Thierry Neuville hit back at Sébastien Ogier in the battle for victory on Rally Turkey, reducing the Toyota World Rally Championship driver’s lead on a stage that was temporarily paused due to spectator interference.
Ogier took the lead from Sébastien Loeb on Saturday’s first stage, edging Neuville by 1.8s to lead by 1.7s, before extending his advantage to 3s on Saturday’s shorter second test by again beating Neuville by a slender 1.3s.
The Kizlan stage that concluded the loop was disrupted for all runners starting after Teemu Suninen due to unauthorized spectators making their way onto the stage, with Rally Turkey officially a non-spectator event.
The delay did little to defuse the lead battle though, with Neuville responding to Ogier and beating him by 1.4s, reducing the six-time world champion’s lead to just 1.6s at the Saturday midway point.
But Neuville, who was not entirely satisfied at the end of the morning.
“I tried to find the traction and stay in the clean lines but I’m not happy with the car to be honest,” he said.
“I expected to be better and we were not. We need to find a better balance and work on that.”
Ogier said: “It’s been OK, pretty slippery this one I expected a little bit more grip but it’s been a good morning for us.”
Elfyn Evans is third for Toyota – useful for its manufacturer championship challenge – but is 12.3s back from rally leader Ogier. That’s more costly for Evans, as he is also battling team-mate Ogier for this year’s drivers’ title.
“Of course we’d like to be fighting with them [Ogier and Neuville] a little bit more but I’m not unhappy with my morning,” said Evans.
“For sure it’s not been to bad but of course it could be a little bit better.”
Loeb looks to be settled in fourth, 9.4s down on Evans, but does have Kalle Rovanperä just 3.7s behind him.
But the Hyundai driver went two tenths faster than Rovanperä on SS5 and isn’t giving up, saying: “[The] rally is still long so we don’t know what will happen in the rest of the race.”
Reigning World Rally Champion Ott Tänak had been poised to mix it with the leaders on Saturday. Despite lying seventh, he was just 4.8s away from top spot on Friday night, such was the closeness between all the cars.
But a “quite immediate” steering issue, four miles from the finish of Saturday’s opening test, wrecked both his Rally Turkey and potentially his championship aspirations too. His i20 Coupe WRC refused to turn as something at the front-right broke, leaving Tänak stranded at the side of the road.
His demise helped promote all three M-Sport cars up a position, with Suninen now sixth, 28.7s shy of Rovanperä who is fifth for Toyota.
Esapekka Lappi had a difficult morning but pumped in a comparatively stronger stage time on Kizlan – a faster and more flowing stage than the others on the loop.
Having been firmly beaten by M-Sport team-mate Suninen on both of Saturday’s previous two stages, Lappi went 0.3s faster on SS5 but is still 29s behind in seventh overall.
“It still feels it’s not perfect,” Lappi said. “It’s OK but there’s still something that I’m missing.”
Pierre-Louis Loubet’s 2C Competition Hyundai emerged from the Kizlan test without some of its rear-right aero, a legacy of a “big, big moment.”
Loubet explained: “A lot of, lot of loose [gravel on this stage], we had a big, big moment in a fast section. Honestly [it’s] very difficult to open the road. We try to improve this afternoon as we are very far from everybody, so lots to do.”
The 2C Competition driver is ninth overall, 39.6s shy of Gus Greensmith – who was 6.6s quicker on Saturday morning’s final stage.
Greensmith made set-up changes between SS3 and SS4 and made yet more between SS4 and SS5, which he confirmed was another positive step but still a work in progress.
“The front’s definitely getting better and I’m getting more confident but we need to make more changes to the rear,” he said.
Photo: Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool
Adrien Fourmaux leads the WRC2 class for M-Sport but Pontus Tidemand is on a charge, making significant inroads into the Frenchman’s advantage following a puncture that set him back on Friday.
WRC2 is now a two-horse race with Tidemand’s Toksport team-mate Eyvind Brynildsen failing to make the end of the 19.5-mile opening test. Heading into Saturday afternoon, Fourmax is 33.7s ahead of Tidemand.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz has dethroned Marco Bulacia of the WRC3 class lead, snatching the position on Saturday’s first stage.
Quickest on all three of the morning’s tests, his advantage is now up to 12.2s overall, with Kajetanowicz also holding 10th place overall in the rally.
Fourmaux splits Kajetanowicz and Bulacia in the overall classification with 2019 Junior WRC Champion Jan Solans impressing in his Ford Fiesta Rally2 to hold third in class after starting the day eighth.
Emilio Fernández is fourth, 5.2s behind Solans.
SS5 times
1 Neuville (Hyundai) 7m10.7s
2 Ogier (Toyota) +1.4s
3 Evans (Toyota) +2s
4 Loeb (Hyundai) +2.4s
5 Rovanperä (Toyota) +2.6s
6 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +9.8s
Leading positions after SS5
1 Ogier (Toyota) 57m52.4s
2 Neuville (Hyundai) +1.6s
3 Evans (Toyota) +12.3s
4 Loeb (Hyundai) +21.7s
5 Rovanperä (Toyota) +25.4s
6 Suninen (M-Sport Ford) +54.1s
7 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +1m23.1s
8 Greensmith (M-Sport Ford) +1m47.5s
9 Loubet (2C Competition Hyundai) +2m27.1s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Škoda) +3m39.6s
