As temperatures soared this afternoon, in contrast to yesterday’s torrential rain, both had problems. Ogier stalled his engine at the Ittiri stage start while Neuville punctured in the next test. With just one spare tyre onboard, he had no room for error in the final two stages. “It’s so tight,” said Ogier. “It was a big push for me this afternoon because I was so angry with the last stage this morning. All the time I lost to Thierry was there. There’s pressure but it’s been like that all weekend and if we want to win we’ll have to fight for it.” Neuville said: “I knew if I had one more puncture I would lose a lot of time but it was our decision to carry on pushing. That was the risk we had to take and we managed it well - there were a couple of stones I had to avoid. The fight is open and tomorrow will be intense.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYtHEVBREUQ There were battles across the leaderboard. Jari-Matti Latvala and Toyota Gazoo team-mate Esapekka Lappi fought tooth and nail for the final podium place. Latvala’s lead never rose above 7.0sec and he ended the final stage with a 5.3sec advantage. However, his Yaris stopped on the liaison section back to Alghero with an alternator problem, believed to have been caused by an impact with a rock. Despite the efforts of the Finn and co-driver Miikka Anttila, they could not restart the car and retired.#WRC | Those #RallyItalia jumps though... #RallyItaliaSardegna pic.twitter.com/THDRbBspPI
— Ford Performance (@FordPerformance) June 9, 2018
Hayden Paddon and Mads Østberg dueled for what became fourth following Latvala’s exit. Østberg began the day in front in his Citroën C3, but his Kiwi rival moved his i20 ahead and held off the Norwegian’s afternoon pursuit. The gap between them was 2.1sec. Craig Breen was sixth in another C3 after a frustrating day.. Sunday’s short finale comprises two loops of two stages along the coast north of Alghero. They add up to 42.04km, the action ending with a spectacular Power Stage which runs alongside the beach and offers bonus points to the fastest five drivers.I don’t find the words to say how disappointed we are right now. But we have to keep going and believe that we will have better days. And we will! #GiveUpIsNotAnOption #WRC https://t.co/s3u40XeQtS
— Jari-Matti Latvala (@JariMattiWRC) June 9, 2018
Leaderboard: 1. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 3:02:16.9 2. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +3.9 3. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +54.2 4. Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshal (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2:01.8 5. Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen (Citroen C3 WRC) +2:03.9 6. Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +3:13.6 7. Jan Kopecky / Pavel Dresler (Skoda Fabia R5) +10:41.4 8. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +10:48.3 9. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +12:27.4 10. Martin Prokop / Jan Tomanek (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) +13:02.1@JariMattiWRC / @MiikkaAnttila on the roadsection... @Rally_d_Italia #WRC #jumpinginthedust #badluck #WRClive pic.twitter.com/fQRqelN4uh
— WRC (@OfficialWRC) June 9, 2018
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