Sébastien Ogier held a slender overnight lead at Rally Italia Sardegna after a punishing Friday leg carved through the FIA World Rally Championship field.
The eight-time world champion vaulted from third to first overall on the final stage of the day, overhauling Hyundai pair Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux to end the leg 2.9sec clear in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
Ogier had opened the rally with a stage win but dropped as low as fourth by mid-afternoon, battling low grip levels from his third position in the road order. Crucially, though, he stayed out of trouble on Sardinia’s sun-scorched gravel tracks – capitalising late on as others faltered.
Fourmaux led at the midpoint by 2.9sec over team-mate Thierry Neuville, but the tide turned after lunch. Neuville snatched the lead on SS4, only to retire on the next stage after striking a bank in Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda and damaging the rear-left corner of his i20 N Rally1.
Fourmaux retook first place but was unable to fend off Ogier’s late charge. He dropped 6.7sec on the final test, citing issues with his car’s ability to absorb bumps, and slipped to second overnight. Tänak was third, 5.2sec further back, having completed the stage with a damaged shock absorber.
“It’s been a good day, for sure,” said Ogier. “I’ve done everything I could today, so I’m happy with that.”
The newly-introduced Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda stage proved decisive – and destructive. Neuville wasn’t its only victim: M-Sport Ford trio Mārtiņš Sesks, Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster all retired on the first pass. Sesks rolled at high speed, while McErlean and Munster were sidelined by suspension damage.
The second run saw even more drama. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Puma privateer Jourdan Serderidis both rolled at the same hairpin but managed to continue, albeit with time loss.
“That stage where all the drama happened was very tricky,” Ogier added. “It’s super narrow and extremely fast. It’s always a surprise to see that many incidents, but it can happen very easily there.”
Sami Pajari continued to impress with his maturity and consistency. The Toyota youngster ended the day fourth, 9.5sec behind Tänak, despite clipping a rock and damaging a front-right tyre on SS3.
Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä was fifth after enduring loose conditions from second on the road, while championship leader Elfyn Evans – tasked with opening the road – struggled even more and languished in sixth.
Katsuta brought his battered GR Yaris home in seventh, more than two minutes adrift of the lead, while Rally2 runners filled out the rest of the top 10. Oliver Solberg overcame an early overshoot to hold eighth, with WRC2 frontrunners Yohan Rossel and Roberto Daprá rounding out the leaderboard.
Saturday’s itinerary features more than 120km of competitive action, including the return of the legendary Lerno–Su Filigosu stage – home to the iconic Micky’s Jump.