Thierry Neuville sits on the brink of his first FIA World Rally Championship win of 2023 having taken control of Rally Sardinia on a thrilling and chaotic Saturday which saw eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier crash out of the lead.
Neuville (above) had trailed Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Ogier and his Hyundai Motorsports teammate Esapekka Lappi in third place since the start of the all-gravel, sixth round of the WRC season – but a heavy downpour in the day’s penultimate Erula-Tula stage caused utter chaos and turned the rally on its head.
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver Ogier, hunting down a record fifth Italian win, entered the stage clinging onto a slender overall lead. However, the Frenchman’s fortunes took a dramatic downturn when he understeered off the road, veering down an embankment less than a mile after the start.
Second-placed Lappi reduced his pace a little upon seeing Ogier’s stricken car, inadvertently dropping more than a half minute to teammate Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1.
Neuville had started ahead of the lead pair and was unaware of the drama unfolding behind him on the road, but climbed from third to first overall as a result of Ogier’s exit and Lappi easing off. After setting fastest time on the day’s final stage, the Belgian now heads a Hyundai 1-2 by 36.4s going into Sunday’s four-stage finale.
“I am relieved to be at the finish,” admitted Neuville, who has not won a rally since Japan last November. “It was a tough day out there, but the feeling was getting better and better with the car. We learned a lot, that’s important, but it’s still not always perfect yet and we can still improve.
“Tomorrow is a short but tricky day,” he added. “We need to have a clever drive through and try to bring home the 1-2 for the team.”
Reigning WRC champ and current points leader Kalle Rovanpera was elevated to third at Toyota teammate Ogier’s expense, although the Finn is unlikely to be able to trouble the front-running pair on outright pace. He trailed Lappi by 1m14.3s at the end of the leg after being hampered by excessive tire wear in the afternoon.
Perseverance paid off for Elfyn Evans, whose day was filled with setbacks. The Welshman’s GR Yaris sustained radiator damage in a water crossing on the third stage of the morning loop and he leaked almost three minutes limping back to service.
History threatened to repeat itself later in the day when Evans’ car momentarily lost power while negotiating another water splash. But the misfire cleared itself shortly afterward and he reached the finish, albeit almost four minutes behind teammate Rovanpera in fourth overall.
Ott Tanak and Takamoto Katsuta were not as lucky, with both suffering water-induced retirements. A faulty electrical sensor was to blame for M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 man Tanak’s exit, while Katsuta bowed out with radiator damage on his GR Yaris.
Their respective mishaps enabled Dani Sordo, recovering from a Friday morning roll, to climb to fifth overall in his Hyundai.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, just four stages stand between Adrien Fourmaux and his first win in the class.
The Frenchman, driving an M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2, overtook overnight WRC2 leader Sami Pajari in the second stage of the morning and maintained his lead throughout the rest of the day, reaching Olbia’s end-of-leg halt with a 25.7s buffer despite nursing a minor technical issue through the final test.
“It’s been a very challenging day for us and for the car — so I am happy to be here,” Fourmaux said.
With Pajari ruled out by rear-suspension damage sustained in a collision with a roadside rock, Skoda Fabia RS pilot Andreas Mikkelsen was Fourmaux’s nearest challenger. Only 0.1s back from the lead at one point in the morning, the two-time WRC2 champ was ultimately repelled by the Frenchman in Saturday afternoon’s wet weather conditions.
Teemu Suninen languished in seventh on Friday night, but an impressive comeback drive by the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver saw him climb to third in the category.
Expect more rain for Sunday’s short, sharp final leg, which consists of two passes through Arzachena-Braniatogghiu (9.46 miles) and Sardegna (4.84 miles) for a total of 28.6 competitive miles. The second pass through Sardegna is the bonus points-paying, rally-closing Wolf Power Stage.
WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, leading positions after Day Two, SS15
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3h10m36.9s
2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +36.4s
3 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m50.7s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5m36.5s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) + 6m27.9s
6 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2 leader) +8m11.7s
7 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m37.4s
8 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N – WRC2) +10m46.4s
9 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m08.3s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m40.5s
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