Oliver Solberg disheartens the champions: "The gaps will be even bigger this afternoon."

Before the start of SS14, the last special stage of Saturday morning's loop, the provisional podium consisted of Sami Pajari, Thierry Neuville et Sébastien OgierOliver Solberg started this special stage fourth overall. Eleven minutes and 53,2 seconds later, everything was up for grabs again. The Swede set a time no one else came close to—he was the only one to break the twelve-minute barrier—and thus overtook the leading trio in one fell swoop. Sébastien Ogier, eighth on the stage, who therefore finds himself second overall, himself admitted he didn't understand how such a performance could have been achieved in such conditions.

Despite good times on the first few runs and conditions that steadily worsened, the young Swede quickly regained control, and the gap was undeniable. He himself admits, however, that the performance was far from a given: "The conditions were constantly changing, corner after corner. This morning, it was still new for me to drive on these stages with this car, so it wasn't easy to maintain that level. But at least, in the wet, the feeling with the car was good."

An afternoon of high tension

The hierarchy remains very open, however: the top five are separated by only 17 seconds overall. The driver Toyota knows that the afternoon will be a different story, particularly due to severe pneumatic stress. "We don't have many tires because we're not allowed to have that many, so it will be difficult to manage with so few tires.", he warns.

The forecasted weather could still reshuffle the cards, and the Swede anticipates even larger gaps: "I think the gaps will be even bigger this afternoon with the weather that's coming." Back on track this afternoon for a loop that could change everything — starting with the leader — SS15 will take place this afternoon at 15pm French time.

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