Mabellini seized the lead during Saturday morning’s loop and strengthened his position on the afternoon stages. The Italian set two fastest times in the afternoon and leads the rally by 10.6 seconds ahead of Finnish driver Roope Korhonen.
Korhonen lost significant time on the penultimate stage of the afternoon when he had to drive through a dust cloud caused by Irishman Jon Armstrong. However, Korhonen was later awarded a time correction, though Mabellini recalled what had happened last spring in Hungary.
“He lost a lot of time in the dust on the previous stage. The same thing happened to us last year, and the time was never corrected. The pace is fast. Our start has been really good, as the last time we drove on gravel was last summer in Estonia,” said Mabellini.
“Of course we’re going to fight. It was quite a clean day for us. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. It’s obviously difficult to avoid punctures, but luckily we have good tyres,” commented Korhonen, who drives as a brand ambassador for the Indian MRF company.
Irish driver Armstrong dropped out of the battle for victory on the first stage of Saturday afternoon’s loop. Holding third place and trailing the leader by ten seconds, Armstrong suffered a puncture and fell six minutes behind the leader.
Romanian driver Simone Tempestini currently holds third place. Driving a Škoda, Tempestini trails the leader by half a minute. Poland’s Miko Marczyk is in fourth ahead of Norwegian veteran Mads Østberg.
Six special stages remain to be contested in Hungary on Sunday.
Standings of the Rally Hungary after SS7/13:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andrea Mabellini | Skoda | 1:01:17.9 |
| 2. | Roope Korhonen | Toyota | +10.6 |
| 3. | Simone Tempestini | Skoda | +30.8 |
| 4. | Mikolaj Marczyk | Skoda | +38.2 |
| 5. | Mads Østberg | Citroen | +41.9 |
| 6. | Isak Reiersen | Skoda | +1:26.7 |
| 7. | Jakub Matulka | Skoda | +1:35.5 |
| 8. | Martin Laszlo | Skoda | +2:04.3 |
