Taking advantage of Esapekka’s retirement, the former Estonian champion is in the lead when there is only one day of practice left in Sardinia. Exciting challenge between the English team and the Korean house to complete the podium
Federico Mariani
04 June
– Alghero
Jumps, ups and downs and skids. The Rally Italia Sardegna, fifth stage of the WRC World Championship, offers a great show in its third day of testing. The man-cover is definitely Ott Tanak: the Estonian, WRC world champion in 2019, sees the final victory after a perfect Saturday at the wheel of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. Behind him is the Ford Puma with Irish Craig Breen, constant and concrete, in front of Dani Sordo’s other Hyundai. From the point of view of the world championship, Kalle Rovanpera struggles, but still smiles thanks to Thierry Neuville’s bad day.
RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA: THE FIRST TESTS
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The program on Saturday 4 June provided 8 special stages with a total of 131.82 km. The start was given with the “Tempio Pausania 1”, 12.03 km long, departure of the first driver at 7.46. Suffered an illustrious victim, Esapekka Lappi. The Finn destroys one of the suspension of his Toyota by hitting a rock and thus nullifying his hopes of final victory. Shortly after, it’s up to Thierry Neuville to run into a bad accident. His Hyundai rolls over and the Belgian, second in the world championship standings, collects a heavy zero. A great assist to the leader of the World Championship Kalle Rovanpera, who appeared cautious and less brilliant than usual. Who is never wrong, however, is Tanak, who inherits the leadership from Lappi and runs away. 31 ”on Breen after the SS11 which increase to 45” after four more tests. In the fight for the last step of the podium, Sordo overtook Pierre-Louis Loubet’s Ford Puma and placed himself in third position.
RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA: SURPRISE
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In the afternoon, eyes on the 17.01 km long “Monte Lerno di Pattada”, to be tackled twice, with the second Coiluna-Loelle in the middle. In the last test, here is the twist in the guise of Adrien Formaux’s crashed Ford Puma, resulting in a red flag. The stop created some problems in assigning the official times: the drivers stopped in different places on the route and the restart was not given at the same time due to communication problems. However, the leadership of Tanak has been confirmed, who will be able to start tomorrow with a margin of 46 ”on Breen. Ford’s Irishman, on the other hand, will have to secure the place of honor from the comebacks of Sordo and teammate Loubet. Both have a great pace: it will be a tight challenge.
RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA: THE FINAL
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Sunday 5th June closing with 4 special stages, for a total of 39.3 km. Great attention to the 7.10 km “Sassari-Argentiera 2” power stage. Start from 12.18. The podium ceremony will take place on the Alghero seafront starting at 3pm.
rally italia sardegna: the ranking
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This is the general classification when there is only one day of competition left:
1 Tanak (East, Hyundai) 2: 43: 35.6
2 Breen (Irl, Ford) +46.0
3 Sordo (Spa, Hyundai) +1: 06.8
4 Loubet (Fra, Ford) +1: 31.8
5 Rovanpera (Fin, Toyota) +2: 23.2
6 Katsuta (Gia, Toyota) +3: 52.3
7 Greensmith (Gbr, Ford) +5: 03.3
8 Gryazin (Rus, Skoda) +6: 09.2
9 Solans (Spa, C3) +6: 54.1
10 Ingram (Gbr, Skoda) +7: 09.4
04 June 2022 – 20:49
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