Pajari had been in great form throughout Friday morning, and his impressive pace continued on the third stage — until misfortune struck.
Near the end of the rally’s longest stage, the nearly 28-kilometre Sa Conchedda stage, Pajari suffered a puncture. The Finnish driver’s front right tyre deflated. Fortunately, the puncture occurred close to the end of the stage, so he didn’t lose too much time.
“We just hit a rock, a pretty usual situation. It happened right at the end, so nothing too dramatic,” Pajari commented at the stage finish.
Pajari ultimately set the fifth fastest time on the stage. He remains fifth overall in the rally standings.
Hyundai’s French driver Adrien Fourmaux impressed with a superb stage win. He beat Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta by 5.7 seconds and moved into the overall rally lead.
“Everything is going really well at the moment. I just tried to stick to the line and drove very cleanly. I’m happy,” Fourmaux smiled at the finish.
Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier was third fastest, behind Katsuta. He finished six seconds down on Fourmaux’s benchmark time.
“There wasn’t that much grip. I expect the guys coming behind to be faster,” Ogier summed up.
Kalle Rovanperä is struggling. The Finn was only seventh fastest on this stage, losing a hefty 17.1 seconds to Fourmaux. Among the Rally1 cars, he only managed to stay ahead of his team-mate Elfyn Evans, who is running first on the road in the unenviable role of road-sweeper. Rovanperä was running two hard tyres on the front, but the choice didn’t seem to be working.
“It’s difficult to find the balance with the car. Normally, even soft tyres don’t work on the front, so at the moment nothing is working,” Rovanperä said bleakly.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak also encountered problems. He managed to finish ahead of Rovanperä but was 12 seconds slower than his team-mate’s fastest time.
“I had big struggling with the car. I couldn’t find any flow at all,” Tänak lamented.
In the overall standings, Thierry Neuville has now dropped to second place. He trails Fourmaux by 2.9 seconds. Ogier is third, 8.1 seconds back, with Tänak fourth, nine seconds behind.
Rovanperä is down in seventh place overall, already more than half a minute off the lead.
After the service break, three more special stages remain on today’s itinerary at Rally Sardinia. The rally concludes on Sunday.
Standings of Rally Sardinia after SS3/16:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | 35.38.4 |
| 2. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +2.9 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +8.1 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +9.0 |
| 5. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +11.0 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +15.5 |
| 7. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +30.1 |
| 8. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +41.2 |
Thursday 5.6.
14.01 Shakedown: Olbia Cabu Abbas (2,19 km)
Friday 6.6.
10.01 SS1: Arzachena 1 (13,97 km)
11.16 SS2: Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda 1 (18,43 km)
12.31 SS3: Sa Conchedda 1 (27,95 km)
15.05 Service (40 min)
16.31 SS4: Arzachena 2 (13,97 km)
17.46 SS5: Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda 2 (18,43 km)
19.01 SS6: Sa Conchedda 2 (27,95 km)
Saturday 7.6.
10.05 SS7: Coiluna – Loelle 1 (21,18 km)
11.16 SS8: Lerno – Su Filigosu 1 (24,34 km)
12.31 SS9: Tula – Erula 1 (15,28 km)
14.20 Service (40 min)
16.05 SS10: Coiluna – Loelle 2 (21,18 km)
17.16 SS11: Lerno – Su Filigosu 2 (24,34 km)
18.31 SS12: Tula – Erula 2 (15,28 km)
Sunday 8.6.
08.25 SS13: San Giacomo – Plebi 1 (25,19 km)
09.35 SS14: Porto San Paolo 1 (13,70 km)
11.50 SS15: San Giacomo – Plebi 2 (25,19 km)
13.30 Service (15 min)
14.15 SS16: Porto San Paolo 2 (13,70 km) *Power Stage
