WRC Sardinia: Title wide open as Solberg takes Sardinia lead into final day

Oliver Solberg will head into the final day of the World Rally Championship a mere six points behind Toyota's Elfyn Evans after a dramatic Saturday afternoon at Rally Italy Sardinia.

Rally leader Solberg had closed the gap to Evans to four points before Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux hit trouble, which benefitted title rivals Evans and Sami Pajari.

After a strong display throughout, Solberg ended the day leading the rally by 33.6s from nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, as Pajari inherited third, 1min39.9s from the lead. Evans completed the day in fifth, 6.4s behind a recovering Fourmaux.

With 10 bonus points to play for on Sunday the title race is wide open.

After dominating the morning, the title race tilted very much in Solberg’s favour, but it quickly swung slightly away from the Swede after the first stage of the afternoon.

Neuville had started the loop 2.7s behind Solberg, only for his victory bid to unravel just 1.1km into stage 11. The 2024 world champion ripped the left rear wheel from his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and was forced to retire.

It could prove to be a crucial moment in the title race as Neuville’s exit helped title contender Pajari and Evans. Solberg’s four point deficit to Evans grew to six.

“He [Neuville] needs to keep his position so we can fight. I'm relieved in one way and I'm not in another,” said an emotional Solberg, who led Sebastien Ogier by 33.6s as Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux moved to third.

The drama continued in the following stage as Hyundai suffered another setback. Fourmaux was forced to stop and change a punctured tyre, his second failure of the day. The wheel change cost Fourmaux 1m46.12s which dropped the Frenchman to fifth behind Pajari and Evans.

As a result, Evans’ provisional championship lead over Solberg grew to eight points.

Solberg opted to back off knowing that he didn’t need to take any extra risks given his sizeable lead over Ogier. The Swede did end the day strongly to extend his margin over Ogier to 33.6s.

“I just tried to do my thing and enjoy it and have fun. This afternoon I was a bit more careful but I enjoyed it in there. So far we are doing a great job. We will do our job and see what happens," said Solberg.

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

Photo by: Hyundai

With only a 4.7s gap over Fourmaux, Evans threw caution to the wind in the final stage of the day in an attempt to hold onto fifth overall. However, the Welshman wasn’t able to hold off a charging Fourmaux. It proved to be a stressful day as road position prevented Evans from fighting on pure pace.

“Adrien will not be far away. I don't think it will be straightforward tomorrow. Today has been a tough day to try and hang in there with Oliver going so fast at the front. We have a long way to go. We have a tough day tomorrow. It is still wide open,” said Evans.

A frustrated Fourmaux, who started Saturday 0.4s from the lead, added: “For me that is the pace when I don't look at anything. It is very hard to understand these tyres. I tried to be smart but it is not working. I think we have the pace to be much better than fourth. We can still get a podium, the minimum reward I would say.”

Pajari also felt somewhat powerless to make any inroads without drama striking his rivals and will head into Sunday 12 points behind Evans after climbing to third.

"We are not quite in the top fight so you do what is left. We are still in the game and there is one day to go," said Pajari.

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta ended the day in sixth having faced the disadvantage of opening the road after M-Sport-Ford’s Martins Sesks was forced to retire on the road section to stage 11 with a steering issue.

A clash with a tree in the penultimate stage threatened to end Josh McErlean’s day. However, the Irishman managed to haul a wounded Ford Puma to eighth behind team-mate Jon Armstrong, who enjoyed a clean day.

Four Sunday stages stand in the way of crowning a new world champion.