The Finnish duo faced issues on the last two stages of the day, but still head into Sunday with a lead of over a minute. Lauri Joona sits second in class, just over a minute behind Lindholm.
The Finns have been able to ease off slightly since Frenchman Yohan Rossel retired from the event on Saturday morning after going off the road and breaking a steering arm.
“It was obviously a shame that the fight for victory ended like that. After Rossel’s retirement gave us a decent margin, our run stopped being about competition and became more about controlling the situation and keeping a steady rhythm,” Lindholm said.
On the penultimate stage of the day, Lindholm and Hämäläinen lost their helmet intercom connection and had to switch their helmets to a new unit mid-stage. On the final stage, a water pressure warning light came on, forcing them to ease off and fix the issue on the road section.
“About five kilometres from the finish, the warning light came on. After the stage, we located a water leak in the radiator and patched it. Nothing more dramatic than that,” Lindholm explained.
“On the second-to-last stage we had to switch the intercom to a backup unit to keep communication. We tried driving for a bit without it, but in a car like this on gravel it’s so loud that I couldn’t hear Reeta’s notes despite her best effort, so we decided to stop.”
Joona will have to fight hard to keep his second place on Sunday, with Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz only 16.2 seconds behind. Czech driver Martin Prokop is fourth, followed by Italy’s Roberto Daprà and Estonia’s Robert Virves.
“Of course this is already a good result at this stage, but tomorrow is still a long day. We’ll try to hold position, but nothing is ever achieved until you reach the finish,” Joona told RallyJournal.com.
Among the Rally2 cars, Nikolay Gryazin and Oliver Solberg have set the pace in Sardinia, but neither is registered for WRC2 points. Gryazin leads Solberg by 19.9 seconds, while Lindholm trails Gryazin by 37 seconds.
