WRC Sardinia: Neuville snatches lead from Fourmaux as Hyundai remains on top
by Tom Howard · AutosportWorld Rally Championship title contender Oliver Solberg delivered a stunning effort to hold third, but it was Elfyn Evans that remained on course to secure a maiden world title
Thierry Neuville snatched the Rally Italy Sardinia lead from Hyundai World Rally Championship team-mate Adrien Fourmaux by 0.4s after a stunning effort on the final stage of a tough Friday leg.
The Hyundai pair set an impressive pace across the morning which continued into the afternoon trio of rough gravel stages where the risk of suffering a puncture was high.
Fourmaux, searching for a first WRC win, took a 4.6s lead over Neuville into stage five Tula - Erula, a test that he claimed in the morning loop. Despite facing much rougher conditions, Fourmaux repeated his morning speed to win the test by 3.6s from Neuville, which almost doubled his lead to 8.2s over his team-mate. It was a Hyundai 1-2-3 in the stage with Dani Sordo third fastest.
Neuville then responded on stage six, setting the fastest time with an effort 3.5s quicker than Fourmaux to cut the gap to 4.7s.
Neuville built on that momentum on the final stage of the loop which resulted in the Belgian beating Fourmaux by 5.1s, which was enough to snatch the lead.
“I was there. Our tyre management and our tyre choice paid off. So I was at the moment tempted to make a similar choice to him [Fourmaux], but in the end I was pretty confident that my feeling was the good one, and I'm happy with that,” said Neuville.
“But anyhow, good for Hyundai and for Adrien as well, so it's a nice battle, and hopefully we can continue tomorrow. It's a bit of work to do to get me still more comfortable in the car. I feel like I can drive fast, but I still miss this person I was before to push hard and just be more relaxed. At the moment I'm stressing a bit too much.”
“Very pleased with the day, we started off strong. I think it is good also for the team,” added Fourmaux.
In the title fight, championship leader Elfyn Evans, facing the disadvantage of opening the road, managed to avoid any dramas, and limited the damage of road-cleaning effect to hold sixth - 1m08.9s from the lead. As it stands, the Welshman, who holds a 17-point lead over Sami Pajari, is on course to secure a maiden world title.
"We're here. Let's see. I guess tomorrow will be the test,” said Evans.
Arguably the drive of the day belonged to title contender Oliver Solberg, who started the rally 21 points adrift of championship leader and Toyota team-mate Evans and four points behind fellow title contender Pajari.
Knowing that his title chances are a long shot, Solberg impressed to claim third across the morning loop after winning stage four, having already suffered a slow puncture on stage two. The Swede continued to light up the timing screens, ending the day with a stunning effort on stage seven that left Solberg 12.3s from the lead in third.
Pajari had started the afternoon holding fourth position, 2.6s behind Solberg, but couldn’t hang onto to his team-mate. The Finn also lost fourth spot to reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier, who was recovering from a puncture on stage three. As a result, Pajari trailed title rival Solberg by 27.9s and was 2.8s behind Ogier.
“I think overall today we did pretty much what we could have done. It's still two more days to go, and I hope we are ready for the fight,” said Pajari.
Ogier added: “I had a bit of a challenge for motivation for sure [after the puncture].”
Josh McErlean ended the day as the top M-Sport-Ford runner in seventh. McErlean did have a brief scare when brake fluid appeared to leak from his Ford Puma at the end of stage five, but it didn’t affect the Irishman.
Team-mates Jon Armstrong and Martins Sesks were forced to stop to change punctured tyres in the morning, before recovering to end the day in the fight for points.
Like Armstrong and Sesks, Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Hyundai’s Sordo were among those that lost several minutes after stopping to change damaged tyres in the morning. Katsuta managed to recover to ninth behind Armstrong.
Sordo however didn’t complete the day after running wide on stage seven, which caused terminal damage to his i20 N Rally1.
A further six gravel stages await the crews on Saturday, comprising 123.66 competitive kilometres.
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