Alghero (Italy) (AFP)

He missed out on the win but still has his consolation: Ott Tänak (Toyota) took Sunday the lead of the World Rally Championship (WRC) despite his 5th place in Sardinia, where prevailed the Spanish Dani Sordo (Hyundai).

In terms of accounting, the takeover of the Baltic pilot is indisputable. But in view of his outrageous dominance on the Sardinian roads, he may be angry with his assisted leadership, who chose to abandon him in the final stage, when victory was promised.

On arrival, Tänak did not let go of a word, prostrate on his steering wheel. A silence that contrasted with the amazement of Sordo, victorious in the second rally of his career at the world level (after Germany in 2013) before Finland's Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford) and Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai).

"It's unbelievable, I do not have words to describe that," exclaimed the Spaniard, who is only playing a partial program with Hyundai this year, even with the mistake (mechanical failure, ed) Tänak, that's great. (I'm) sorry for Ott. "

By being only 5th of this 8th event of the season (out of 14), Tänak missed the opportunity to hit the heads of his rivals for the title, with Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) finishing off points and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) only 6th.

In the drivers' standings, he nevertheless doubled the French, four distances behind him, and kept the Belgian at seven.

On the side of the manufacturers, the hierarchy has not changed: Hyundai leads the way with 242 points ahead of Toyota (198 pts), Citroen (170 pts) and M-Sport (152 pts).

- Blatant domination -

Smart and extremely fast throughout the weekend, Tänak was ambushed (3rd to 11 sec 2/10) Friday night, although he had to open the road part of the day. He went on to win the six stages on Saturday, to take the lead in the overall standings and then widen the gap.

His dominance was all the more blatant as Ogier was vegetating in the depths of the standings, after a suspension break that forced him to retire in the fifth special stage on Friday, before returning Saturday without any hope of entering the points.

"It's not a positive weekend for us, but it's the law of motorsport, we have to accept it and already focus on the next rally," said the Frenchman.

As for Neuville, it was sealed by bad choice of tires, a general lack of rhythm and various incidents, even in the Power Stage.

"We pushed as far as we could but in the ruts, the car went straight (...) We could do nothing more," he said about his last small mistake. "I struggled to take control of the car all weekend (...) it was not great," lamented the Belgian.

- Doubts about reliability -

But the blow of the spell that hit Tänak, combined with the few points grabbed by his opponents in the Power Stage (4 for Ogier, 3 for Neuville), ruined the desires of escape to the drivers' classification that a victory would have ensured him .

Place now for the summer break, which will be broken only on August 1st by the Rally Finland.

For Estonian and his team, it will probably be an opportunity to ponder this umpteenth mechanical failure. The unfortunate episode of Sunday is indeed not isolated: on the roads of Argentina, a concern of transmission then an electrical problem had undermined its weekend.

What to raise doubts about the reliability of the Toyota, while Tänak is at the forefront to afford the first world title after which it runs.

? 2019 AFP