The first full day of action would see the crews tackle 112km’s over seven stages. There had been a single stage run in the previous evening and we had a top three of Ott, Seb and Martins whilst Elfyn was fifth overall, 2.1 seconds from the overnight leader. Of course, the championship leader would open the road throughout the first full day of action.
Into SS2 Al Fasallyah 1 – 19.36 km and the top three in the championship would set very different time. Seb managed the third best time, Kalle sixth and Elfyn was ninth, reflecting the different road positions they faced. The top two in the stage were Martins and Sami. The surprise result was that the Latvian duo we now leading from Seb, whilst Sami gained four positions and moved into third overall.
Next up came SS3 Moon Stage 1 – 20.12 km which had quite a different character to the first stage with a harder surface and rocks lining the road. Martins was again fastest from Adrien and Ott this time, whilst Kalle was the fastest of the three challengers in eighth with Seb tenth and Elfyn twelfth. The three of them held seventh to ninth in the overall standings.
The final morning stage then SS4 Khulays 1 – 11.33 km and Sami was fastest from Adrien and Thierry this time. Martins had a moment on the stage at the same point as Elfyn as they both had to reverse back to the correct part of the stage and they both lost around six seconds. The Latvian held onto the lead from Adrien by just 1.3 seconds.
After service came SS5 Al Fasallyah 2 – 19.36 km and Martins kept his pace high going fastest again from Sami and Adrien who’d set the same time as Seb who was fourth fastest. Elfyn was ninth finding the conditions really tricky but was holding eighth overall one position behind Seb.
Onwards to SS6 Moon Stage 2 – 20.12 km and Sami was fastest from Takamoto and Adrien third. Thierry and Ott set the same time for fourth and fifth fastest. Kalle moved up one position to ninth overall and was now 5.6 seconds behind Elfyn. There was drama for Martins though as he got a puncture. He fell to third overall but remained close to the top, just 12.9 seconds from the new leader Sami.
Onto the final proper stage then of the day, SS7 Khulays 2 – 11.33 km and it was a 1-2-3 for the Hyundai crews as Ott was fastest from Thierry and Adrien. Martins was fourth in this one as Adrien moved into the lead. Sami had a tyre breakup and lost over ten seconds. Further back Kalle also passed Elfyn for eighth overall.
The final stage then, SS8 Jameel Motorsport Super Special 2 – 5.22 km and Martins and Seb set the same time with Ott a further half a second back with the third fastest time. The top positions closed up with Martins in third overall, just 6.9 seconds from the lead.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day One
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Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“I’m really pleased with today. I always think we can push more, but we are playing with the balance of pushing or saving the car and the tyres and I think we managed that quite well. We are leading tonight, but the gaps are small, so nothing is certain. Today was demanding on the tyres, especially on the second stage of the afternoon loop. It’s really nice to be in the fight with the young guns. Tomorrow the stages all vary, but they all have similarities to some of today’s. It’s positive to finish a day like this, and we will see what happens tomorrow.”
Ott Tänak
“Today has been all about surviving and keeping it clean, we’ve done that so it’s good and I’m happy there haven’t been any big incidents. Hopefully we have learnt enough from today and can improve the feeling in the car a bit. Everything is still very close so it’s all possible, but we need a bit more speed.”
Thierry Neuville
“I enjoyed today, the diversity of the stages and the profile meant I had good fun. There’s a good mix of challenging and rough conditions, and I think we managed them quite well. I was generally happy with my tyre choice this afternoon; we just had a couple of issues today including a delamination on SS7 which cost us a bit of time. For us there is no championship pressure, so we are just having fun while trying to stay in the fight for the result. We are just over 16 seconds from the lead, so on that side all good.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sami Pajari
“It’s been a really positive day for us. To take a couple of stage wins, be consistently close to the top times and even leading the rally at one point is really good. It’s a pity what happened with the tyre on the last gravel stage because we dropped a bit of time there, but we’re still only a few seconds away from the lead. It’s not easy to manage things here, but I tried to push in the sections that felt safe and be smarter in the tricky places. Tomorrow will be a longer day but it would be good if we can continue like this.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“This first full day was a tough one as expected. It’s very hot out there but the team has done a really good job to try and make us comfortable. This first stage of the loop in the desert was really nice, with super high speed and big jumps. Otherwise, we were just trying to avoid mistakes and the puncture risk, which was quite high this afternoon. I’d like to be higher than sixth but there’s still a long way to go, so we’ll just keep going and see what happens tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier
“It’s been a challenging day like we expected, and with a massive cleaning effect especially in the super twisty sections on the second and third stages of the loop. The first stage of the loop was smoother, so I tried to take the opportunity to push there and gain some time. Maybe we can’t see it in our overall position, but I think we did a really good job today. I don’t think there was anything more we could do in our position. The main target is to be in front of Elfyn and Kalle, but the gaps are still small, so we need to try and keep going tomorrow and try to gain more places if we can.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“Today has been quite tough, but it’s much the same for everybody. Unfortunately, we sustained this tyre damage in the last stage of the morning. We made the right call not to stop and change the tyre, but we still lost quite a bit of time with that and some starting positions for tomorrow, which is not so good. As we have seen today, the cleaning effect is maybe even greater than we thought, so tomorrow can be tough also. There’s still a long way to go though, so let’s see what we can do.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a tough day out there. This morning I was too conservative on the first stage and a bit disappointed to give away so much time. After that, the cleaning effect was more dramatic on the next two stages, and it felt like my pace wasn’t so bad compared to Seb just behind. I think the cleaning was maybe even worse in some places on the second pass of the stages. It’s tough to know how well you’re driving when the road is evolving so fast. But we’re still here and tomorrow we have a longer loop of stages where staying out of trouble will probably be quite tough, but I’ll just stay focused on my own driving.”
Oliver Solberg
“It’s been a really good day,” said Oliver. “In places this morning, it was definitely more slippery than we were expecting, but the car was perfect, and we were able to enjoy the roads while taking more and more experience.
“In the afternoon, we had to be more strategic with the tyres. We pushed quite hard on the stage in the loop, but then took it easier in the middle one. We knew this Moon Stage was really abrasive, so we looked after the tyres a little bit and then pushed harder in the last one. It worked well for us.
“Some of the roads here are amazing and so much fun, but all the time you have to be keeping these rocks in mind – they are everywhere! Tomorrow will be another tough day, but me and Elliott are ready for it.”
Friday
The second full day of action will see the crews face a longer day with 134km’s over six stages. This includes a double run of a thirty-and-a-half-kilometre stage.
What will the positions be at the end of day two?
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