At the Rally Italia Sardegna everything changed, so as not to change anything. In the first two special stages of the Saturday stage the two contenders for the victory of the event, namely Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tanak, exchanged first position, both signing two excellent performances, but at the end of SS6 it was once again who prevailed the 8-time world champion.
Ott Tanak started off strong by winning Special Stage 5, the 12.03 kilometer Tempio Pausania 1, a test very suited to the characteristics of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 so much so that Thierry Neuville came in second place.
In today’s first test Tanak not only managed to eliminate the 4″5 that separated him from Ogier last night also through a puncture which slowed down the Gap native driver, but also to take the lead of the general classification by just a tenth of second.
Again in the same test another very important change occurred: thanks to the second time of the special stage Neuville overtook both Dani Sordo and Takamoto Katsuta in one fell swoop, climbing peremptorily to the podium area, in third place.
In the following special, the Tula 1 of 22.61 kilometers which presented a very treacherous, rough and full of stones surface, Sébastien Ogier regained the top of the ranking by winning the test with a 2.3″ advantage over Tanak.
This result put him back in front of everyone with a 2″2 margin over Tanak. It’s now a two-way fight for success, considering that Thierry Neuville is understandably 38″5 behind the event leader after opening the 4 special stages scheduled yesterday afternoon.
The Belgian himself is in a good position also thanks to the great time obtained in SS6, with which he trailed both Katsuta and Sordo by almost 20 seconds, securing third place from any attacks by the Japanese of Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Of note are the enormous difficulties that Elfyn Evans continues to encounter. The Welshman is unable to find a decent feeling with the GR Yaris Rally1 and is constantly slower than the top 5 in almost every stage. It is no coincidence that he is 25 seconds behind Sordo, fifth, and over a minute and a half behind the leaders.
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