World Championship showdown: Solberg leads, but Hyundai’s bad luck plays into Evans’ hands

Monte Carlo Rally winner Solberg leads in Sardinia ahead of the decisive final day, with a 33.6-second lead over the reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier (Toyota).

Evans’ title hopes have been boosted by problems at Hyundai. Adrien Fourmaux suffered two punctures on special stages 5 and 12, which has given the Welshman the chance to pick up more points than initially expected.

By the midday service on Saturday, the tide had turned decisively in Solberg’s favour when he took the lead from Thierry Neuville (Hyundai). By that point, Evans had slipped back to sixth place. The predicted points gap between World Championship leader Evans and challenger Solberg had thus narrowed to just four points.

Showdown in der WM: Elfyn Evans vs 0liver Solberg

Foto: Red Bull

However, when Thierry Neuville lost his left rear tyre whilst battling Solberg for first place on the very first kilometre of the second run of the Lerno special stage, and Fourmaux subsequently suffered a second puncture, the tide began to turn in Evans’ favour once again.Fourmaux lost 1 minute 46.1 seconds whilst changing the wheel.

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The Frenchman was completely stunned at the finish, as he had already lost his chance of a first World Championship stage victory on Friday after briefly leading, and now his battle for second place against Ogier had also come to a premature end.

Even more significant for the title race, however, was the fact that both Sami Pajari and Evans moved up two places each – to third and fourth respectively – as a result of Hyundai’s double misfortune.

Fourmaux-Pech spielt Evans in die Karten

Foto: XPB

With the podium now a distant prospect, Fourmaux decided to throw all caution to the wind on Saturday’s final special stage, a move that was rewarded with a victory by a margin of 1.8 seconds. With this run, he overtook Evans once again and now sits in fourth place, 6.4 seconds ahead of him, going into Sunday.

At the top of the standings, Solberg holds a solid lead of 33.6 seconds over Ogier. His aim for Sunday is not only to secure overall victory but also to pick up the maximum possible bonus points to keep his chances of winning the world title alive.

Sebastien Ogier in Fluge: Entscheidet der Franzose die WM mit?

Foto: Red Bull

“I can only do my bit, and so far we’ve managed to do a great job. This morning was very important in showing everyone why I’m here this weekend,” said Solberg, explaining the situation.

“Tomorrow it’s quite simple: we need the ten points. Hopefully Adrien Fourmaux can do his job. Others will do theirs, and we’ll do ours. Then we’ll see,” the blond-haired driver stated succinctly.

Evans put on a brave face on this tough penultimate day. He admitted: “It’s been difficult for me to watch Solberg leading the field.”

Toyota-Pilot Oliver Solberg führt vor dem Finaltag

Foto: Red Bull

Fourmaux isn’t too far behind Evans, which is why the latter reckons he still has a chance of catching him.

Sami Pajari, currently in third place and the third driver still in contention for the drivers’ title, had a mixed day and now finds himself firmly in no man’s land: 1.06.3 minutes behind Ogier, but 52.1 seconds ahead of Fourmaux.

Even if Pajari were to score the maximum number of bonus points on Sunday, it would still not be enough for him to win the World Championship, depending on how his rivals fare.

Fourmaux is determined to secure a podium finish tomorrow and maintain his fast pace. Perhaps the Frenchman can still benefit from the internal Toyota dispute.

“I think we really have the pace to finish significantly higher than fourth now. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow in the World Championship battle, so we might still be able to secure a podium place. That would be, I’d say, the minimum reward,” explained Fourmaux.

Josh McErlean was comfortably sitting in sixth place overall when he went off the road on the second run of Coiluna-Loelle and crashed into a tree. This damaged the cooling system of his M-Sport Ford Puma.

Nach Chancen auf Sieg: Ausfall von Neuville

Foto: Red Bull

Although temporary repairs initially allowed him to continue, the Irishman still failed to finish, having suffered a broken left rear wheel on SS13 – a stage prior to his earlier incident with the tree.

McErlean’s problems saw Takamoto Katsuta move up to seventh place. The Japanese driver is 17.3 seconds ahead of Jon Armstrong in the Ford Puma.

Finland’s Roope Korhonen took the lead in the WRC2 category, 19.6 seconds ahead of his Toyota team-mate Gus Greensmith. European Champion Teemu Suninen (Toyota) is in third place. The trio from the junior class round off the top 10 in the overall standings.

Following a serious crash involving Fabio Schwarz and his co-driver Axel Corando on yesterday’s second special stage, the pair had to be taken to hospital for examination. Schwarz was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra. He underwent surgery that same evening, which, according to the team, was successful. The Spaniard Corondo was discharged on Friday following a thorough examination.

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