Rally Islas Canarias (Canary Islands) is set for a tense final day victory battle after Sébastien Ogier ended Saturday with a slender 3.8s lead over Toyota team-mate Oliver Solberg.
Ogier had started the day with an 8.9s lead over Solberg, but that margin was whittled down to 5.3s by the time crews headed to midday service after two asphalt stages were affected by rain.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
The rain relented for the afternoon loop as the fight at the front stepped up a notch between the top three Ogier, Solberg and Elfyn Evans. Only seven tenths for second split the Toyota trio in the first test of the afternoon that was won by Evans, while Solberg took tenth out of Ogier.
The margin between the trio of Toyota was even closer after the 13.74km pass through stage 13 (Arucas – Firgas – Teror). Ogier and Solberg set identical times, while Evans was 0.2s slower than the pair.
Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
However, in the final stage of the loop, Solberg blitzed the 28.9km test to beat Ogier by 1.4s to set up a grandstand fight over Sunday’s final four stages.
“Excited for tomorrow. Finally some new stages, which will be fun to drive. If you don’t enjoy these kind of fights, you better stay home,” said Ogier.
Solberg added: “When the tyres went I just went for it. I won’t panic to take him [Ogier], but at least we’ve been there all day to put pressure on him. We have four long stages to go – everything is possible.”
Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Benefiting from a better feeling in his GR Yaris, Evans had closed to within 10.3s of Ogier after starring in the wet stage 10. The Welshman lost ground in stage 11 before ending the day in third, 21.9s from the lead. Evans was hampered by having to run a soft tyre due to a defect with one of his hard compound tyres.
“In terms of the overall, it is difficult but at least positive that we are closer today,” said Evans. “We couldn’t smell a stage win yesterday and few happened today, so it puts us in a better position for tomorrow.
Sami Pajari, Marko Salminen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
After feeling “lost” by a lack of pace during the morning loop, Sami Pajari found a better balance in his GR Yaris to open up a 10.4s gap over Toyota team-mate and championship leader Takamoto Katsuta in the fight for fourth. Katsuta was also frustrated by his struggles for outright speed.
“I still need to fix myself. There are things to think about to improve myself. Honestly it’s not so enjoyable thinking a lot while driving. Not easy, but this is time to learn and improve, otherwise I’m far away,” said Katsuta, who was 1m03.1s from the lead.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
It once again proved to be a day where Hyundai was unable to challenge Toyota. Adrien Fourmaux was the best of the i20 N drivers, ending the day in sixth overall [+1m54.5s] after finding some speed following a midday set up change.
Daniel Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
“To be fair with all the respect I have for [team-mates] Dani [Sordo] and Thierry [Neuville] I can be very pleased to be 30s ahead of them today with no issue for them or me,” said Fourmaux.
“Being sixth overall shows we are not in the front of the show, but actually I think it is quite positive [in the circumstances].”
After being the quickest Hyundai on Friday, Sordo had to settle for seventh, two seconds ahead of Thierry Neuville, who again struggled for speed.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
“Honestly I enjoyed the last stage at least I got a bit more speed in that one,” said Neuville. “I don’t think we have found any major solution for tomorrow and we have to settle with what we have.
“Being slower than last year is a concern and the Toyotas have been able to go faster. I don’t know [what has gone wrong]. We are clearly missing something.”
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
M-Sport-Ford’s Josh McErlean enjoyed a clean day to hold ninth [+3m53.8s].
Team-mate Jon Armstrong was fortunate to survive an intercom issue in stage 11 and a brush with a barrier in stage 13. Worse was to follow on the final stage as Armstrong understeered off the road at speed and was lucky to recover after losing more than two minutes.
“I just can’t trust what I’m doing. I had a pretty good stage and this one place I came in I was braking early and when I tried to adjust my line the front just went straight,” said Armstrong.
“I need to go to rally school or something at the minute. We were lucky to get out.”
Lancia’s Yohan Rossel continued to dominate the WRC2 class, ending the day with a healthy 27.5s lead, sitting in 10th overall. That lead was over Spain’s Alejandro Cachon, who finished the day 0.2s ahead of Citroen’s Leo Rossel.
The rally will conclude on Sunday after four more stages comprising 78.4km.
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