Marmaris (Turkey) (AFP)
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) is leading the Rally of Turkey on Saturday evening, after a well started second day, then disturbed for Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) who is now in 2nd place, tied with Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai) .
While the Belgian was 1.6 seconds behind Ogier, at the lunch break, after the first three specials (SS3 to SS5), he took advantage of the gearbox problems encountered by the Frenchman in SS6 and finally widened a gap of 33.2 seconds on Ogier and Loeb.
"This afternoon, it went much better than this morning. We worked a lot on the settings and I was more comfortable in the car for the second loop, especially in the more brittle parts", summarized Neuville, author of half of the scratch times since the start.
"We have found what we were looking for, we are not yet 100% but we are in the right direction", added the Belgian, winner in January of the Rallye Monte-Carlo and 5th in the championship before this 5th round of the season 2020, cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Another Hyundai shone on Saturday, Loeb's.
Victim in the morning of a poor choice of tires, the Alsatian finished the day with a blast with a better time in Kizlan (SS8) and a second place tied with Ogier in the general classification.
"We were annoyed that we had the wrong tires this morning, which cost us a lot of time. Luckily, we managed to get back to the afternoon loop, handling the tires a little better, even If we were still at the limit. But it's too early to predict what we can achieve on Sunday, there are many kilometers left, "added the nine-time world champion, now freelance at Hyundai.
- Ogier: "It's part of the rally" -
"It was a disappointing afternoon," said Ogier, who won last year at Marmaris.
"We had a lot of gear selection problems. It cost me a lot of time in the long special (SS6) and then a few seconds in the other two. It's frustrating because we did a good job but that's part of it. rally. The race is still long ".
Ogier's main rival for the world title, Ott Tänak, Hyundai leader and reigning world champion, retired in the 3rd special stage on Saturday morning due to a major steering problem.
Her car pulled straight into the Turkish bush, on a section without major difficulty, then she returned to the service park on a recovery truck.
"It happened without warning, we didn't expect it and we couldn't do anything," said the Estonian.
"Tomorrow (Sunday), we're just going to set off again to try to score as many points as possible in the Power Stage".
The last morning of this rally, shorter than the 2019 edition, will also be full-bodied, with 88 km very difficult to negotiate, including the longest special of the rally (38 km) to be covered twice.
"It will especially be necessary to avoid punctures", warned Neuville.
© 2020 AFP