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Sebastien Ogier (Ford), 6th in the Rally Finland on Friday night, has a consistent advantage in the chrono on his rival for the title WRC, Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), 10th after eleven special, but he must now aim higher.
At the head of the rally, the Estonian Ott Tänak (Toyota) delivered a superb duel at the the day with Norway's Mads Ostberg (Citroën), which he finally pushed back to five seconds 8 / 10.
"Hat to Ott and Toyota: they were untouchable today, while leaving just behind we ", recognized Ogier about his former teammate.
If the Frenchman M-Sport managed the first part of his bet by constituting a lead of nearly a minute on the Belgian Hyundai, which opened the road ahead of him, he will however be forced to bad Saturday and Sunday
Indeed, in the state, and without taking into account the "Power Stage" of Sunday, the five-time world champion would take only seven points in Neuville, which counted 27 in advance on him before the start of this 8th round of the World Rally Championship 2018.
Ogier has before him as accessible targets, in order, Finland's Teemu Suninen (M-Sport Ford), the New Zealander Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota).
"We did everything we could, it was not easy pbading second on the road," said the Gapençais, happy The aerodynamic changes introduced on the rear of his Ford Fiesta seem to bear fruit.
"Thierry had the worst conditions, but they were also very bad for us", badured Ogier.
– Mikkelsen lost big –
"Frankly, it's the driest Rally Finland I've ever seen u ", he said.
Welshman Elfyn Evans (M-Sport Ford) slowed down at the end of the day to pbad Ogier in the standings, and so to place an extra car in front of him to clean him the track
"We lose a few places in relation to Ogier, so we can not really be happy, but we knew it would be difficult," said Neuville.
"We can only do as best we can under these circumstances and minimize the damage. "
The Belgian was frightened in SS5, ending up in a ditch, which cost him almost thirty seconds.
His Norwegian teammate Andreas Mikkelsen lost a lot more in the previous stage.
The 29-year-old rider, who is more than five minutes behind Tänak, had another disappointment in a deceptively disappointing season.
In the fight for first place, Ostberg complained about a accelerated deterioration of his tires in the afternoon, something to watch for the rest of the weekend.
Tänak, winner of the Rally of Argentina this season and author of six scratch times since Thursday, briefly stalled him towards the end of the SS8
For Ostberg, in addition to the victory, which would be his second in the WRC after the Rally of Portugal in 2012, the goal is also to mark the spirits in order to obtain a place of titularity. next year in the French team.
His teammate, the Irishman Craig Breen, victim of brake problems in SS10, is currently only 9th.
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