Friday started disastrously for Toyota as Sebastien Ogier and later Takamoto Katsuta both suffered punctures. Katsuta managed to limp to the finish on a flat tyre and stay in the fight for a podium, but Ogier’s situation was worse.
The Frenchman lost his chance at a top position and was visibly frustrated by the end of the day.
“I cannot be happy because it’s not enough,” Ogier said bluntly.
“For sure, it’s hard to start this rally the same way as two years ago. I had a puncture straight away, on the same section, actually the same stage. It looks like this area is not bringing me much luck,” Ogier lamented.
However, Toyota’s chances in the championship fight significantly improved as Hyundai drivers Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville ran into trouble. Mikkelsen crashed into a tree, while Neuville, chasing his first world championship, was plagued by technical issues throughout Friday.
“Like I said, it’s not enough. I also had some trouble today, and it means we all had a tough day. But as you mentioned, one of the guys did a great job and didn’t have any issues. For sure, it was pulling away, and that’s not what we want at the moment. So yeah, we have to hope that Elfyn (Evans) can give him a bit of a fight tomorrow and put some pressure on. From our side, the only thing we can do is try to get closer to the podium with Taka (Takamoto Katsuta) and then see what happens,” Ogier summed up.
Elfyn Evans currently holds second place in the rally but has fallen more than 20 seconds behind Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, who leads.
“The morning was pretty all right. Obviously, very difficult conditions out there, and we expected a bit of the same in the afternoon, but it was probably better than we expected, in fairness. So yeah, the tyre choice maybe wasn’t the perfect one. We were also struggling a bit with rotation in the car, driving a bit aggressively to try and overcome that, and it didn’t really work out. But we did get better throughout the afternoon, so that’s something,” Evans reflected.
