WRC Spain: Neuville eats into Ogier lead while drain cover causes drama

Ogier lost six seconds to Neuville across Sunday morning’s two stages, but the eight-time world champion headed to the mid-morning service armed with a 14.1s lead.

Kalle Rovanpera was lucky to end the loop in third overall, 28.8s adrift, after the world champion was one of three drivers to suffer a puncture from a protruding drain cover on Stage 17.

Ott Tanak avoided the drama to hold onto fourth (39.6s) ahead of Hyundai teammate Dani Sordo (1m10.6s). 

Elfyn Evans was a distant sixth after becoming one of the victims of the drain cover along with the unfortunate M-Sport driver Craig Breen, who dropped from seventh to ninth, behind Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux.  

An early start to the final day meant crews faced the opening stage of the day in the pre-dawn darkness.

It was Sordo that managed to tame the darkness the best as the Spaniard racked up his second stage win of the event to further cement fifth position in the overall standings.

Sordo was 0.3s faster than team-mate Neuville, who managed to eat into Ogier’s rally lead after the latter elected for a safe approach that saw him drop 3.5s.

"It was an easy start for us this morning,” said Ogier. “I tried to stay very safe with every cut and every rock on the road. We'll try to manage that.”

Rovanpera ended the test 0.1s behind Neuville as the gap between the two fighting for second widened. 

Breen was fourth-fastest having show signs that he was finally getting the best out of his Puma.

"We discovered something with the car last night that was maybe causing us a bit of a delay yesterday. It felt better through there," said Breen.

While Breen was gaining speed, Evans was forced to back off during the stage after a drove of pigs crossed the stage.

“There were some animals in the road, some pigs or something," said Evans. “I had to slow down quite a lot and I think I hit one of them.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville continued to close on Ogier after winning Stage 17, taking 3.4s from the rally leader.

However, it was a stage that produced high drama as three drivers suffered front left punctures, while Adrien Fourmaux had a lucky escape after a brush with the barriers.

Fourmaux was fortunate to reach the finish relatively unabated but the same couldn’t be said for Breen, Evans and Rovanpera, who picked up punctures.

A protruding drain appeared to be the cause of problems. Breen was first to strike the drain cover and, as he tried to wrestle the car into the next right-hander, his Puma went straight on and up a bank. 

Breen was able to recover but lost 59.2s which dropped the Irishman from seventh to ninth overall. 

"Something broke in a right-hander,” said Breen. “There was a small bump on the entry and I don't know if it popped the tyre off the bead or something, but I was a passenger.”

Evans was next to suffer the same issue but managed to avoid running up the bank, but lost 21.2s. Toyota teammate Rovanpera only lost 13.2s after his puncture but it effectively ended his pursuit of second overall.

“There is some drain on the line which was fine to go over last year, but now it was not,” said Rovanpera.” 

The crews will complete a second pass of the morning stages to conclude the rally after a 30 minute service.