Thierry Neuville has retired from second place on Rally Italy Sardinia with damage to the rear of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 in the first kilometer of the second pass of the Lerno test, moving the rest of the field bar rally leader Oliver Solberg up a position.
The 2024 world champion had taken the lead late on Friday but had been usurped by Solberg on SS10, a crucial development in the title race given a win is worth eight points more than second.
Solberg had closed the virtual gap in the standings to only four points but Neuville’s demise moves both Elfyn Evans and Sami Pajari, his title rivals, up a place each, with each now set to score two additional points compared to when Neuville was running second.
Evans is now projected to score 240 points before Sunday’s bonuses are taking into consideration, with Solberg remaining on 234 so long as he holds the rally lead and Pajari now on 225 after his promotion to fourth place.
Sébastien Ogier is up to second place but is 36.6s behind Solberg; he is fending off the sole remaining Hyundai of Adrien Fourmaux, who is 19.1s behind the reigning world champion.
Pajari was passed by Fourmaux earlier in the day and is now 24.4s behind the final podium spot; Evans has little hope of gaining further positions on his own given his gap to Pajari has increased to 52.5s.
Mārtinš Sesks retired on the road section prior to SS10 with a steering issue, losing 10th place.
