The penultimate round of the ACI Rally Monza Italia has been archived giving a very clear picture in view of the Power Stage: Sébastien Ogier and Toyota are very close to conquering the WRC 2021 world titles.
The 14.62 kilometer PS15 Serraglio 1 – the same route that will be used for the Power Stage – was won by Thierry Neuville thanks to a great time. The Belgian of Hyundai Motorsport stopped the clock in 10’10 “1, ahead of team mate Dani Sordo by 3” 3.
This, in fact, was Neuville’s last attempt to regain third position in the overall standings, but Sordo managed to defend himself well and now only a serious mistake by the latter could change things.
But the eyes of all the fans were on the fight between Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans for the duel that will sanction the victory of the event and the 2021 Drivers World title. Evans was the author of his most difficult stage of the weekend, stalling the engine of the his Yaris twice and coming to the locking of the wheels on several occasions, losing as much as 16 “8 from Neuville in a test just over 14 kilometers long.
For his part, after the enormous risk of the PS14, Ogier had decided not to compete for the success at Monza anymore, but to take care of the point and win the eighth world champion. The Frenchman in fact lost 9 “7 from Neuville but, unexpectedly, he found himself still first in the general classification and with a much greater advantage over Evans.
Now Ogier has a 7 “6 advantage over his teammate when there is just one test left at the end of the season. Now the games are done, with the champion from Gap who has in his pocket the eighth title of a sumptuous career and, consequently, Toyota is also holding the Constructors one, remembering that a seventh place would be enough for the Japanese manufacturer to grab the title three years after the last one brought to Japan.
That’s not all, because in the general classification of the event there is another change to take into consideration. We are talking about the sixth place grabbed by Teemu Suninen. The Finn took advantage of a mistake by Takamoto Katsuta to recover a position.
A serious mistake by the Japanese of Toyota who, having arrived at full speed at the Seraglio, missed the braking point to tackle the chicane and ended up spinning, hitting one of the concrete guards. The impact destroyed his Yaris’s front left suspension, causing him to lose more than a minute from Neuville.
Now the Japanese will have to hope that Toyota’s mechanics will be able to replace the suspension in time to allow him to take part in the Power Stage. The drivers still have 15 minutes of Service available before the last test of the season, but the team will have to assess the extent of the damage and see if it will be possible to put the number 18 Toyota back on the road.
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