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Ogier-Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) on top of the 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna first leg
Posted by WRC - 08/06/18 09:08PM - 0 Comments - WRC - 1/52/53/54/55/5

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Alghero (Italy), June 8, 2018 – The first day of Rally Italia Sardegna, seventh round of the World Rally Challenge, just finished but it showed the strategy and strength of Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia on M Sport Ford Fiesta WRC. Rain and mud characterized this day. Ogier yesterday started with a win but today he had a difficult start finishing in fifth position after the first loop, 23 second behind Neuville, that was leading after the four stages of the morning. On the second loop, on the Tula stage, the French driver set an incredible time that took him at the top of the overall standings, also because Neuville had a spin and lost some precious seconds. From there, the fifth time world champion and three times winner in Sardinia increased his advantage up to 18”9 on Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC), 37”1 on Jari-Matti Latvala – Mikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) and 41”6 on Esapekka Lappi and Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC), while Mads Østberg – Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3 WRC) ended the day in fifth position.

On the other side, it was an unlucky day for Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai i20 Coupè WRC), forced to retire when he was in second position because of a gearbox issue, and Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta WRC), that early in the morning clipped a bank damaging the front rear suspension and loosing more than 12 minutes. But it was an even worse day for Ott Tanak (Toyota Yaris WRC), that stopped during SS9 suffering major front damages because of a very nose heavy landing after a jump. In the same stage also Teemu Suninen (Ford Fiesta WRC) was forced to retire when he finished off the road into the bushes.

In WRC2 Fabio Andolfi had increasing results on his ACI Team Italia Skoda Fabia R5 of team Motorsport Italia and he ended the day in fourth position. Top three of the R5 category are Lefebvre (Citroen C3), Kopecky (Skoda Fabia) and Ciamin (Hyundai i20). In the WRC3 standings Lario-Hamalainen (Peugeot 208 R2) managed to take the lead over Franceschi-Courbon (Ford Fiesta R2) in the final stages of the day.
The 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna has still a very long way to go. On Saturday the second leg of the event features seven special stages (for a total of 146 kilometres against the clock). Among them the “Monti di Alà” (28.52 km) and the “Monte Lerno” (29.11 km) stages.

Unofficial top-5 after SS9: 1. Ogier-Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) in 1h35’56”9; 2. Neuville-Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC) a 18”9; 3. Latvala-Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) a 37”2; 4. Lappi-Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) a 41”6; 5. Ostberg-Eriksen (Citroen C3 WRC) a 58”3.



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