SS4: Neuville the pacesetter
Fresh from a remote service in Sassari, fifth-placed Thierry Neuville was the pacesetter on the repeated Castelsardo test.
The Belgian, who drives a Ford Fiesta RS, narrowed the gap to fourth-placed Dani Sordo to just 2.6 seconds.
“The car felt much better after we made some adjustments to the brakes,” said Neuville. “They have much more bite now, and I was able to settle into a comfortable driving rhythm.”
With most of the loose gravel swept away on the earlier pass, the repeat offered all the drivers much more grip, but the hard-packed abrasive road surface had the potential to quickly destroy tyres.
Rally leader Sebastien Ogier was second fastest through, and one of many drivers to adopt a tyre saving approach. “It will be a long afternoon so we had to think about them,” said the Polo R driver. “We stayed in the middle of the road for most of the stage.”
“It’s tricky,” said Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen, who was third fastest, “We were driving carefully to save the tyres but when we got the split times it’s hard not to start pushing them harder again.”
Sixth fastest in his Fiesta RS, Mads Ostberg told a similar story. “We took it steady because there was such high grip. So, maybe not our best stage time, but we want to have tyres left for the next ones.”
Jari-Matti Latvala, however, said a scare early in the stage had knocked his confidence: “We had a really hard impact on our right-hand front corner – I think it was a hole in the road. I really thought we had broken something like the wheel or the brakes but it seemed okay. It took me a while to build up the speed again.”
His Polo R back to full strength after a new suspension joint was fitted in service, Andreas Mikkelsen was seventh fastest. “Now everything is perfect. The car is nice to drive again. A good stage, clean, no mistakes,” he said.
Meanwhile Per-Gunnar Andersson was concerned that his 2013 debut in a World Rally Car could be almost over. “There’s something wrong, I think it’s a driveshaft,” he said. “I could feel it pulling a lot in the last few kilometres. We’ll have a look now and see what we can do.”
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SS5: Two in a row for Thierry
Thierry Neuville’s second consecutive fastest time promoted him into fourth place, moving within striking distance of Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg ahead.
The young Belgian enjoyed the extra grip provided by the cleaner afternoon roads and was fastest by two-tenths of a second in his Ford Fiesta RS from leader Sebastien Ogier.
Neuville’s efforts moved him ahead of Dani Sordo and he is now just seven seconds behind second-placed Hirvonen and five seconds adrift of Ostberg in third.
“I feel very comfortable, especially when the grip is high and I know I can go fast without mistakes,” he said. “When the grip isn’t so good, I don’t feel so confident. The engineers have done a good job with the settings and it feels like driving on a circuit.”
Ogier took a close look at his Polo R at the stage finish as steam was emerging from the car, but the Frenchman did not appear concerned. “I tried to drive cleanly to look after my tyres and I think we will be OK to finish the day,” he said.
With the longest stage of the rally next up, drivers were again focused on preserving their tyres, happy to sacrifice a few seconds to ensure their rubber remained in good condition.
“I tried to save the tyres for the long one but I’m still quite pleased with my time,” said third fastest Jari-Matti Latvala. The Volkswagen driver was 1.4sec behind Neuville, and 4.3sec clear of Mads Ostberg, who was a little confused by the tyre changing strategy of some of his rivals.
“It seems like the others are running a different strategy but we will see if it pays off on the long one,” he said.
Dani Sordo was fifth in his Citroen DS3, slipping five seconds behind Neuville in the standings. Andreas Mikkelsen rounded off the top six, the Norwegian admitting his front tyres were badly worn and cost him time during the final kilometres.
P-G Andersson limped through with continuing driveshaft problems in his Fiesta RS. The Swede dropped 1min 16sec, but was hopeful of getting the car through the long Monte Lerno test. “It’s the left rear driveshaft. I tightened the differential so it’s pulling and I think we’ll make it,” he explained.
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After SS6: Ogier leads while Neuville flies
Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier leads Rally Italia Sardegna with six of Friday's eight stages completed.
Returning to Olbia for the first proper service of the day, the Frenchman has a 42.4sec cushion over Citroen pilot Mikko Hirvonen.
Ogier took the lead in his Polo R on the rally’s opening stage, and enjoyed a trouble-free run in slippery conditions that caused problems for many of his rivals.
In dry, hot conditions, and on abrasive gravel roads, tyre conservation has been crucial to success so far, and Ogier’s ability to look after his Michelins better than anybody else has stood him in good stead.
“We have done a good drive so far, and for sure the tyres today have made a big difference,” he said after clearing SS6. “When it’s warm like this I try to be very progressive with the steering, but it’s nothing too special, it’s just my natural driving style.”
Completing SS6 with his Citroen’s front tyres scrubbed almost down to the canvas, a frustrated Hirvonen was in no doubt about what was holding him back.
“I don’t know what more I can do. The car feels perfect, but I can’t keep my front tyres,” he said. “They’re always destroyed at the end of the stage. That’s the only thing that’s slowing us down.”
Less than five seconds behind Hirvonen is Thierry Neuville, who has proved to be the surprise of the rally so far. Like Ogier, Neuville has held onto his tyres better than most and with the exception of a near miss with a wall on SS3 he has enjoyed a near perfect run in his Ford Fiesta RS.
“It’s going pretty well,” he acknowledged, “I think the tyre issue is the same for everybody, I just took it carefully in some places. I also had some rice with chilli sauce for lunch, and that seems to have helped.”
With another two stages remaining in Friday’s marathon itinerary, Mads Ostberg is close to the leaders in fourth, just 7.2sec behind Neuville. After SS6, however, the Norwegian was less than happy with his similar Fiesta RS. “I’m struggling with the car. It’s oversteering, absolutely sideways everywhere. It’s hard to be efficient at the wheel like this. I had a small spin too.”
An on-form Dani Sordo is fifth, 6.1sec behind Ostberg in his Citroen DS3.
Volkswagen’s Andreas Mikkelsen is sixth, 27.4sec further back, after losing time when he broke a suspension joint on SS2.
Qualifying stage winner Jari-Matti Latvala is seventh, two minutes off the lead after a puncture on the opening stage cost him any realistic chance of victory this weekend.
Martin Prokop is eighth, with Michal Kosciuszko ninth on his first day in anoher Fiesta RS.
Also getting used to a new Fiesta RS – and a co-driver - Welsh youngster Elvyn Evans rounds off the top-ten, just 7sec behind Kosciusko.
WRC-2
Robert Kubica has won five of the six stages to build a comfortable lead in the WRC-2 category. The Pole's only problem was on stage 3 when he damaged the rear of his Citroen DS3 RRC after clipping a hay bale.
Kubica is 1min 48.5sec ahead of Sepp Wiegand's Skoda Fabia S2000, with Ukraine's Yuriy Protasov third having lost the position to Wiegand on SS6. Just 6.3sec separate the duo.
WRC-3
In the WRC 3 category, Christian Riedemann has led since the second stage and arrived in service 16.2sec ahead of category debutant Stephane Consani.
Bryan Bouffier led initially but retired in the second stage after damaging the front of his car. Quentin Gilbert lies third. Keith Cronin has won three stages after puncturing in the opening test, while series leader Sebastien Chardonnet has topped the time sheets twice after also puncturing. All are at the wheel of Citroen DS3 R3T cars.
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