Ogier new leader in Sardinia

The ranking has evolved significantly since the mid-stage assistance of the first day at Rally from Sardinia. Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) took the lead in SS6 at Tula, setting a solid pace on the muddy and wet roads. His direct rival Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai), previous leader of the event, retired in the following special with a mechanical problem.

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) is now the main opponent of the five-time champion WRC, but the Belgian lost a handful of seconds by visiting a ditch on the last course of the day and found himself almost 19 seconds behind the Frenchman.

Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) concluded the first stage well by taking the scratch in Monte Baranta (SS9) and taking third place. The Finn was the first to benefit from the retirements ofOtt Tänak (Toyota) and Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). The Estonian appears to have damaged his radiator when landing a jump, while the Finn went off the road.

The Toyota drivers still in the race are grouped together as Esapekka Lappi follows in fourth place, less than five seconds behind the first Yaris WRC. Mads Ostberg (Citroën) completes the Top 5, keeping Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) just over three seconds behind. Craig Breen (Citroën) moved up to seventh place.

Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) finds himself at the head of WRC 2 after taking advantage of mechanical problems that occurred in the Skoda Fabia R5 of Ole Christian Veiby who found himself more than four minutes behind the Frenchman. Jan Kopecky (Skoda) is the French driver's closest rival with 14 seconds behind. Nicolas Ciamin (Hyundai) climbed onto the provisional podium in the category one minute ahead of Fabio Andolfi (Skoda).

The second stage of the Sardinia Rally will be contested this Saturday from 8:38 a.m. and will be followed live with our live text.