Adrien Fourmaux has lost the lead of Rally Saudi Arabia after he was checked in one minute early to Friday’s final time control.
It had been a chaotic day on the stages, with Fourmaux’s overnight lead reduced thanks to a broken rear suspension arm, before he lost it on the penultimate stage of the day after misjudging a junction in the dust of Sami Pajari.
The Hyundai driver then picked up a front-left puncture on SS14, but somehow managed to retake the lead from Mãrtiņš Sesks as the M-Sport driver had a puncture of his own.
Fourmaux had ended the day 2.4 seconds ahead of Sesks, but his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 was checked into TC14A one minute early, earning him and co-driver Alexandre Coria a one minute penalty.
That drops Fourmaux to fourth overall, 57.6s off the lead with Takamoto Katsuta now in the podium places in third.
Sesks is therefore the new overnight leader, with a 3.4s advantage over Fourmaux’s team-mate Thierry Neuville.
