Ogier is sixth in the season-ending Rally Saudi Arabia and Evans is eighth. This means the French star would move one point ahead of championship leader Evans. However, extra points are still available on Saturday.
For Evans, the situation is such that the Welshman must now beat Ogier in both the Super Saturday classification and the Power Stage special stage results in order to become champion for the first time in his career. The fight between the pair began extremely closely, as Ogier was only a tenth faster than Evans on Saturday morning’s opening test.
“It’s tight. A pretty clean stage from us. Hopefully we can stay away from problems. I’m as confident as you can be in this kind of lottery rally,” Ogier said.
“We’ll do our best right to the end. We haven’t had the pace all weekend, but hopefully today will be different,” Evans commented.
The rally lead has been taken by Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who is chasing his first victory of the season. The Belgian driver leads the event by two seconds over Latvian surprise Martins Sesks. Neuville reported an issue with the dampers, but the fault was not major.
“We were really cautious on this stage. The situation is okay, we were just too cautious. We’ll see what happens on the next one,” Sesks said.
In third place in the rally is Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who nevertheless has to keep a close eye on Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman lost the rally lead on Friday evening due to a one-minute time penalty, but immediately posted the fastest time on Saturday morning. The gap between the pair is only 6.2 seconds in Katsuta’s favour.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä continues in fifth place. For Rovanperä to become world champion would require serious misfortune late in the rally for both Evans and Ogier.
Two special stages remain to be driven in Rally Saudi Arabia.
Standings in Rally Saudi Arabia after SS15/17:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | 2:54:24.1 |
| 2. | Martins Sesks | Ford | +2.0 |
| 3. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +44.0 |
| 4. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +50.2 |
| 5. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +1:08.6 |
| 6. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +1:13.5 |
| 7. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +1:43.5 |
| 8. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +3:53.4 |
| 9. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +6:34.9 |
| 10. | Josh McErlean | Ford | +7:52.3 |
Super Sunday Standings:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | 10:56.6 |
| 2. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +3.4 |
| 3. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +4.0 |
| 4. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +8.1 |
| 5. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +8.2 |
Rally Saudi Arabia itinerary (CET):
Wednesday 26 November
09:01 Shakedown: Thahban (4.56 km)
18:35 SS1: Jameel Motorsport Super Special 1 (5.22 km)
Thursday 27 November
06:08 SS2: Al Faisaliyah 1 (19.36 km)
07:06 SS3: Moon Stage 1 (20.12 km)
08:04 SS4: Khulais 1 (11.33 km)
10:14 Service (40 min)
12:22 SS5: Al Faisaliyah 2 (19.36 km)
13:20 SS6: Moon Stage 2 (20.12 km)
14:18 SS7: Khulais 2 (11.33 km)
17:28 Service (45 min)
18:31 SS8: Jameel Motorsport Super Special 2 (5.22 km)
Friday 28 November
06:26 SS9: Alghulah 1 (11.69 km)
07:19 SS10: Um Al Jerem 1 (30.58 km)
08:35 SS11: Wadi Almatwi 1 (24.90 km)
10:15 Service (40 min)
11:51 SS12: Alghulah 2 (11.69 km)
12:47 SS13: Um Al Jerem 2 (30.58 km)
14:05 SS14: Wadi Almatwi 2 (24.90 km)
Saturday 29 November
07:05 SS15: Thahban 1 (16.29 km)
08:21 SS16: Asfan (33.28 km)
11:15 SS17: Thahban 2 (16.29 km) *Power Stage
