Sébastien Ogier is just one stage away from a record-equalling ninth World Rally Championship title, as he vaulted from sixth to second at Rally Saudi Arabia.
Thierry Neuville leads the event by 1m10.9s over Ogier, with Adrien Fourmaux completing the top-three.
Mãrtiņš Sesks led the rally at the start of the final day, but Neuville overhauled him on Saturday’s opener to establish a 2.0s advantage. But everything turned on its head on an insane SS16 Asfan.
Sesks stopped to change two punctures and therefore dropped from second to ninth, arriving to the stop control with a sick-sounding car, Takamoto Katsuta went wide and rolled in soft sand to fall to fifth, and most importantly Kalle Rovanperä dropped behind both Ogier and Elfyn Evans after stopping to change a wheel.
On his last WRC event, Rovanperä clearly wasn’t about to play the PR game: “What a f***ing s*** show,” he said.
The net result was Ogier, who was on a committed push to try and outscore Evans in their fight for the title, flew up to second overall – four positions ahead of Evans.
As it stands, Ogier is set to outscore Evans by 10 points, giving him seven points in hand heading onto the powerstage.
