How the WRC title contenders fared in frustrating road cleaning battle in Saudi Arabia
by Tom Howard · AutosportNew roads and surprising developments added complications for this weekend’s WRC title fight
It’s not often Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä are reduced to fighting over the fringes of the top 10, but that’s exactly what unfolded on Thursday in a tense World Rally Championship showdown in Saudi Arabia.
The three drivers in title contention were ranked in seventh through to ninth positions after eight stages. Why? It’s largely down to a road cleaning effect more severe than expected, as Saudi Arabia’s brand-new, brutal gravel stages met the grippy tires and flat-out personalities of top level WRC drivers.
‘Road cleaning,’ as it’s called, was always going to be a factor for the trio in Saudi Arabia, with Evans first to confront the conditions by virtue of his three point championship lead over Ogier.
This is something new
What has come as a surprise, however, is the strength of the road sweeping effect in the second pass through the stages.
Ogier, who started second on the road, felt he maximised what was possible, but couldn’t hide his frustration to be sitting in seventh, 44.2s adrift of leader Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman did achieve his goal of being ahead of his title rivals to take a slender advantage in the championship fight after eight stages.
“It has been a good day and I have done everything that I could. Obviously you cannot really see it on the classification, but there is nothing we could do about that. The main target of being in front of Elfyn and Kalle is there and we have to keep going like this,” said Ogier.
“On the first pass through the stages we knew it would be like this, but on the second pass we thought it would be better. But on the super slow twisty stages there was absolutely no chance. We were already one second per kilometre faster than the first pass but it kept improving all the time [for the others] and it was hard to take.”
Title leader Evans bore the brunt of the conditions, but was also hampered by being too conservative in the morning loop. The Welshman dropped 50.3s after the morning stages before conceding 48.0s in the afternoon pass on his way to ninth position.
“It has been tough and obviously the morning didn’t go brilliantly. The afternoon to be fair was clean but the road is evolving so fast and you could see with every car coming they were five seconds faster every time. It is hard to make a difference when it is like that,” said Evans.
“We do see it sometimes [a strong road cleaning effect] but it does seem to be a rather huge effect here unless the other guys are doing a much better job than we are, but let’s see.
“For sure I started too cautious this morning but after that it has been ok. It hasn’t felt like a Sunday drive at all.”
Evans will start fourth on the road on Friday after losing out to Rovanpera by 4.1s across the afternoon. The position swap has helped Ogier more into a position where if the rally finished now, the Frenchman would take the title by a solitary point.
When asked about his approach for Friday’s stages in the fight against Ogier, Evans added: “I don’t know what we can really do and it will probably be the same story tomorrow. It might be a little bit less painful but still the same story.”
Rovanpera held the best road position of the title contenders, but a puncture in stage four already proved costly for the Finn. The two-time world champion, sitting 24 points behind Evans, did recover ground and feels road positions will again be important as crews tackle six more stages on Friday.
“For sure, we tried and it is better to get back at least one position like we did today, but every car passing through the stage is getting a lot faster, and even faster than everybody thought," said Rovanpera.
“There is still a long way to go so let’s see what we can do tomorrow."
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- The Autosport.com Team