Rally Sardinia – SS5: Kalle Rovanperä wins, Adrien Fourmaux takes the lead!

Chaos again in this special stage around Telti and Calangianus! This Friday morning, this stage was the scene of the abandonment of the three M-Sport ! This afternoon, it's Thierry Neuville who made a mistake, hitting a wall at high speed with the left rear of his car. The Belgian, provisional leader in Sardinia before this SS5, has therefore lost everything! In any case, he will not be leaving for the last special of the day.

But he wasn't the only one to have an accident! Takamoto Katsuta also rolled over. Fortunately for the Japanese driver, it was at low speed, and he was able to restart. The same happened to the fourth M-Sport entry, Serderidis's, which didn't count towards the overall standings. In the end, only eight cars were classified in Rally1 before SS6.

However, these fast and tricky Sardinian roads did not prevent Kalle Rovanperä from attacking and winning his first scratch of the weekend. Thus, the Finn got the better of Ott Tänak (+0″2, Hyundai) and his teammate Sébastien Ogier (+1″7). Fourth in the special, Adrien fourmaux takes back the lead in the general classification and is now 1″2 ahead of the Estonian! The eight-time world champion occupies the third step of the podium, 4″6 behind his compatriot.

In WRC2, this SS5 is one to forget for Yohan Rossel (Citroën), largely hampered by the dust caused by the M-Sport of Serderidis in front of him. Thus, at the finish, the Frenchman lost a lot of time to his rivals. He will be seen by the stewards at the end of the first day in Sardinia. They should obviously award him a better time. It remains to be seen which one and where that will place him…

WRC – Rally of Sardinia
ES5 – Special stage classification

ES5 – General classification

ALSO READ > 2025 Rally Sardinia: Friday's full WRC schedule