Mãrtiņš Sesks has taken the lead of Rally Saudi Arabia from Adrien Fourmaux who went the wrong way at a junction, while both Sami Pajari and Ott Tänak dropped out the fight with a tire change.
Heading into Friday afternoon’s loop of stages, the top four was separated by just 9.2 seconds, with Fourmaux leading the way.
That gap shrunk again on the first stage out of service, as Sesks narrowed Fourmaux’s lead to 1.9s and a stage win for Tänak moved him level with Pajari, 6.3s off the lead.
But everything changed on SS13 Um Al Jerem 2.
First, Tänak stopped to change a puncture very early on the stage – losing 1m30.6s to fall to fifth.
Then, exactly the same situation unravelled for Pajari – although the Finn lost even more time, sliding down to eighth overall.
Crucially that lifted Sébastien Ogier up to sixth, so while Elfyn Evans moved ahead of Grégoire Munster into ninth, Ogier’s current net point gain stands at six points, putting him provisionally three points ahead.
As for Fourmaux, he was distracted in the dust of Pajari who’d been stationary for 1m50s, and misjudged a junction. He dropped 24.0s to Sesks, meaning he now trails by 22.1s overall.
“I was in the dust of Sami and I did not see there is a right junction. I was looking at the corner and then I went straight, so… I did not see, it was full of dust. We lose a lot of time. We will try [to get time back] because it’s not fair,” said Fourmaux.
Explaining his puncture, Pajari added: “I was fifth gear flat out and I don’t know, some rocks, tire went flat, so there was no chance to drive on it.”
Sesks won the stage by 8.0s over Thierry Neuville, who’s now up to third overall.
“This one was very tricky,” Sesks said. “Again there were places it looks like you can push but you cannot, but I think we tried. This rally – it’s crazy. Either you are lucky or… still a long way to go.”
