M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks impressed once again, setting another excellent time and finishing fastest on the second run of the Al Faisaliyah special stage, ahead of Toyota’s Sami Pajari. The Finn had to concede 2.2 seconds to the Latvian.
Pajari is currently driving a truly splendid rally and remains firmly in the fight for victory.
“I knew this stage was still in pretty decent condition, but the next two are certainly going to be quite horrendous,” Pajari said at the stage finish.
In the overall standings, Pajari has now climbed to second place in the rally and is 3.9 seconds behind Sesks, who still leads. Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux has dropped to third and is 4.4 seconds off the lead.
Of the drivers involved in the title fight, Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier performed the best, setting the third-fastest time on this stage. Ogier and Fourmaux recorded exactly the same time. Ogier is seventh overall.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä claimed a defensive win. He dropped a modest 5.8 seconds to the front and beat Elfyn Evans, who lost 10.3 seconds to the leader. Rovanperä has a clear target for the afternoon loop.
“We’ll try to push a bit so we can get a slightly better road position for tomorrow,” Rovanperä planned.
Evans can also be reasonably satisfied with his run, even if he couldn’t keep up with the leading pace.
“This went better than in the morning. Conditions were quite OK. In some places the ruts are pretty bad, but otherwise everything is fine,” Evans said.
Rovanperä now has a good chance to catch, on pure pace, both Nasser Al-Attiyah and Evans ahead of him. Al-Attiyah landed too heavily from one jump, causing the entire boot to detach from the car. That may somewhat slow the experienced Qatari on the afternoon loop.
Three more special stages will be run on Thursday at the Saudi Arabian WRC Rally. The rally concludes on Saturday.
Standings in the Saudi Arabian WRC Rally after SS5/17:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Martins Sesks | Ford | 50:16.0 |
| 2. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +3.9 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +4.4 |
| 4. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +22.2 |
| 5. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +22.5 |
| 6. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +25.6 |
| 7. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +30.7 |
| 8. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1:00.6 |
| 9. | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Ford | +1:05.6 |
| 10. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +1:13.8 |
| 11. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +1:37.7 |
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
