Ogier survives brutal Sardinia Saturday with narrow lead

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Sebastien Ogier goes into the final day of the Rally Italy in Sardinia with a razor-thin lead of 11.1 seconds after surviving an extremely demanding Saturday that proved fatal for several WRC drivers.

Toyota driver Ogier held his nerve in the intense duel with Hyundai's Ott Tänak – despite extremely difficult conditions and the high risk of tire damage. Knowing that Tänak would attack, Ogier couldn't afford to take any time off and had to take risks.

Tänak, who had suffered a puncture himself in the morning, resolutely countered with two fastest times in the afternoon, reducing the gap from an initial 15.0 seconds. Ogier held his own and won the final stage of the day with a lead of 0.4 seconds over Tänak. "It was a long day, especially the afternoon was very tough. But it was good race management," said Ogier.

Besides Ogier, only teammate Kalle Rovanperä remained without major problems after twelve of the 16 special stages. The Finn, however, made a small mistake in SS10 that cost him four seconds, but otherwise mastered the particularly rough stages with ease and is in third place, 55.5 seconds behind.

For Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta, and Sami Pajari, the day was considerably more turbulent. This led to several changes in the standings. Katsuta was the first to be hit: In SS10, he suffered a puncture on the front right tire and had to stop for a tire change – a loss of two minutes.

In the following stage, both Evans and Pajari, also on the front right, were hit after both rode over protruding stones. Evans escaped lightly, losing only 1 minute, 50 seconds, with co-driver Scott Martin. Pajari, however, initially continued on the damaged tire, but was forced to stop shortly before the end of the stage.

He almost caused an incident with Tänak, who had to swerve to avoid the heavily slowed Toyota while on his way to the fastest time. "The only thing I could do was hit the stones. We have so many safety systems, but no warning, no marshals, nothing," Tänak complained.

World Championship leader Evans benefited from the problems experienced by Katsuta and Pajari, moving up to fourth place, 4:33.5 minutes behind the leader. Pajari is now in fifth place (+4:56.3), and Katsuta is in seventh place (+6:11.4).

Hyundai is aiming for victory on Sunday

Hyundai announced on Saturday evening that it intends to drive for victory in the rally – whatever the cost. The Koreans are under pressure to finally claim their first victory of the season after Toyota's perfect start to the season. Sardinia is considered a good place for that: Hyundai has only been beaten there twice since 2016.

Tänak still has a realistic chance of winning on Sunday: four stages remain, and he's only 11.1 seconds behind Ogier after a Saturday that massively decimated the Rally1 field.

The battle for victory was very reminiscent of last year: Back then, Tänak also entered the final day trailing Ogier by 17 seconds – in 2023, it was 17 seconds. In the end, Tänak won by a razor-thin margin of 0.2 seconds after Ogier suffered a tire puncture on the Power Stage.

Hyundai has a clear plan for the final day of the 2025 season. The four stages on Sunday are new to the rally calendar and therefore unfamiliar territory for the teams. "We're still in the race. Ott lost 10.5 seconds due to a tire puncture on SS9, but he's still only 11.1 seconds behind," explains Hyundai's technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.

"Of course it's frustrating, but anything is possible tomorrow. Last year we were even 17.1 seconds behind and won. We're in a situation where we have to attack all the way. And we accept the consequences."

Tänak himself wants to maintain Saturday's rhythm on Sunday: "I think we just have to keep the same rhythm as today. Every day is different, and rallying is difficult to predict. We'll do our best and see where we end up."

Latvala impressed by Ogier's management

Ogier expects Tänak to attack rather than play it safe, and therefore also wants to master a balancing act between risk and caution: "I think we managed it well. As expected, Ott put on a lot of pressure. It's about managing the risk, and I did my best. In both cases, we lost a few seconds behind Adrien – once with his puncture in SS8, then with the roll in SS11. Maybe I can get the time back; I'll check with the organizers."

Looking ahead to Sunday, Ogier added: "The stages are very demanding, especially the long stage and the Power Stage, which is anything but easy. I know the first special stage is difficult. We have to push just as hard as we did this afternoon. That's clear."

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala praises Ogier's ability to keep a cool head in difficult terrain, but warns of further challenges: "Sebastien is incredibly strong on rough surfaces and technical sections. You can see that he's not most comfortable on extremely fast roads. But what he did on the last stage was truly amazing. I said to my engineers, 'I wish I were that smart.'"

"Anything can still happen, and minimizing such risks is difficult. The first run through Sunday's stages will be crucial. And hopefully, we can then control the second run better," says Latvala.

Meanwhile, Fourmaux was still Hyundai's best hope for victory on Saturday morning, just 2.1 seconds behind Ogier. But his day ended in chaos. First, he lost almost four minutes due to a tire puncture in SS8, then he missed a braking point in SS9 due to dust in the cockpit and slid off the track. It was finally over in SS11: Fourmaux rolled at low speed and was forced to retire.

"I confused two trees. There was a curve that narrowed, but the braking point was behind the first tree – and I didn't brake until after the second. That was enough to overshoot, and I hit a rock. That was enough to cause a minor roll," explains Fourmaux. It's unclear whether the car can be repaired by Sunday: "I think so, but we won't know for sure until a thorough examination."

Teammate Thierry Neuville and M-Sport drivers Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster made it through Saturday without major incidents after their Friday retirements. The best Rally2 driver on Saturday evening was Nikolay Gryazin in sixth place. However, the Skoda driver is not eligible for WRC2 points this weekend. The lead in the WRC2 standings lies with Emil Lindholm.

Four special stages await on Sunday: the final spurt of a memorable rally.