The special stage changes and the scenario changes at the Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. After a take-no-prisoners opening of the race by Sébastien Ogier, Special Stage 2 was instead the perfect stage for the Hyundai i20 N Rally1.
Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja achieved the reference time at Sedini – Castelsardo 1 of 13.26 kilometres, preceding their teammates Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe by 1.2 seconds.
In a test with a surface that did not require to be cleaned in a decisive way, both the World Championship leader and the one who occupies the third position dictated the law, inflicting heavy gaps on everyone even though the test was not that long.
Both pushed and, perhaps, asked a lot from the tires (both are running with 5 Hard), but the general classification proved them right. Thanks to this result, Tanak moved to 1″8 from first place, still in the hands of Sébastien Ogier, while Thierry Neuville recovered 4 positions compared to the previous race.
For the Belgian the most important aspect is having put Elfyn Evans, first of his rivals in the standings, behind him. The Welshman has obvious confidence issues with his GR Yaris Rally1. Added to these is having lost the spare wheel in the previous test: now Evans will have to do another 6 special stages (2 today and 4 tomorrow) with only 4 tyres.
Adrien Fourmaux, however, did very well, third in qualifying, 1.9 seconds behind Tanak and third in the general classification behind Ogier and the Estonian. The Frenchman continues to be convincing, but will also have to confirm himself in the next special stages. However, the leap is evident progress made compared to past seasons: now he is a real driver.
If Tanak and Neuville showed very respectable times, Dani Sordo seemed to be in much more difficulty, so much so that he lost two positions in the standings, slipping to fifth in the general. Gregoire Munster also loses a position, now eighth and last among the Rally1s.
In WRC2 Pierre-Louis Loubet is leading the class rankings, but the duel he put up with Sami Pajari is interesting. There is just 1.2 seconds between the Frenchman and the young Finn in favor of the former, who this weekend is racing at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Behind Pajari is Marco Bulancia with the second Skoda Fabia, but one step behind him are Yohan Rossel with the first official Citroen C3 Rally2 and Josh McErlean’s Skoda Fabia.
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