The second day of action would see the crews tackle the longest day of action which also included the longest stage of the whole event. Jon and Shane would open the road as the last placed Rally1 crew at the end of Friday.

 

First up then was SS9 Maspalomas 1 and it was a good start from Elfyn and Scott who set the fastest time from Oliver and Seb. The Welshman’s pace took him into third overall and back past his younger teammate Sami who’d held third place overnight. The best of the three Hyundai crews was Adrien and Alex who set the sixth best time and passed Dani and Candido for sixth overall, whilst Jon and Shane were eighth fastest after opening the road.

 

Onto SS10 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 1 which had some rain in parts. Elfyn was again setting the pace from Oliver and Seb, the result was that he was closing the gap to them both. This was going well for him and Scott. Meanwhile, Adrien was finding some pace, setting the fifth best time, going even faster than Sami.

 

Next it was onto the longest stage of the day, SS11 Moya – Gáldar 1 and this stage also has some rain passing through. Oliver was setting the pace from Seb by just a tenth of a second whilst Elfyn was a further eight seconds further back.

 

After the service break came SS12 Maspalomas 2 and once again Elfyn was on the pace going six tenths faster than Oliver whilst Seb was a further tenth back with the third best time. Jon and Shane were ninth quickest and found the stage tricky as they were having problems with their in-car intercom and Shane was having to use some hand signals for the corners coming up. At least they made it to the end of the stage.

 

Onto the middle stage then, SS13 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 2 and Seb was equal fastest with Oliver whilst Elfyn was just two tenths back with the third fastest time. Meanwhile Josh and Jon were ninth and tenth and separated by just half a second.

We came then to the final stage, SS14 Moya – Gáldar 2 and there was drama for Jon and Shane near the end of the stage. They lost almost two minutes after going off the road, but it could have meant retirement as Jon guided the Puma just to the left of the end of a barrier. They needed help getting back onto the road, but at least they did and made it to the stage end. They fell six positions to sixteenth overall. Oliver was fastest from Seb and Elfyn and the Swedish driver closed the gap to Seb down to under four seconds.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:58:05.7 2 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3.8 3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +21.9 4 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +52.7 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:03.1 6 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:54.5 7 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:26.3 8 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:28.3 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +3:53.8 10 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2 +4:55.0

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been really enjoyable today: this is just the kind of fight that we love to have. Oliver has been driving perfectly today, and it wasn’t bad for us either. We lost a bit of ground this morning: the second stage especially was tricky, and we took a safe approach, then tried to push more in the next one and got unlucky with the rain at the end. In the end, the gap is still in our favour and the strategy for Super Sunday is very simple now: we just have to push to the maximum. It’s going to be an intense one with new stages and I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been an absolutely incredible fight today. With the changeable conditions it was tricky this morning and easy to do a mistake, but we managed to catch a bit of time, and then a bit more in the last stage this afternoon. Seb is a hero of mine and it’s so cool to be able to fight with him on a pure asphalt rally when this car is still new to me, and I’m also still learning a lot from him. Tomorrow if I have the possibility to fight until the end then great, but my main goal is to secure good points after the last couple of rallies we’ve had.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today was a good step forward. The first two stages this morning went well for us. Conditions were very changeable on that second stage and also on the third one, where I wasn’t able to trust the grip so well and gave away a lot of time. We got another stage win this afternoon, and the middle stage was very close against Seb and Oliver. Unfortunately, we had to use a soft tyre on the long last stage, which hampered us a bit, but overall, I’m happier with how things have progressed. We’ll try to make more improvements tonight and see what we can challenge for tomorrow.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s been another interesting day. I’m maybe a bit disappointed with my performance during the morning loop. For some reason, I just wasn’t able to find the confidence to push in those tricky conditions, and we lost way too much time. But we didn’t give up, we tried to maximise the afternoon loop and I think we did the best that we can. I hope we can maximise tomorrow as well. I’m looking forward to it and hope we have some nice weather so we can really enjoy the stages.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today was so much better than yesterday for me. It was a big step forward in terms of feeling. The car feels much more comfortable and working the way that I want, so I’m quite happy with that. When the conditions are trickier like with the rain this morning then it’s working well, but when the conditions are more demanding in terms of tyre management, I’m not using the tyres so well, so that’s something important to still try to improve tomorrow.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I am quite happy with my day; we had some very good stage times in the morning when we were pushing. Then, in the afternoon it was more about saving the tyres and seeing if the rain came back or not but all-in-all, it was a good day. I am pleased to be ahead of Dani and Thierry who are both tarmac specialists. We took the soft tyres with us for the afternoon because the weather was changing a lot, but we ended up not using them, but it was the safe choice because we didn’t know what the conditions were going to be. The target for Sunday is to try and take the fight to Taka [Katsuta] but we need to see what the pace will be like; for the three of us, it will be difficult because we have only finished ahead of a Toyota on one proper stage so far and it was wet.”

Dani Sordo

“The first stage this morning was very fast, and I was feeling quite good, but I think Adrien was feeling a bit more confident in the car and he had pace, which is good for us. We made a good tyre choice this morning, but the problem in the second stage was that in the last kilometres with crossed tyres, it was very slippery, especially at the rear. Today was a little more difficult than yesterday, but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will push from the beginning and try to find a better setup for the car.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a bit of a boring day in general, but still an intense day in the car. We have been continuing trying to find a solution to the performance, but we haven’t found much to be honest. We are just struggling; if the car doesn’t turn, it slides and if it slides it doesn’t turn, so it makes it quite difficult. The stages were great, with a lot of variation and the weather made it very challenging but in terms of performance, there is still a big question mark.”

Sunday

The final day will see the crews face just over 78 kilometres over four stages. What will the final day of action bring?