Ogier defends lead, Evans holds second on Sunday morning

Last night’s leader Ogier took a risk-free approach to Sunday morning’s three stages to defend his position. As a result, the eight-time world champion’s 35.8 second advantage was reduced to his 22.5 seconds over Evans.

Evans narrowly held off a charging Neuville, trailing 2.7 seconds into the final stage.

Kalle Rovanpera held on to a lone fourth place position, 1m 50.8s behind, but moved ahead of Hyundai. Dani Sordo 2m54.1s for Skoda Gus Greensmith Top runner in WRC2 with 6th place overall.

The final day started with the now heavily rutted Las Dunas Super Special on its fourth pass, once again offering plenty of action.

M-Sport Privateer Jordan Serderidis While yesterday’s retired teammate Pierre-Louis Roubaix ran alongside and plowed over a rocky bank, he hit a rock.

Hyundai’s Sordo also ran wide right-handed, briefly stalling the i20 N.

Neuville won the stage as the Belgian set the fifth fastest time of the event so far, adding another 0.2 seconds to Evans in the battle for second place. The gap was reduced to 4.1 seconds.

Leader Ogier chose not to risk it in the ruts, passing pacesetter Neuville’s 3.8 second drift.

Crews headed to the longest stage of the next rally, a 35.63 km stage in Otatsu. This stage included a section of Hermosquito’s test yesterday, which meant that his level of grip was different.

Many drivers opted for a cautious approach, but Evans and Neuville did their best as the battle for seconds continued.

It was Evans who won that battle, taking the rally’s first stage win in a decisive moment. Opened the seconds buffer.

“Tough job! It was very slippery and really hard to judge. It didn’t seem that bad,” Evans said.

Ogier described his run as a “risk-free” attempt, avoiding getting caught in a slippery section of the stage and dropping 9.0 seconds in the process.

The Rally1 field navigated the stage well, but Tänak finished with a damper issue.

However, the WRC2 driver was absent for a long time. Adrian Frumeaupromoted Tänak to the final points-paying position in 10th to replace the alternator belt.

The battle for overall 2nd place took a turn on the final stage in the morning. Neuville trailed Tänak by 1.5 seconds on stage 22, but more importantly he also took his 3.1 seconds from Evans, who lost time by going wide at the first corner.

Neuville also revealed that Evans’ GR Yaris was having suspension problems picked up in the previous stage.

“I will keep pushing. We will not give up. Elfyn is fixing his car. He touched something in the previous stage and damaged the suspension.” requires courage. ”

In WRC2, Greensmith defended his lead, with Emil Lindholm Oliver Solberg Inherited second and third respectively after Frumeau surrendered second following problems in stage 22.

The El Blinko Power Stage concludes the rally later today.