Thursday | 02 Jun 2022
Thierry Neuville grabbed an early lead at Rally Italia Sardegna after successful the tremendous particular stage across the suburbs of Olbia.
The Belgian edged Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Takamoto Katsuta by 0.5sec over the three.32km curtain-raiser, flinging his Hyundai i20 N via a combination of asphalt streets and grime tracks on his approach to the benchmark time within the east coast metropolis.
Thousands of followers watched on in delight because the rally bought underway forward of three days of sizzling and dusty gravel motion on the Mediterranean island.
“I had a very good stage,” mentioned Neuville. “I believe it’ll be a really powerful rally and the situations will likely be loose and in addition fairly tough.
“I hope we will do a very good rally, however we really feel well-prepared. It will likely be attention-grabbing to see what the tyre selections will likely be like tomorrow,” he added.
Elfyn Evans was two tenths down on Katsuta to finish the early podium. His GR Yaris colleagues Kalle Rovanperä and Esapekka Lappi rounded off the highest 5, every trailing Neuville by 1.0sec with equivalent occasions.
Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo introduced their Hyundai automobiles house in sixth and seventh, whereas M-Sport Ford drivers Adrien Fourmaux, Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith – who drove the stage with out a functioning intercom – accomplished the highest 10.
The going will get harder on Friday when crews start the longest day of the rally. There will likely be two levels within the morning – every repeated twice earlier than service – across the Monte Acuto area in Terranova and Monti di Ala, whereas double runs of Osilo – Tergu and Sedini Castelsardo make up the afternoon.
- Full protection from Rally Italia Sardegna is on the market on WRC+ All Live right here, together with each stage broadcast because it occurs in addition to key interviews, options and professional evaluation from the service park.