Thierry Neuville finishes the first morning of the Rally de Catalunya in the lead

Only four special stages have been contested in this start of Rally of Catalonia 2022 this Friday, October 21, and yet there were numerous changes of leaders in this penultimate round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) 2022.

La perspective d’assister à un cavalier seul du tout nouveau champion Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) était non négligeable à l’issue de l’ES1. Le Finlandais avait profité de sa première place dans l’ordre de départ pour profiter d’une route propre pour prendre une poignée de secondes de marge sur ses poursuivants.

However, the following two stages allowed the other drivers to recover their health. In fact, the “cuts” in the turns were less pronounced, reducing the irruption of gravel on the Spanish tarmac.

Starting at the heart of the peloton, the eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) a sonné la charge en signant le temps scratch dans l’ES3, de quoi permettre au Français de prendre la tête. Libre de se battre contre Kalle Rovanperä, le Gapençais vise la victoire, mais doit d’abord s’occuper du retour des Hyundai.

Indeed, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) became rally leader after SS4. “The tire strategy has not been easy. The balance of the car was finally good, I had fun. » The Belgian is only half a second ahead of Sébastien Ogier.

General classification after SS4:

Behind, Kalle Rovanperä holds on, as doesOtt Tänak (Hyundai). The latter carried out repairs on his Hyundai i20 Rally1 hybrid before returning to the service park. Positions are more established in the middle of the top 10, with Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Dani Sordo (Toyota) set to battle for the top 5.

La déception règne dans le clan M-Sport Ford. De retour en WRC after his accident in Ypres (Belgium) in August, Adrien fourmaux does not attack more than is reasonable and flirts with the minute of delay. His Irish teammate Craig Breen doesn't do much better; the person concerned admits to lacking confidence and misjudged his written notes during the reconnaissance, which are “too careful and too slow”.

Add to that a transparent Gus Greensmith and a Pierre-Louis Loubet who has a series of problems (puncture then engine damage in SS4) and you get a group shot from Ford at the bottom of the ranking. When returning to the assistance, we did not yet know if Pierre-Louis Loubet was able to continue his journey.

In WRC2, the Russian Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) leads the debates ahead of the Finn Teemu Suninen (Hyundai). Yohan Rossel (Citroën) completes the podium ahead of the returning and experienced Stéphane Sarrazin (Volkswagen).

The Rally de Catalunya will resume later on Friday afternoon, from 15:09 p.m. with four stages to contest. The event will be followed in live text on AUTOhebdo.fr.

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