Sébastien Ogier admits he is surprised to be leading Rally Italia Sardinia after an eventful Friday that caught out several of his World Rally Championship rivals.

The eight-time world champion faced the effects of road cleaning in the morning, starting third, but completed Friday’s six gravel stages with a 2.1s lead over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux.

Ogier defied his road position to grab the lead after the opening stage but dropped to third behind Hyundai duo Fourmaux, who took a 2.9s lead over Thierry Neuville into the midday service.

However, the ultra fast and narrow Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda stage, that ruined M-Sport-Ford trio Josh McErelean, Gregoire Munster and Mārtiņš Sesks’ days, once again wreaked havoc in the afternoon.

Neuville clipped the left rear of his i20 N on a rock that forced the world champion to retire from the lead, having snatched the advantage away from Fourmaux by 0.2s. Fourmaux was unable to hang on to the lead he regained as a set up tweak made to his Hyundai i20 N in between stages didn’t pay off for the Frenchman. 

Ogier pounced on the moment, winning the stage while taking 6.7s from Fourmaux to end the day in a surprise lead – a feat made even more impressive by his Toyota team opting not to test before the rally, unlike their rivals.

“I’m very happy for sure. I would have definitely signed and not really bet on that especially considering the competition we are facing at the moment,” said Ogier. 

“I have to be satisfied with what we did today and to pick up the best starting position for the rest of the weekend is ideal, but the gaps are still super small. One part of the job is done but a big part of the job remains.”

Fourmaux was left to rue his set up tweak before the day’s final stage but was buoyed to be in the fight for what could be a maiden WRC victory.

“It is really close which is a positive point, and be two seconds behind Seb, but to be fair it has been a great day. I wish I could be leading and I should have been better on the last stage and unfortunately I made a mistake with set up and I lost time,” said Fourmaux.

“After what happened in Portugal [where we retired from the victory fight with a technical issue] I can be happy.”

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak ended Friday in third, 7.3s adrift of the pace after a broken front damper cost him valuable time in stage six. The 2019 world champion, who had been struggling with the handling of his i20 N in the morning,  had closed to within 1.2s of then leader Fourmaux before the issue struck.

“For one stage things went better [with the car] but we had some trouble with the suspension and then in the last one we had to lose as little as possible. I don’t know why it happened. We tried our best but we couldn’t do anymore,” said Tanak. 

Sami Pajari produced arguably his best showing of the season to date to complete a tricky day in fourth overall, 16.8s behind leader Ogier. The Finn headed two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who ended the day encouraged by the pace he found after struggling with his GR Yaris in the morning, starting second on the road. 

“This afternoon I would say I was pretty happy from a Sardinia level as I’m never super comfortable here but it seems we have found some pace,” said Rovanpera, who will start Saturday 22.8s behind Ogier. 

“The biggest thing is I feel I need to push too much in the way of tyre wear. The times are coming if you push a lot but then also we have big tyre wear. This is what we need to work on tomorrow.”

Championship leader Elfyn Evans faced the worst of the road conditions which was reflected in his times. The Welshman felt that it wasn’t only the fact he had to open the road that left him 1m09.8s off the pace in sixth.

Evans fared better than team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, who clipped a rock at tight, slow speed right hander that tipped his GR Yaris onto its side. Spectators helped put the car back on its wheels allowing the Japanese to nurse a wounded GR Yaris home in seventh [+2m27,9s].

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Neuville wasn’t so lucky in the stage as his brush with the rocks at high speed ripped the left wheel from his i20 N forcing the world champion into a first retirement of the year.

“I lost the front and had to correct the line and at that point the rear went wide and I hit a stone and it was over,” said Neuville.

“It could have been a massive crash but in the end we just went a little bit wide and it took off the rear. The smallest mistakes in rallying pays cash and sometimes nothing happens, but it is unfortunate for us as we were leading at the time.”

The rally continues on Saturday with six stages scheduled, covering 121 competitive kilometres.  

Photos Rally Italy – Day 1