Three consecutive victories in the second of the three scheduled days, Kalle Rovanperä out of the fight for the victory for Friday’s incident and Ott Tänak engaged in the fight for second place with Elfyn Evans: everything seemed to turn really well at Thierry Neuvillehowever, pushed by the compatriots fans, who are also charged with seeing their idol on the way to the victory of Rally of Belgium. Instead, at the very height, the Hyundai driver’s dreams of glory were shattered for a street exit at the fifteenth and penultimate special stage today, with a sensational retreat that served on a silver platter the opportunity of an unexpected victory just to Ott Tänak.
The moment a chance of a good result at #YpresRally ended for @Craig_Breen…
The afternoon loop of stages kicks off now on https://t.co/IXbfRuhJJc#WRC | #WRCLive | #YpresRally pic.twitter.com/rgXwMAaj0R
– WRC – FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) August 20, 2022
An unexpected, sudden and sensational implication, even more so for what had been the impeccable performances of Neuville between Friday and Saturday. After four consecutive wins obtained yesterday afternoon, the Belgian then repeated today between the SS11 and the SS13always finishing at the top and distancing in the standings the Estonian Hyundai, committed to defending the 2nd place from the return of Elfyn Evans. The Welshman of Toyota, winner of the SS14, had in fact reduced his gap to just 3 seconds, only to lose ground in the last two heats.
On a day that had opened with the success of Rovanperä in the SS9 (with a lot of momentary leadership of Tänak in the general classification) and with the SS10 suspended for the ugly Craig Breen’s accident (fortunately without consequences), Neuville threw it all upside down in the course of the SS15, when he enjoyed an advantage of 17 seconds from the direct rivals: in a slippery stretch, the Belgian lost control of his Hyundai, ending up in a ditch. Helped by spectators to resume the race, the 34-year-old had to completely forgo continuing the test due to damage to the suspension. In doing so, Tänak took advantage of Neuville’s misstep not only to win the last two races, but also to outpace Evans, with the two drivers now separated by 8 seconds. The Rally of Belgium will resume tomorrow morning at 8:45 am for the first of the last three special stages, the ‘starter’ of the Kemmelberg 2 powerstage which will close the ninth round of the world championship.
WRC | Rally Belgium: ranking after SS16 – Top 10
POS. | PILOT | CAR | TIME / GAP |
1 | O. TÄNAK | Hyundai | 1: 58: 55.2 |
2 | E. EVANS | Toyota | +8.2 |
3 | E. LAPPI | Toyota | +1: 09.8 |
4 | O. SOLBERG | Hyundai | +2: 51.6 |
5 | A. FOURMAUX | Ford | +3: 05.9 |
6 | T. KATSUTA | Toyota | +5: 39.3 |
7 | S. LEFEBVRE | Citroën (WRC2) | +7: 46.2 |
8 | A. MIKKELSEN | Skoda (WRC2) | +8: 11.9 |
9 | Y. ROSSEL | Citroën (WRC2) | +8: 50.9 |
10 | G. MUNSTER | Hyundai (WRC2) | +9: 12.1 |
#WRC #Rally #Belgium #SS16 #Neuville #Tänak #lead #FormulaPassion.it