Oliver Solberg will enter the final day of the World Rally Championship holding a slender six-point advantage over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans following a dramatic Saturday afternoon at Rally Italy Sardinia that dramatically reshaped the title fight.
Solberg had reduced Evans’ championship lead to just four points before Hyundai suffered a catastrophic double blow: Thierry Neuville retired with a torn-off rear wheel, and Adrien Fourmaux lost nearly two minutes changing a puncture. The misfortunes elevated title rivals Evans and Sami Pajari up the order, leaving Solberg’s championship margin at six points with 10 bonus points still available on Sunday.
Despite the championship swings, Solberg dominated the rally itself, ending Saturday with a commanding 33.6-second lead over nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier. Pajari sits third, 1 minute 39.9 seconds back, while Evans finished the day fifth, 6.4 seconds behind a recovering Fourmaux.
The championship narrative shifted violently during the afternoon loop. Neuville, running second just 2.7 seconds behind Solberg, saw his victory hopes—and title defense—evaporate 1.1 kilometers into stage 11 when the left-rear wheel detached from his Hyundai i20 N Rally1.
“He [Neuville] needs to keep his position so we can fight. I’m relieved in one way and I’m not in another,” said an emotional Solberg, acknowledging the complex dynamics of benefiting from a teammate’s misfortune.
The drama compounded on the following stage when Fourmaux suffered his second puncture of the day. The 1 minute 46.12 second wheel change dropped the Frenchman from third to fifth behind Pajari and Evans, momentarily extending Evans’ provisional championship lead to eight points.
Solberg, holding a comfortable rally lead, managed his pace accordingly. “I just tried to do my thing and enjoy it and have fun. This afternoon I was a bit more careful but I enjoyed it in there. So far we are doing a great job. We will do our job and see what happens,” he said.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
Evans, trailing Fourmaux by just 4.7 seconds, attacked aggressively on the final stage but couldn’t reclaim fourth. “Adrien will not be far away. I don’t think it will be straightforward tomorrow. Today has been a tough day to try and hang in there with Oliver going so fast at the front. We have a long way to go. We have a tough day tomorrow. It is still wide open,” Evans assessed.
A frustrated Fourmaux, who began Saturday just 0.4 seconds off the lead, rued his tyre management: “For me that is the pace when I don’t look at anything. It is very hard to understand these tyres. I tried to be smart but it is not working. I think we have the pace to be much better than fourth. We can still get a podium, the minimum reward I would say.”
Pajari, elevated to third without setting the outright pace, sits 12 points behind Evans in the standings. “We are not quite in the top fight so you do what is left. We are still in the game and there is one day to go,” the Finn said.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta finished sixth after opening the road following Martins Sesks’ retirement with steering failure on the road section to stage 11. Josh McErlean recovered to eighth after a tree strike damaged his Ford Puma, finishing behind M-Sport teammate Jon Armstrong, who enjoyed a clean run.
Four stages on Sunday will decide both the rally winner and the world champion.
