After three special stages, Fourmaux leads the rally standings. The gaps are still relatively tight, with his teammate Thierry Neuville sitting in second place.
The French Hyundai ace didn’t quite reach the top pace on the first two stages of the morning, but he delivered a stunning time on the final test of the loop. On the nearly 28-kilometre Sa Conchedda stage, Fourmaux went fastest by a clear margin.
“It was a really good last stage. I was a bit careful in the first two stages because they were quite new. I did push on the last one that I perfectly know,” Fourmaux explained.
” I did not take so much risk to be fair on the last one, but I was just trying to be tidy, keep the soft tyres alive but it seems to be working.”
Fourmaux said he made some small setup changes during the morning loop after the first stage. He’s also planning further changes for the afternoon. If they work, he believes he can go even faster on the upcoming stages.
“I felt the car was too lazy after the first one, so I went to stiffer all the time between stages and it was going in the right direction. So let’s see what can I do for the afternoon,” Fourmaux said.
“I think I might maybe change the springs of the car to compensate a little bit the laziness. I need to make the right tyre choice after all. The balance I’m happy but it’s just reactivity.”
In hot gravel rallies like Sardinia, the rougher afternoon conditions usually favour hard compound tyres. However, if conditions are suitable, soft tyres can still deliver a significant advantage.
Normally with those conditions you just go hard. I think we just go with hard tyres because the ground will be so warm and the outside will be so warm too. I would say the right choice should be the hard, but we never know,” Fourmaux admitted.
Neuville also planned some minor setup changes during the midday service.
“We’re gonna work a bit in the car when we get a bit more feedback from the road conditions. But overall I don’t think that we’re going to do any big changes and just make the good tyre choice and basically repeat what we have done this morning,” Neuville said.
“It was a clean morning for us. Trying to keep it in the line and having a smooth run. I’m satisfied with my run.”
