Ogier snatched Surprised WRC rally Sardinia lead after Nuveeli accidents

Sebastian ogier Admit he admits that he is surprised to lead the rally Italia Sardinia after an incident on Friday, who caught many of his world rally championship rivals.

The eight -time world champion faced the effects of road cleaning in the morning, started from the third, but completed the six gravel stages of Friday, with a 2.1 lead over Hyundai. Adrian Formox,

Ogier postponed his road position to gain an edge after the initial phase, but Hyundai came in third place behind the Duo Formox, which took a 2.9 lead. Thierry neurville In the afternoon service.

However, Ultra Fast and Narrow Teleti – Calangians – Burshida Stage, which wasted M -Sport -Ford trio Josh McRelian, Gregor Munter And Mārtiņ sesks‘Day, once again wreaked havoc in the afternoon.

Neuville mounted his left back of his i20 N on a rock, forcing the world champion to retire from the lead, which removed the profit from the formox 0.2S. The formox was unable to hang on the lead that he had withdrawn as a set up twicth for his Hyundai i20N, which did not pay to the French between the steps.

Ogier won the stage at this time, while taking 6.7s from Formox, to end the day in a wonder – unlike his rivals by his Toyota team, made a tricks even more impressive for not testing before the rally.

Ogier said, “I am definitely very happy. I must have signed surely and do not really bet on it, especially considering the competition we are facing at that time.”

“I have to be satisfied with what I did today and the rest of the weekend is ideal to choose the best beginning position, but gaps are still super small. A part of the job is done, but a large part of the job remains.”

The formox was left to get its set up twice before the final phase of the day, but what could be for a first WRC victory, for this it was provoked to be in the fight.

“It’s really close that is a positive point, and two seconds behind SEB, but it has been a great day to be fair. I wish I could be a pioneer and I should have been better in the final stages and unfortunately I made a mistake with the set up and I lost time,” the formox said.

“I can be happy after what happened in Portugal (where we retired from the battle of victory with a technical issue).”

Hyundai Oat Tanak The third ended on Friday, after a broken front dumper, the cost of 7.3s of the pace was given valuable time in stage six. The then leaders closed within 1.2 of the Formox before coming to the issue of the 2019 World Champion, who were struggling with their i20N handling in the morning.

“Things got better for a phase (with a car) but we had some trouble with suspension and then we had to lose as much as possible in the last one. I don’t know why this happened. We tried our best but we could not do anymore,” Tanak said.

Sami Pajari The leader did his best performance till date to complete a difficult day in fourth place behind 16.8 from Ogier. Finn led two -time world champion Kalle RowanparWhich ended the day, who got second on the road after struggling with his GR Yaris in the morning.

“This afternoon I would say that I was very happy with a Sardinia level because I am never super comfortable here, but it seems that we have gained some speed,” said Rowanpera, which will start from the Ogier from 22.8s on Saturday.

“The biggest thing is that I think I need to push a lot in how to wear tires. The time is coming if you push a lot but still we have to wear big tires. This is what we need to work tomorrow.”

Championship leader Elephin Evans The worst condition of the road was faced which was reflected in its time. Welshman felt that it was not just the fact that he had to open the road that left him at a speed of 1m09.8s at the sixth place.

Evans performed better than team-met Takmoto katsususaWhich climbed a rock with tight, slow right hand, which gathered his GR Yaris on his behalf. The audience helped put the car back on its wheels, allowing Japanese to allow an injured village Yaris Ghar nurse in the seventh (+2m27,9S).

The neurville platform was not so lucky because her brush with rocks at high speed ripped the left wheel from its i20 N, which forced the world champion to retire first of the year.

“I lost in front and the line had to fix and widened at that time and I hit a stone and it was over,” said Neurville.

“This could have been a large -scale accident, but in the end we just widen and it escaped from behind. The smallest mistakes in the rally pay cash and sometimes nothing happens, but it is unfortunate for us because we were leading at that time.”

The rally continues with six stages on Saturday, including 121 competitive kilometers.