The French Sebastien Ogier (Toyota GR Yaris) once again leads the Central European Rally and left the Belgian title celebration on hold Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20), which is looking to win its first World Cup this weekend but a poor start on Saturday saw it drop from first to fourth position.
The World Championship leader, who led the classification after Friday’s day with a lead of 6.4 seconds, saw his hopes of sealing the championship tomorrow seriously affected by going off the road several times at nothing one more minute. If he can’t come back on Sunday he will have to wait to do it next month at Japan Rally.
“As soon as he recovered from the first exit on the track in the morning stage at the German-Austrian border, Neuville found himself on the grass. The second outing is more expensive.because he struggled to get his Hyundai i20 out of a concrete drainage ditch and was lost for about 40 seconds,” the organizers explained in a statement.
Ott Tänak (Hyundai) briefly led the test after the first special of the day and will face Sunday – with four stages on its route – 5.2 seconds behind Ogier.
While holding Saturday’s provisional points, Neuville gave eight to Ogier and three in Elfyn Evansfrom Toyota, currently leading him by 25.8 seconds in third position. Furthermore, the Belgian lost five points with respect to thank youis his most direct rival in the fight for the championship, and needs two more than the Estonian to clinch the title this weekend.
Neuville expressed his displeasure after Saturday’s episode: “i’m disappointedsure, but the rally is not over and tomorrow is an exciting day. We have paid the price. This is a mistake in recognizing grades. “It was too fast, and I was a little disappointed about that, but it is what it is,” he said.
Source: La Verdad
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