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Elfyn Evans (Toyota), who had already won SS3 on Thursday evening, won the first special stage of the second loop on Friday afternoon between Saint-Maurice and Aubessagne (SS7, 18.6km) in the Hautes-Alpes. The Welshman set a time of 10’35‘’6, a good minute better than Kalle Rovanperä’s time on the same stage earlier in the morning. And as he drove 6.4 seconds faster than his team-mate Sébastien Ogier, he widened the gap at the top of the overall standings, with Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) still on the provisional podium.
‘The grip was much better than this morning, but I didn’t attack enough,’ said Ogier at the stop. As for Thierry Neuville, who had bent his rear left suspension this morning on SS6, he began his comeback by setting the third fastest time of the stage.
The Belgian had left the Gap service park with a perfectly repaired Hyundai i20N, and summed up the situation well at the end of the stage: “I really have to thank the guys and I’m happy to be here,’ said the reigning world champion. ‘It wasn’t easy, I had no confidence in the grip levels, there were too many gaps from one section to the next, and it was difficult to drive this stage. As we passed the frontrunners, there was no obvious trajectory in front of us and it wasn’t really comfortable. At the end of the stage, there was a lot of dirt on the road”.
After SS7, the leading trio was still made up of two Toyota drivers, Evans and Ogier at 7.9 seconds, closely followed by Fourmaux, at 7.5 seconds, in the best Hyundai. As for Kalle Rovanperä, in another Toyota, he has climbed back to 4th place by taking advantage of Neuville and Tänak’s problems this morning on SS6.
In WRC2, Yohan Rossel (Citroën C3) made up six seconds in one go on Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda Fabia RS) and is now just a dozen seconds behind the Russian-Bulgarian, who still leads the category.
SS8, which was cancelled on Friday morning, was ready to allow the battle to continue in all categories. Sarah Rumeau (Citroën C3), supported by the Fédération française du sport automobile (FFSA), is still in the top half of the overall classification, for her first international outing in a WRC2, as is Eliott Delecour, François’ son, aged just 17, in his Opel Corsa entered in the RC4 category.
