WRC Sardinia: Solberg storms into the lead to boost title chances against Evans

As it stands Elfyn Evans’ championship lead has been cut to four points

Oliver Solberg further boosted his World Rally Championship title hopes by snatching the Rally Italy Sardinia lead from Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville on Saturday morning.

Starting the morning 12.3s behind overnight leader, Hyundai’s Neuville, Solberg stunned the field winning two of the three stages to move into a 2.7s lead. The surge has further ignited his title hopes, heading into the afternoon loop four points behind championship leader Elfyn Evans.

The complexion of the rally and the title race took a twist in the day’s first test, a pass through the 24.14km Lerno - Sa Conchedda - Monti di Ala stage.

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux started the day 0.4s behind leader Neuville but hopes of maiden WRC win were severely dented in an instant when his i20 N picked up a front-left puncture.

The Frenchman opted against stopping to change the tyre and managed to reach the stage end, but a minute was lost.

“I have nothing to say,” said a crestfallen Fourmaux.

Fourmaux’s team-mate and rally leader Neuville took the stage win by 2.1s from Solberg. As a result, Neuville moved into a 14.4s lead over Solberg, who climbed to second.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Hyundai

"Obviously disappointed for Adrien. It would've been a nice battle with him. It's not easy with these punctures, how many times we've been talking about them, we need to solve them for the future," said Neuville.

Fourmaux’s tyre failure dropped the Hyundai driver to fifth overall and ahead of Evans, who witnessed Solberg take a two-point swing in the title race.

Solberg quickly set his sights on cutting the gap to Neuville and wasted little time in doing so. In the following test the Toyota driver produced a stunning drive to win the stage and take 11.1s out of Neuville, to sit 3.3s behind ahead of the final stage of the loop.

Despite such pace, Solberg admitted it was a “horrible” stage, stressing that he needed to do more. Neuville remained unperturbed by Solberg’s speed, stating “the rally is still long and we're quite relaxed.”

However, Solberg continued his charge and won stage 10, taking 6.0s out of Neuville to move into the lead.

“It is very exciting. This is what we are here for. We do our best. As I said from the start it is possible and I will try until the end,” said Solberg.

After Fourmaux’s tyre issue in stage eight, reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier moved into third. Ogier completed the loop 17.4s ahead of the recovering Fourmaux, who managed to recover to fourth by overhauling title contender Sami Pajari on stage nine.

Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Title contender Pajari had to settle for fifth with the Finn feeling he maximised his road position.

“I'm not giving up and not backing off. We need to see what is possible. It seems impossible to match the times, what they're doing a few cars after us,” said Pajari.

Likewise, championship leader Evans was unable to make any inroads on the drivers ahead having been hampered by his road position.

“It [the title fight] is a bit out of my control, a bit I feel with the road cleaning so much. I'm not realistically going to catch anybody in front, I've got to stay clean for now,” said Evans.

Josh McErlean continued to lead the M-Sport-Ford charge in seventh, while Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta climbed to eighth. M-Sport duo Jon Armstrong and Martins Sesks rounded out the top 10.

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo rejoined the rally on Saturday morning after his stage seven crash on Friday, but his time on the stages was short-lived.

Daniel Sordo, Patricia Sáiz Ruiloba, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Hyundai

The Spaniard had been in some discomfort following an impact in Thursday’s shakedown and opted to return to service after completing the morning’s first stage.

“I can't continue like this. It is really painful. On the braking it feels like I have something broken. I couldn't drive. There is a lot of pain in my back and my side,” said Sordo.

Crews will repeat the trio of stages this afternoon after a midday service.