Hyundai driver Neuville leads in Sardinia, Evans (Toyota) on course for the World Championship

The fastest times in both runs of the Tula stage helped Fourmaux take the lead on Friday morning. Former world champion Neuville was 5.1 seconds faster than Fourmaux with the fastest time on the final special stage, Monti di Ala’–Sa Conchedda, in the afternoon, taking the lead by a margin of just 0.4 seconds.

“Our tyre management and tyre choice paid off. At first, I was tempted to make a similar choice to Adrien. In the end, I went with my gut feeling and it proved to be the right decision,” explained Neuville after the seventh special stage.

Thierry Neuville hält die erste Position

Foto: Red Bull

Fourmaux explained that he had experienced visibility problems at times during the final special stage due to the thick dust kicked up by the cars ahead. This ultimately contributed to the Frenchman having to relinquish the lead.

Oliver Solberg is just behind the Hyundai drivers. The highest-placed Toyota driver must score a maximum of 35 points in the World Championship finale to retain any hope of overtaking Elfyn Evans in the battle for the drivers’ title.

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Offenbar alles unter Kontrolle: Elfyn Evans - der heutige Straßenkehrer

Foto: Red Bull

The Swede won the first run at Monte di Ala’ and set the second-fastest time in the afternoon.

Solberg is the only Toyota driver who could still be in contention for the top spot at the season finale. The Monte Carlo winner is 12.3 seconds behind Neuville.

Pajari’s hopes of challenging for the title were dealt a blow on the final special stage when the outgoing world champion Sébastien Ogier overtook him on Friday’s final stage to secure fourth place.

Sami Pajari wirbelt Staub auf

Foto: XPB

“All in all, we gave pretty much everything we could today,” commented Pajari, who is 2.8 seconds behind Ogier but already 40.2 seconds behind Neuville. “We managed to beat Elfyn on every single special stage, which shows just how crucial the starting position is.”

As the ‘tail-ender’ on the gravel stages, disadvantaged by his front-row starting position, Evans is a further 28.7 seconds behind Ogier in sixth place. However, the Valais native has already come a long way towards securing his first World Championship drivers’ title. His virtual points lead stands at 14 points over Solberg and 15 points over Pajari. “Tomorrow’s stages will be the decisive ones,” emphasised Evans, who will be able to capitalise on a better starting position on Saturday.

Konzentriert: Sami Pajari

Foto: Red Bull

The M-Sport Ford duo of Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong are in seventh and eighth places. McErlean lost time on Friday morning as he had opted for a harder tyre compound than the Toyota and Hyundai drivers out of concern for tyre wear. In the afternoon, the Irishman was able to make up a lot of time on Evans thanks to the cleared track.

Armstrong narrowly avoided a serious crash on the second run through Tula. The rear of his Puma lifted high over a crest, causing him to land at an acute angle with the front of the car leading.

On the final special stage, Armstrong managed to pick up the pace and overtook Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota). The Japanese driver had suffered a puncture that morning, which cost him a lot of time.

Im PS-Gespräch: Joshua McErlean und Oliver Solberg

Foto: Red Bull

Latvian Martins Sesks, in the third Ford Puma, rounds off the top 10 in the overall standings, 13.7 seconds behind Katsuta.

Hyundai part-time driver Dani Sordos had a difficult day and was forced to retire from the rally following a serious crash on the final special stage. In a fast left-hand bend, the Spaniard went into understeer, went off the road, grazed a roadside obstacle and skidded into the rocks on the opposite side. Sardo and his co-driver Patricia Sáiz, who is making her World Rally Championship debut in Sardinia, were uninjured but had to retire from the rally at the scene.

Gus Greensmith (Toyota) took the lead in the WRC2 category on Friday during the final special stage after the newly crowned European champion Teemu Suninen was forced to stop to change a wheel on his Toyota. Suninen lost further time when, in the dust kicked up by Greensmith, he strayed far from the ideal line and grazed a tree.

Škoda driver Emil Lindholm and Pablo Sarrazin (Lancia) could have capitalised on the incident, but they too ran into trouble on the Monte di Ala’ and both dropped back to third and sixth place respectively. Roope Korhonen (Toyota) is now Greensmith’s closest challenger.

A serious crash brought Fabio Schwarz and his Spanish co-driver Axel Coronado’s rally to an end as early as Friday morning on the opening stage. Schwarz’s Toyota Rally2 took off spectacularly during the Tula–Erula special stage. The Xaris landed hard, nose-first.

Schwarz and Coronado did not escape unscathed from the hard landing and were taken to hospital for medical examinations.