 14, 2019) (WRC - SEE RESTRICTIONS)

1. ON-BOARD WITH ESAPEKKA LAPPI (4, CITROEN C3)

2. LAPPI (2 SHOTS)

3. ON-BOARD WITH SEBASTIEN OGIER (1, CITROEN C3)

4. OGIER

5. ON-BOARD WITH OTT TANAK (8, TOYOTA) - POINT OF VIEW THROUGH WINDSCREEN - AS CAR IS STOPPED ON SIDE OF THE ROAD

6. TANAK SITTING IN CAR WITH CO-DRIVER MARTIN JARVEOJA

7. BOOT OF TANAK'S CAR RAISED

8. TANAK AND JARVEOJA LOOKING IN CAR

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER OTT TANAK SAYING:

"I just came here, I started to put basically the helmets on, sit in the car and nothing happens, we can't fire it up."

(REPORTER ASKS: "Do you know what is causing that?"

TANAK REPLIES: "Something electrical I guess, it's just everything is in safe mode."

10. WHITE FLASH

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TANAK SAYING:

"Yeah, these things keep happening to us so yeah, we just need to stay strong and be over it but obviously difficult to fight for a championship with so many issues like that."

12. ON-BOARD WITH THIERRY NEUVILLE (11, HYUNDAI) AND CO-DRIVER NICOLAS GILSOUL

13. ON-BOARD WITH NEUVILLE (POINT-OF-VIEW THROUGH WINDOW) - NEUVILLE SLIDES OFF ROAD, ONE SAYS: "Merde!, Ah"

14. NEUVILLE CLIMBS OUT OF CAR

15. ON-BOARD AS CAR BEING ROCKED

16. ON-BOARD (POINT-OF-VIEW) CAR DRIVING ON ROAD

17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) THIERRY NEUVILLE SAYING:

"Very slow rights, very slow left, in the dust I couldn't see the corner, I was very slow but obviously there was a stone and it put me out of the road so I had to try to come back."

STORY: Finland's Esapekka Lappi led Citroen team mate Sebastien Ogier by 10 seconds after the first three stages of the Rally Turkey on Saturday (September 14) as championship leader Ott Tanak was forced to retire.

Tanak completed stage eight - the first stage of the day - but the Estonian could not continue when his Toyota Yaris stopped on the liaison section before the start of stage nine with an electrical problem.

"These things keep happening to us so yeah, we just need to stay strong and be over it but obviously difficult to fight for a championship with so many issues like that," said Tanak, who leads the championship standings with 205 points.

Championship rival Belgian Thierry Neuville, who started the day 18.4 seconds behind Lappi, dropped four minutes when he slid his Hyundai i20 off the road on stage eight and was lying back in eighth place.

(Production: Annette Faydenko)