Sébastien Ogier has strengthened his bid for the 2020 World Rally Championship crown by moving into the lead of the Monza Rally on Saturday’s first mountain stage, but rival Elfyn Evans has also moved up to third.
Ogier’s quest for the lead became easier overnight when both Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi were hit with 10-second penalties, meaning the six-time champion was just 2s behind the rally leader at the beginning of Saturday.
And setting a time 5.6s faster than Sordo, Ogier propelled himself into a 3.6s lead over the Hyundai driver who “didn’t have the feeling” in the changeable conditions. Lappi plummeted back to fourth, 14.1s shy of the lead with the fifth-fastest time, with Evans 9.8s adrift of the lead in the final podium place.
When asked where he had lost the time, Lappi said: “[The] whole stage, all the time.”
The organizer worked tirelessly to ensure the Saturday stages were safe to compete on, with SS7 Selvino in particular being thoroughly sprayed with salt to ensure it was clear of any snow.
These efforts paid dividends, at least for the start of the test at the bottom of the mountain, but towards the end on higher ground the sides of the roads were snow-lined and some corners were covered in slush, forcing drivers into a crawl. But for the most part, the rally route ultimately remained clear.
Gus Greensmith was the first car onto the test as he restarted on Saturday following an accident on Friday.
“My weather crew this morning said it was pretty much damp and wet but clearly in the hours since they’ve been it’s frozen over, so that was a hell of a surprise,” he said. “On wet tires that’s not nice!”
Sixth-placed Kalle Rovanperä was caught out by this change of grip, braking on some sheet ice and losing the rear of his Toyota. The right-rear corner smacked the banking and pulled the front of the car round.
The Finn reversed and continued on course, and still managed to beat the four cars that started the test before him, although he did sacrifice 9.9s to Ott Tänak – his nearest rival in the overall order.
Evans nearly made the same error as team-mate Rovanperä but a reassuring “you’ve got it” from co-driver Scott Martin indicated Evans had the squirreling Toyota under control. Despite the scare, he beat Tänak by 1.8s to nudge his barrier over the fifth-placed Hyundai to 2.4s. Lappi is now 0.7s behind him too.
“The snow [slush] at the end was a bit of a surprise, very little grip so that was very tricky,” said Evans.
Takamoto Katsuta is over 10 minutes down in the overall classification after his skirmish with a barrier on Thursday. Having been second fastest on Friday evening’s final stage, he completed SS7 seventh quickest.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville will not take part on Saturday as team principal Andrea Adamo felt it was “stupid to risk” any further damage to his car. Neuville will however return on Sunday for three final circuit stages at Monza.
Andreas Mikkelsen remains seventh overall at the head of WRC3, now just 3.7s ahead of Ole Christian Veiby’s 2C Competition Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. Emil Lindholm and Oliver Solberg complete the overall top 10 in their Škoda Fabia Rally2 evos.
M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux has launched himself back into the lead of WRC2 and lies 7.9s adrift of the overall top 10, but Mads Østberg beat him by 0.9s on Selvino to lurk just 4.7s behind, second in class.
Overnight ledaer Pontus Tidemand has slipped from first to third.
SS7 times
1 Ogier (Toyota) 18m03.1s
2 Sordo (Hyundai) +5.6s
3 Evans (Toyota) +8.3s
4 Tänak (Hyundai) +10.1s
5 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +15.1s
6 Rovanperä (Toyota) +20s
Leading positions after SS7
1 Ogier (Toyota)
2 Sordo (Hyundai) +3.6s
3 Evans (Toyota) +13.4s
4 Lappi (M-Sport Ford) +14.1s
5 Tänak (Hyundai) +15.8s
6 Rovanperä (Toyota) +32.8s
7 Mikkelsen (Škoda) +1m48.2s
8 Veiby (2C Competition Hyundai) +1m51.9s
9 Lindholm (Škoda) +2m21.7s
10 Solberg (Škoda) +2m30.8s
