It’s time for Thierry Neuville. The Hyundai Motorsport driver has strung together 3 consecutive special victories which are consecrating him as the fastest driver of the morning.
The Belgian, after winning SS12, also repeated himself in the next two, i.e. SS13 Derramadero 1 of 21.70 kilometers and SS14 Las Dunas Superpecial 2 of 3.53 kilometres.
In both Neuville managed to do better than Elfyn Evans, but it is in the last one – the shorter one – in which the Belgian gnawed at more time from his rival. Now the gap between the two is 8″7, so the afternoon lap promises to be very interesting precisely because of this duel dedicated to conquering the second position in the general classification.
If Evans is called to change pace to fend off the Belgian’s attacks, Sébastien Ogier has decided to manage his advantage over Evans, now 24″1.
Kalle Rovanpera is increasingly in difficulty, slipped to 36″6 from the lowest step of the podium after just 4 races. A very large gap, especially if we consider that the world champion started the day with a gap from Neuville equal to 19″ 9.
Dani Sordo’s fifth position is now frozen, unable to attack Rovanpera due to a 43″1 delay, but also without rivals for the Top 5, with the first pursuer almost 7 minutes behind him.
As for WRC2, Gus Greensmith is firmly in the lead with a 17″7 lead over Adrien Fourmaux. The TokSport Skoda team driver, as well as all his category colleagues, only ran SS14 due to the red flag triggered in SS11 by accident involving Esapekka Lappi.
All the drivers at the wheel of cars other than Rally1 were diverted directly to SS14 (thus skipping 3 stages). In all of this Fourmaux was also penalized by 10 seconds. For this reason, his second position is by no means safe.
Behind him is Emil Lindholm, who recovered 6″9 from him after a very complicated Friday afternoon. Kajetan Kajetanowicz seems to have no hope of a podium, fourth in his category and more than 40 seconds behind the lowest step of the podium.
Saturday’s afternoon drive to Rally Mexico ends here. The afternoon lap will start with the PS15, the 14.82 km Ibarrilla 2. The first car will enter the test at 21:06 Italian time.
