The Sardinian gravel rally began on Friday with four special stages, where Toyota driver Ogier set the fastest time on two of them. The French star holds a 4.5-second lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tänak.
Ogier was the fastest on both runs of the Osilu-Tergu special stage, despite not being able to push completely on the longest stage of the competition, according to the multi-champion.
“For me, it was the first time in that direction. But I remember from the past that it was always a challenge to save the tyre in there. Still, we went for a bit of an aggressive choice with five tyres this afternoon. Even if it’s, I think, one of my good strengths to manage them, I had to take care a little bit in some sections to really finish the loop with some rubber left,” Ogier said.
Ogier’s day also included a scare.
“It’s nice to be in the lead, but we had one alarm this afternoon. There was a sensor issue after stage one where we nearly didn’t restart, and it was a bit scary, but after that it went okay,” Ogier sighed.
Saturday presents a tough challenge for the drivers. There are nearly 150 special stage kilometers to cover, which means more than half of the total rally distance will be driven in one day. All eight special stages must be completed without a proper service break.
Ogier and Tänak are close enough that the pair will surely have a tight battle for seconds on the second day. Conditional points for the overall standings of the weekend will be distributed on Saturday evening.
“With no service it’s never easy for us. I think it’s a positive step what we’ve done today, having the optimum start position for tomorrow. The gap, let’s say, closed with Ott, but it’s a bit bigger with the others. The fight for the win is still very intense,” Ogier emphasized.
Toyota’s current team principal, Jari-Matti Latvala, holds the most special stage wins in the Rally Sardinia, but Ogier has a chance to surpass his boss this weekend. Ogier is just three special stage wins away from the Finn.
“At the moment, that’s not the main focus for sure. Jari, I’ll try to stay behind you if that makes you happy. But I think you will be also very happy if I win the rally,” Ogier conveyed to Latvala.
