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A 98km journey since the last stage, in the baking Sardinian heat, means that the crews will no doubt be feeling the strain of today, which is the longest day of rallying since the Safari Rally 2002. SS17 is a repeat of the 22.49km Monti Di Ala’ stage that was used as SS12 this morning – though far from the longest stage of the day, it presents a real challenge to the drivers
 The drama started immediately – Meeke reported a slow-shifting gearbox, but that it was more of a distration than a problem. Kubica ended the stage with his car something of a mess – he had a flat right rear tyre, a damaged rim on the left rear and a gearbox stuck in fifth. He retires shortly after the stage end. Ogier was first through the stage cleanly, and did so in the fastest time of 13:38.8, taking the rally lead. ‘A very abrasive stage so I didn’t want to push the tyres too hard. In fact maybe I was too cautious – the tyres look okay.’ he reported. The drama continued when reports of Ott Tanak being stuck in sixth gear out on the stage coming through – as yet it’s unclear as to whether he’ll be able to continue, but looks unlikely. It looks like a large rock in the middle of the road about halfway through the stage could have been the cause for many problems. Mads Ostberg finished the stage with a badly worn tyre but no other damage, with Meeke and Evans also finishing inside the top four. Neuville was fifth, thankfully avoiding the infamous rock. ‘I saw Ott was stopped and slowed a little after that. Later on, I tried to avoid a huge rock and nearly put the car in a ditch.’ Jari-Matti Latvala pushed his Polo for a sixth finish, suffering with what he believed to be a puncture until he could inspect the car at the stage end. ‘In that case I may have a damper problem’ he said, sighing. ‘There was one loose rock in the middle of the road right over a crest – I drove over it with the middle of the car but I don’t know if it did something under the car…’ Rally leader going into the stage, Hayden Paddon, was unfortunate to lose his rally lead in the stage, completing it seventh quickest and now placed second overall, 12.6 seconds down on Ogier. ‘We had a spin midway through. In itself that wasn’t a problem, but the engine wouldn’t restart. We were winding it over and over and that cost us about ten seconds. Soon after we saw Tanak, and then we decided to take it easy and protect the car – it’s so rough.’ Thanks to his strategy, Paddon takes a seemingly undamaged Hyundai i20 into SS20, the 36.69km Coiluna – Loelle stage and can hope to make a challenge to Ogier to regain the rally lead. Story: iRallylive.com
Photo: Jaanus Ree
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