The Saturday afternoon lap at the Rally Italia Sardegna opened with the famous Monte Lerno – Monti di Ala 1 of 25.33 kilometers and another significant revolution in the general classification.
Sébastien Ogier won the race with a 6″8 margin over Ott Tanak, thus regaining the lead of the race. The Toyota driver now has a margin of 3″3 over the Estonian from Hyundai Motorsport with 3 races left until the end of the stage.
Be careful though, because Hyundai seems to have given precise instructions to Tanak, linked to what happened behind the first two. Takamoto Katsuta, who climbed to third at the end of the morning lap after Thierry Neuville’s retirement, was also forced to stop due to a transmission failure on his GR Yaris Rally1.
With the Japanese driver retiring in testing, Hyundai asked Tanak to be more careful and bring home important points for the Manufacturers’ championship. We’ll see how attentive the Estonian will be and how much he will still try to put Ogier under pressure.
With Katsuta’s retirement, Dani Sordo enters the podium area and has secured his position from the attacks of Elfyn Evans by beating the Welshman by over 5 seconds. For Evans, however, the position recovered due to the retirement of his teammate has enormous value, because he still recovers points on Neuville.
Sami Pajari shouldn’t believe his eyes: not only is he first in the WRC2, but he is also fifth in the overall general classification, although he is closely followed by Gregoire Munster, 3″88 behind.
The young Finn, at the wheel of a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, has so far achieved a superb performance which has led him to have an advantage of 53″8 over his first rival, his brand mate Jan Solans, second. Yohan Rossel , however, is third, but at over 1 minute and 10 seconds.
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