Sébastien Ogier is doing all he can to claw back points in the World Rally Championship title race from Thierry Neuville, winning Sunday’s opening two stages to lead the final day classification – and taking second overall in the process.
A turbo failure on Friday afternoon cost Ogier over two minutes and consigned him to third in the Saturday points standings. But keen to make inroads on Neuville and Hyundai, he was rapid out of the blocks on the final day, topping the Inohori test by 5.3s.
Dani Sordo meanwhile was backing off, having already banked second-placed points for Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship for Saturday. He was over half a minute off Ogier’s pace on Inohori and dropped back to third, elevating Ogier a position on the overall podium.
“The car is so lazy,” said Sordo, hinting his i20 N Rally1 wasn’t especially responsive. “I didn’t want to make a mistake. I don’t know my time but my time is for sure very bad.
“I feel in while I am driving the stage that I am not good at rally, I just go in the middle. At the beginning I hit a small stone in the side of the road and then I lost concentration and had a problem with the hybrid also.”
Hyundai's manufacturer' championship hopes remain buoyed by Tänak and Neuville holdinfg second and third in the Sunday order
Ott Tänak remains fourth overall and also holds second in the Sunday order, though complained he was carrying some sort of engine issue.
“Yesterday evening we had a lot of trouble and this morning we still carry some engine trouble, so not easy at the moment,” said Tänak.
Neuville has repeatedly said he will “stick to the plan” of reaching the finish while minimizing risk – made harder by how rough and cut up the Eleftherohori stage was. That same test will also be repeated as the powerstage later on Sunday.
“The road is destroyed,” said Neuville, after he fell behind Tänak to third in the Sunday points order. “It was nightmare. I was so careful in there. Just trying to avoid any problems.”
Elfyn Evans returned under super rally after he retired following a roll on Saturday afternoon. He’s running fourth in the Sunday order, 6.3s behind Neuville but already up a place, having overtaken Adrien Fourmaux on Eleftherohori.
Takamoto Katsuta and Sordo round out the Sunday points-scoring places; Grégoire Munster did not return after his accident on Saturday.
