Ogier vs Tänak: the challenge continues. Neuville error
Just as on the first day of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the eight tests scheduled for Saturday on the island’s dirt routes also featured the fight for leadership between Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak, and once again with the Frenchman from Toyota coming out on top. After a continuous exchange of leadership, the eight-time world champion took the lead permanently in the afternoon, pulling ahead of his rival from Hyundai but with a gap between the two of less than 20 seconds. Everything will therefore be decided tomorrow, with the fight for victory which however sees the championship leader excluded Thierry Neuville, who went off the road during the eighth test. An error that thus allows Elfyn Evans not only to be able to finish among the top five in Sardinia, but also and above all to reduce the gap from the Belgian rider in the world championship standings.
Saturday recap
The day opened with the success of Ott Tänak in the fifth stage of the Rally Italia Sardegna, with the Estonian driver preceding Ogier by 4 seconds. Between the two, however, Thierry Neuville appears, who thanks to this placing leads on Elfyn Evans, only 7th and still having difficulty finding his feeling with the Toyota. From here on, however, 1st and 2nd place in the stages becomes a matter reserved only for Tänak and Ogier, with the exception of SS7, where Neuville achieves the best time and strengthens his third position on the virtual podium of the ranking general. The episode which could however have a global impact, however, materializes during the SS8when Neuville he goes off the road and is forced to retire for the damages reported. In the meantime, the constant changes at the top of the time rankings between Tänak and Ogier are interrupted by SS9, a test in which Takamoto Katsuta also loses, in this case due to damage to the suspension: the Frenchman sets the best time and extends the gap on the Estonian to 17 seconds, thanks to successive best times by the Toyota driver from that moment until the end of the day, with Dani Sordo firmly in third position (2 minutes behind the leaders) and ahead of Evans, 4th and never in the podium area.
Rally Italia Sardinia, ranking after SS12 – Top 10
| POS. | PILOT | CAR | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | Sébastien Ogier | Toyota | 2:39:43.2 |
| 2 | Oct Tänak | Hyundai | +17.1 |
| 3 | Dani Sordo | Hyundai | +2:12.8 |
| 4 | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +2:43.3 |
| 5 | Gregory Munster | Ford | +5:28.8 |
| 6 | Sami Pajari | Toyota (WRC2) | +5:38.5 |
| 7 | Yohan Rossel | Citroën (WRC2) | +6:33.2 |
| 8 | Jan Solans | Toyota (WRC2) | +6:45.2 |
| 9 | Kajetan Kajetanowicz | Skoda (Rally2) | +8:12.1 |
| 10 | Martin Prokop | Skoda (Rally2) | +8:22.1 |
The 21st edition of the Rally Italia Sardegna will conclude with the last four tests tomorrow. Not to be missed, in particular, is the decisive Power Stage scheduled at 12:00 and live on Sky Sport Max, Sky Sport 1 and RAI Sport HD, the same channels that will also broadcast SS12, in this case scheduled for 9:00 .
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