Thierry Neuville leads Rally Italia Sardegna after a day where drivers were hitting trouble in nearly every stage. Teammate Esapekka Lappi followed in second, 36.4s back after lifting off in the penultimate stage of the day after Sebastien Ogier crashed. Kalle Rovanpera rounds out the top three.
The Saturday leg followed a similar format to Friday with two runs of Coiluna – Loelle, Su Filigosu, Erula – Tula and Tempio Pausania testing the drivers after a frantic Friday.
Saturday morning saw the two leaders resume their fierce battle as Ogier initially dealt the first blow over the first-morning stage, however, Lappi fought straight back in the following test to re-take control of the lead until Erula – Tulia. The longest stage of the day didn’t provide Lappi and his Hyundai with confidence, the Finn was struggling in slippery conditions, however, Ogier thrived. The Frenchman subsequently pulled out an 18.2s gap as the two rivals headed to service.
There was drama in SS12 though for Ogier, a water splash meant that his car’s engine lost power which cost him vital seconds to Lappi, and it wasn’t going to be his only issue with water in the afternoon. The heavens opened on SS13 which helped wash away a big chunk of time a charging Finn but as Ogier left the stop line. He was concerned that his Yaris had taken in some water from a river crossing.
Ogier’s woes didn’t stop there though. In SS14, the Toyota driver crashed as his foot slipped off the brake. This initially gave Lappi the chance to lead the rally, however, the Finn backed off when he saw the accident which meant that Neuville assumed the lead of the rally by 23.8s which eventually grew to 36.4s by the end of the day.
“I am relieved to be at the finish,” said Neuville at the end of the last stage. “It was a tough day out there, but the feeling was getting better and better with the car. We learned a lot today, that’s important.”
Neuville had started the day well, two stage wins meant the Belgian closed the gap to the front but an off in the final morning stage left the gap at 6.5s at service. He kept the pressure up all through the afternoon as his teammate was also closing on Ogier but once Lappi eased off, Neuville was free to lead.
Championship leader, Kalle Rovanpera was fourth throughout the morning as the Finn decided not to take any risks with a massive gap back to his teammate Elfyn Evans. Evans suffered from damage at a water splash which resulted in a leaking radiator that the Welshman had to nurse through the following two stages. Rovanpera and Evans finished the day third and fourth after Ogier’s crash but the Finn bemoaned his tyre performance throughout the day.
Evans was the luckiest of those to befall the water splash in the morning, Takamoto Katsuta and Ott Tanak came off far worse and had to retire from the day due to the damage they sustained. Dani Sordo climbed back to sixth in the morning, which was eventually fifth at the end of the day, the Spaniard was recovering from his roll on Friday morning, and sat just ahead of the WRC2 runners which was led by Adrien Fourmaux.
Standings after Saturday
- Neuville 3hr 10min 36.9s
- Lappi +36.4s
- Rovanpera +1min 50.7s
- Evans +5min 36.5s
- Sordo +6min 27.9s
- Fourmaux +8min 11.7s (WRC2)
