Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) took the lead in Rally Sardinia on Saturday, followed by his teammate Elfyn Evans, on a day he mastered much better than his rivals from Hyundai, Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo, both started at fault. “So far it's been a perfect weekend for us. We did everything we had to do well, now we have to finish the job, ”said the Frenchman at the stop point of SS16, the last of the day, in which Evans set the best time to return to 38.9 seconds of the Frenchman and preserve a theoretical suspense. Tänak, who had been leading this 5th round of the year from the start, had passed in three hours and three specials (SS10 to SS11), on Saturday morning, his lead over Ogier of 36 to 40.5 seconds. A comfortable margin ... provided that mistakes are avoided.
In SS12, the last of the morning, the Estonian, 2019 world champion, hit a large stone in the 8th kilometer, which damaged his rear end. He started to idle and then parked his car on the side, giving up all hope of finishing the rally well. Ogier, who set the fastest times in SS10 then SS12, had already passed Sordo in the morning to take 2nd place, his goal by leaving the Olbia service park. Then he kept Sordo at bay until the Spaniard, double winner outgoing in Sardinia, missed in SS15 at the end of the afternoon. A safe exit from the road for the crew after an error in the trajectory of the Spaniard with 49 podiums, renowned for his reliability and consistency. Right rear wheel in the ditch, torn off,day ended.
A gesture for the environment
Suddenly, Ogier, seven-time world champion and three-time winner in Sardinia (from 2013 to 2015), now leads the rally with a margin all the more comfortable as there are only four specials left to go on Sunday morning, i.e. only 46 km timed. At Hyundai, Tänak and Sordo not having finished the day, only one driver remains in the running to score big points on Sunday, not to mention the final Power Stage and his bonus points: the Belgian Thierry Neuville, who moved up to 3rd place. As the WRC prepares to switch to hybrid mode in 2022, with the added bonus of synthetic, 100% sustainable fuels, World Environment Day on Saturday also allowed three drivers, Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Teemu Suninen , to make a symbolic gesture.They each planted a tree in the Molo Brin district of Olbia, right next to the service park where all the competitors are based, in order to mark the sustainable actions launched by the Automobile Club d'Italie, organizer of the rally, and that of Sassari, to protect the Sardinian environment.
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Rally of Sardinia: Tänak and Sordo ahead of Ogier, but nothing is settled
