Sardinia Rally – Ogier escapes from the lead and heads for a third consecutive victory

Long caught in a thrilling duel with Ott Tänak, Sébastien Ogier accelerated on Saturday afternoon and widened the gap at the top of the Rally of Sardinia, within a Rally1 field depleted by the retirements of Thierry Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta.

Published 01/06/2024 à 18:35

Dorian Grangier

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Sardinia Rally – Ogier escapes from the lead and heads for a third consecutive victory

© Nikos Katikis / DPPI

  • He is not an eight-time world champion and record holder Rally from Sardinia for nothing! Sébastien Ogier dominated this second day of racing on the Italian island and has, this Saturday evening, a lead of 17 seconds ahead of his main opponent, Ott Tänak. Enough to approach “Super Sunday” with confidence, he who is not playing in the championship. The Gapençais, however, is aiming for a third consecutive victory and a 5th victory in Sardinia.
  • The Estonian fought a good duel with the Frenchman until the beginning of the afternoon, but the abandonment of Thierry Neuville at the end of the morning cooled the ardor in the clan Hyundai. According to the driver, the team asked him to take it easy and slow down to secure the 15 points awarded on Saturday (subject to reaching the finish on Sunday). But was it really a team instruction, or simply an admission of weakness in the face of the eight-time world champion? The mystery remains...
  • The two men shared almost all the specials this Saturday: only SS12, won by Elfyn Evans at the very end of the day, escaped them. Sébastien Ogier and Ott Tänak have a very large lead over the rest of the field, since Dani Sordo, 3rd, is more than two minutes behind the leaders. His place on the podium does not seem threatened by Elfyn Evans, relegated to around thirty seconds and in difficulty on the Sardinian roads.
  • The day was marked by the retirements of Thierry Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta, reducing the Rally1 field to just six cars. The Belgian made a mistake late in the morning on SS8, while he was comfortably in third place. A big blow for the championship leader, who will try to make up for it on Sunday by aiming for the 12 points still to be distributed. The Japanese suffered a transmission problem early in the afternoon when he was third overall. Like Thierry Neuville, he will try to obtain important points for Toyota Sunday.

  • The M-Sport, far from the fight for the podium, simply made sure to finish the day without problems. Grégoire Munster managed to overtake Sami Pajari (who drives a Rally2) in the last special of the day and secured the 8 points for 5th place, which could be his best result in WRC. Adrien fourmaux, he showed very good pace this Saturday afternoon and could claim big points on Sunday during “Super Sunday”.
  • In WRC2, Sami Pajari consolidated his position at the head of the Sardinia Rally, while Yohan Rossel had an exceptional day: starting 15th in the WRC2 standings this morning, the Nîmes driver finished this day in 2nd place in the category, continuing scratch times (8/8 this Saturday)! The Frenchman, who lost two minutes on Friday due to a puncture, returned to 54 seconds behind the leader.

Sardinia Rally
General ranking after ES12

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Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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