Marmaris (Turkey) (AFP)

Sébastien Ogier could not have dreamed of a better day at the Rally of Turkey, 11th in 14 of the WRC World Championship on Saturday, taking the lead while his rivals for the title lost big.

The winding Turkish roads have not failed their reputation, putting down the first two drivers at the World Championship: the Estonian Ott Tänak (Toyota) abandoned after an electrical problem occurred in a link during the first two stages, then his runner-up Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) went off the track, losing more than 4 minutes on the first stage of the day.

"It's a perfect day," sums up six-time world champion Sébastien Ogier (Citroën), third in the drivers championship standings. "No problem, a good pace and our opponents had problems."

But beware of the excess of optimism, the last four specials that await drivers Sunday will be able to reshuffle the cards by putting the mechanics and the tires to the test. And Ogier knows, he was off the track last year when he was well placed.

Especially since the French driver, who is 40 points behind Ott Tänak and 7 on Thierry Neuville at the drivers' world championship, can not afford to miss this opportunity.

- Fight for the Power Stage -

The Estonian Toyota hopes to compete again Sunday to pick up some points during the Power Stage, his team having "identified the failure" during the afternoon.

"It makes everything easier, no need to control, you just have to go back to the fight" he tried to be positive, he who had already suffered a puncture on Friday and who was only eighth at the end of the first day.

Thierry Neuville also lost important points out of the road during the first stage, downgrading from 3rd to 8th.

"I am very disappointed, we have put so much effort in this fight and it is hard to digest while all that could easily have been avoided," reacted the Belgian, too far to hope to recover despite his good times of 'afternoon. "We must remain optimistic because there has been so much change in the situation between the three of us", for the title, he assured.

"Maximum concentration on the Power Stage.The fight is far from over," said the Belgian driver again.

In the fight for these last 5 points - a win in 25 - Citroen seems well armed, with his two drivers well ahead of other competitors.

"We knew that the car would do well on this ground after the tests before the rally", confirmed Sébastien Ogier.

Elbow-to-elbow since just 2 / 10th of a second separates Ogier from his Finnish team-mate Esapekka Lappi after the first 13 stages, the Citroen have however 1 min 17 seconds on their nearest pursuer, Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai).

But Ogier's team-mate, far from the world championship, has already confirmed that he will not give him a shadow: "I do not have much to do with not being first." Seb needs of these points and I will try to support him until the finish. "

© 2019 AFP