Thierry Neuville has provisionally taken a crucial five point advantage over World Rally Championship title rival Sébastien Ogier on Acropolis Rally Greece, finishing Saturday’s action atop the standings with Ogier third.
Hyundai had begun the day with a 1-2-3, with Neuville at the rear. But a double tire drama for Ott Tänak on the day’s opening test, and then Dani Sordo damaging his car after a delamination on SS9, promoted Neuville to the top spot.
Sordo was able to retain second place from Ogier, keeping the eight-time world champion at bay, while Tänak fell to fourth with his earlier dramas.
“We have a comfortable lead,” Neuville told DirtFish. “However, tomorrow is a difficult day. Lots of points again to take, so we need to find the right balance. And realistically, we know that nothing is done yet.
“I don’t think we need to be fastest tomorrow. However, I believe that if we can take similar amount as points of the weekend as Sebastien, we have done a good operation this weekend.”
Ogier had fallen well adrift of the Hyundais with a turbo failure on Friday afternoon and, while he was able to take over a minute and a half out of Sordo across Saturday’s six stages, he ran out of mileage to catch him for second place and extra Saturday points.
“I think it’s been a strong day,” said Ogier. “We did everything we had to do, but the gaps were there from yesterday night, so for sure we couldn’t really catch some positions – only one because of the trouble of Ott this morning.
“At least we need to be satisfied with what we’ve done today and tomorrow of course will be now the decisive moment of the weekend with all these points in play.”
Neuville starts Sunday with a hypothetical 32-point lead in the title race, subject to finishing the rally on Sunday to bank the points scored on Saturday evening.
Both Tänak and Sordo had to wave goodbye to the rally lead during Saturday's action
Sordo successfully navigated his way to the end of the day, albeit caked in dust form the hole in the rear right of his Hyundai from the earlier delamination ripping the carbon fiber bodywork away. Wearing goggles for the afternoon loop, plenty of dust entered his cockpit.
“We drove a little bit slowly and we tried to not have any more puncture or something,” said Sordo. “But for sure, with the dust in the car and all, it was a little bit more tricky.
“We had a little bit of a gap with Séb, at least for today and we didn’t want to make another mistake and to lose one position also.”
Tänak was lucky to escape a big moment on Saturday’s penultimate test, where he very nearly replicated Elfyn Evans in rolling over at a downhill right-hand hairpin.
