Rally | Neuville leads Lapland by more than half a minute before the final day of the World Rally Championship in Sardinia

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leads his Finnish teammate Esapekka Lapland By 36.4 seconds after Saturday’s driving day of the World Rally Championship in Sardinia. The last special stage of the day, i.e. the 15th, did not change the overall standings, but Neuville pulled an additional 12.6 seconds ahead of Lapland.

The battle for the top of the race changed dramatically from the last special test of the day, when Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier drove into a bog and had to stop. Neuville rose from third place to the top spot ahead of Lapland, but the Finnish driver hinted that Hyundai would have issued a team order in the matter.

“There’s no point in trying when you don’t need to win anyway”, Lappi stated in C More’s broadcast to his map reader To Janne Fermi in the goal of ek14.

At the end of the race day, Lappi was satisfied with his fate and spoke about the team’s interests.

“The last special tests have been the toughest in a while. We were able to give Seb [Ogierille] pressure and he made a mistake. Everything looks good for the team now, but there is still one day left,” said Lappi in an interview with WRC.

For advice was relieved that the driving day was over.

“I’m relieved that I made it to the finish line. It was a tough day, but the car felt better and better all the time,” the Belgian said.

World Cup leading Toyota Kalle Rovanperä is tied for third place in the “prevention win”. Rovanperä acted as a trailblazer for the others on Friday and fell far from the top fight, but the Finn has steadily improved his ranking due to the problems of his competitors.

“It was a difficult day. All our soft tires are like slicks [sileitä renkaita], and we only have one hard tire on our car. It was quite difficult to stay on the road”, commented Rovanperä, who is almost two minutes away from Neuville.

The rally ends on Sunday with four special stages.