Three days of competition in Sardinia are extremely long, but if one thing is clear on the day before the ‘real’ start of the Rally Italy-Sardinia, it is that Hyundai is going all out. On a Thursday in which the traditional shakedown and a newly designed super special stage took place in Olbia, All the spotlights have fallen on Thierry Neuville. The Belgian set the fastest shakedown time and was once again at the top of the timesheets in SS1. With a time of 2:26.8, Neuville is the first leader of the Rally of Italy-Sardinia.
The Olbia super special did not have much crumb, halfway between an urban section and a gravel special with a few jumps too many. Be that as it may, showing the same fang as in the shakedown, Neuville has finished with the fastest time. The Belgian starts the test with a scratch, but his has cost him before the push of Takamoto Katsuta. The Japanese driver came close to his sixth scratch in the WRC, but had to settle for second position after finishing 0.5 seconds behind the Belgian.
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The truth is that the differences have been very small, with the Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers as perfect pursuers of Neuville. In fact, the four pilots under the umbrella of the Japanese firm have finished in the wake of the Belgian. Beyond Takamoto Katsuta, the Welshman Elfyn Evans has placed third, while Esapekka Lappi and Kalle Rovanperä have signed the same time to place fourth and fifth. The difference between the five mentioned pilots has not surpassed the second, evidence that the real action will start tomorrow on the Sardinian gravel stages.
Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo have settled for sixth and seventh position, which has left the four M-Sport drivers as the last four classified among the ‘Rally1’. This discreet start by the coach from Cumbria had as its most outstanding driver an Adrien Fourmaux who finished 2.2 seconds off the lead. It was not the best start for Gus Greensmith, who started the rally with an intercom problem. The image of the co-pilot of him guiding him with signs has been the least striking.
Leaving aside the ‘Rally1’, Marquito Bulacia has been placed as the first leader in WRC2 after signing a great time in SS1. The Bolivian beat Mikolaj Marczyk by four tenths, while Georg Linnamäe was 0.9 seconds behind. For now, the proper names of the silver class have passed the procedure without standing out excessively. Teemu Suninen finished fourth, ahead of Nikolay Gryazin, Yohan Rossel and Sami Pajari. For his part, the current champion Andreas Mikkelsen was eighth.
Classification of the sS1 of the 19th Rally of Italy-Sardinia
The Rally of Italy-Sardinia continues this Friday (07:01 a.m.) with the dispute of the first stage of the event. Pilots and co-pilots will dispute 113.56 kilometers against the clock.
Photos: hyundai motorsport