The first morning loop of stages saw eight-time world rally champion Sebastien Ogier take a 16.3 second lead over Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi. Ogier won two of the three tests and had a particularly impressive performance on the first run through Monte Lerno, where he finished 12.7 seconds faster than anyone else.
Lappi Closes the Gap
The afternoon loop was dominated by wet weather, which caught Ogier’s Toyota team off guard. The team made a decision to take three soft and three hard tires, while Lappi opted for four softs and one hard. As a result, Lappi was able to take chunks out of Ogier’s lead, cutting the deficit in stage five and ultimately snatching the lead by 0.1 seconds in the second pass through Monte Lerno.
Despite the setback, Ogier remained positive and reflected on the day’s challenges. “It was not the best afternoon but I’m still happy with the driving,” he told Autosport. “It just went wrong at the service where we had the wrong information for the weather and we made the wrong tire choice and also unfortunately we made the wrong choice with the set-up. It is that where I’m not so happy. I thought it was an acceptable afternoon and I was steady and I didn’t take too many risks in these difficult conditions. It is good to be where we are.”
Ogier Looks Ahead to Saturday
As Ogier prepares for Saturday, he is bracing himself for more wet weather, which will once again put the focus on tire and set-up direction. “I don’t think it will be much drier tomorrow but I don’t know it is difficult to predict, but it doesn’t look like it is going to be dry tomorrow,” he said. “We just need to go back to the set-up that we like and make it work. It is the first time that we have had this kind of rain in Sardinia so it doesn’t make it a bit more challenging for sure.”
Ogier appears to be Toyota’s best chance at a victory, with world champion Kalle Rovanpera and team-mates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta facing a series of challenges throughout the day. Rovanpera ended the day in fourth place, 46.1 seconds behind, after encountering a small herd of cows in stage four and losing 40.2 seconds. However, he was able to climb from seventh to fourth across the afternoon thanks to a win in stage seven.
“We only had this big gap to begin with because of the first pass through Monte Lerno but otherwise it has been really good day. Of course it could be always a smaller gap,” Rovanpera said. “For the win I’m not sure [we are in the fight] but we will fight for everything we can.”
Katsuta finished the day in fifth place (+47.4 seconds) after losing time to an off in stage four, while Evans ended more than a minute behind after dropping 20 seconds due to a front right puncture in stage seven. Overall, the day was characterized by unpredictable weather and a series of unexpected challenges, setting the stage for an exciting and uncertain finish.
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