Neuville edges Ogier in enthralling head-to-head

Neuville started Saturday afternoon with the rally lead, but two stage wins from Ogier, including the Frenchman’s 700th career fastest time, gave the Toyota driver a 0.8s lead over Neuville after the day’s penultimate stage.

But Hyundai’s Neuville responded brilliantly to stun Ogier in the final test and move back into a 3.3s lead, which he will take into the final day on Sunday.

Neuville also provisionally secured the maximum 18 points on offer for today under a new-for-2024 points structure that rewards the top 10 crews. These will be secured if the Hyundai driver finishes the rally on Sunday, where a maximum of seven points are on offer for the fastest driver through the leg, alongside the addition of five bonus points for the Power Stage winner.

Ogier, who began the day in third, is set to score 15 points, while Friday’s rally leader Evans is poised to bank 13 points in third [+34.9s] following a frustrating day.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak ended a Saturday interrupted by engine issues in fourth [+1m46.9s], ahead of M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux [+2m54.0s]. Andreas Mikkelsen reclaimed sixth [4m21.2s] from Gregoire Munster, who retired on stage 12. His exit also promoted Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta to seventh [+7m34.0s].

The battle for victory went up a notch when the action resumed on Saturday afternoon. Ogier declared that he had to drive perfectly to stay in the fight at midday service, and the Frenchman duly delivered.

Ogier produced a blistering effort in stage 12 (Esparron/Oze -18.79km), the second pass through the test where Neuville starred in the morning. This time the Toyota driver managed to beat a committed rally leader Neuville, who felt he’d driven a good stage, by 5.5s.

Ogier admitted that he took more risk in posting the time that moved the eight-time world champion to within 2.2s of the 2020 Monte winner.

Evans started the test in second overall but struggled in the stage and ultimately conceded 16.9s, which dropped him to third.

“That’s a big surprise,” said a shocked Evans. “I’m surprised it is so bad, it didn’t feel so great but that’s a bit chronic.”

Identical times were set by Tanak and Katsuta, the latter growing in confidence. But for sixth-placed Munster, the stage ended in heartbreak at the 6.3km mark.

The M-Sport driver ran wide on a patch of gravel at a…