UPDATED: Ogier holds on in WRC’s Saudi Arabian title scrap, Sesks inherits rally lead

It’s all still to play for in the FIA World Rally Championship finale as Sebastien Ogier (above) holds the advantage by a single point in an all-Toyota drivers’ title showdown on Rally Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the championship battle, M-Sport Ford’s Martins Sesks will start Saturday’s final leg in the rally lead after a late time penalty dropped Adrien Fourmaux’s Hyundai from first to fourth.

On the road, Fourmaux had ended Friday’s final stage with a narrow 2.4s cushion over Sesks and just 5.8s in hand over Hyundai teammate Thierry Neuville after a leg in which the lead changed hands several times. But the Frenchman and co-driver Alex Coria checked their i20 N Rally1 in one minute early to TC14A, the technical zone prior to overnight service, incurring a one-minute time penalty.

The adjustment promotes Sesks into top spot ahead of Neuville and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, with Fourmaux now 57.6s off the lead in fourth.

With a scant 3.4s separating Sesks and Neuville, Saturday’s three-stage, 41-mile shootout is set to decide not only the 2025 WRC champion, but the rally winner. And should Sesks hold on to his lead, it will be the Latvian’s first WRC victory

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux lost the lead, then regained it, then lost it again with a time penalty for an early technical zone check-in. Red Bull Content Pool

Behind the battle for the rally win, the deeper narrative centered on the title fight. Elfyn Evans had arrived in Saudi Arabia with a three-point advantage over Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Ogier, with Kalle Rovanpera also still in the frame, albeit 24 points off the lead with a maximum of 35 on offer.

But Evans’ hopes of securing a maiden WRC crown took a major blow when he stopped on the morning’s third stage to change a puncture on his GR Yaris Rally1, losing more than 90 seconds and ending the day eighth overall.

Ogier, who’s gunning for a record-equaling ninth WRC title, had been moving into a position of relative control until a rear-right tire deflation near the end of the leg-ending, 17.8-mile Wadi Almatwi 2 test cost him fifth to Rovanpera by just 0.2s. But it was still enough to leave the Frenchman holding a provisional one-point championship lead over Evans with up to 10 final-day and Wolf Power Stage points still available.

“There was nothing we could do,” said Ogier of his late tire issue. “It’s pure lottery out there.”

In the battle for the rally win, Fourmaux began the day with a 6.0s buffer, but that advantage was trimmed to 2.9s over the morning loop before the lead fight was turned on its head on the second pass of Um Al Jerem.

Sesks, making only his seventh 2025 start with M-Sport, delivered a pitch-perfect eight-second stage win to retake the rally lead, only for drama to strike minutes later. The Latvian picked up a rear-left tire deflation halfway through Wadi Almatwi 2 and dropped close to a minute nursing his Puma to the finish on the rim.

Martins Sesks finished second on the road in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1, but took the overnight lead after Adrien Fourmaux’s time penalty. M-Sport photo

Fourmaux was caught out, too, as a front-left deflation forced him to back off. But, crucially, the Hyundai driver kept rolling and moved back in front by the slenderest of margins – only for that late time penalty to effectively dash his hopes of a first WRC win.

“It’s been crazy,” said Fourmaux before the penalty. “Every time we lose the lead, it comes back again. There are rocks everywhere. We’re just managing the risk and carrying on.”

The chaos stretched far beyond the top two. Earlier in the loop, both Toyota’s Sami Pajari and Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, who’d been battling for a podium place, were forced to stop and change wheels on the 19-mile Um Al Jerem 2 stage. Pajari dropped from third to seventh, while Tanak fell from fifth to outside the top 10. Their delays opened the door for Neuville and Katsuta, both of whom survived tire scares of their own, to move into second and third after Fourmaux’s penalty.

M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster and newly-minted WRC2 champ Oliver Solberg completed a bruising top 10 behind the eighth-placed Evans. Solberg isn’t registered for points in Saudi Arabia, the Swede using his last run in a GR Yaris Rally2 to gain experience before moving up to Toyota’s factory Rally1 line-up in 2026.

GR Yaris Rally2 driver Oliver Solberg is the pace-setter among the Rally2 entries, but the WRC2 champ is competing in Saudi Arabia for experience, not points. Red Bull Content Pool

Of those registered for points in the WRC’s second-tier category, Gus Greensmith ended Friday firmly in control of WRC2 after a brutal day that reshuffled the order behind the Skoda Fabia RS driver.

Greensmith started the leg with a 25.5s advantage and extended it slightly with stage wins on both passes of Um Al Jerem – but the British driver’s biggest gain came from keeping clear of the dramas that defined his rivals’ day.

Nikolay Gryazin moved into second overall after a composed response to the day’s increasing rock exposure. The Skoda driver was running inside the top four and fighting back from two tire deflations on Thursday when Roope Korhonen retired on the morning’s second stage with the rear-left wheel torn from the Toyota.

Kajetan Kajetanowicz lies third overnight in his GR Yaris Rally2 after a mixed afternoon. The Pole had climbed as high as second early in the loop but was forced to stop and change a wheel on the penultimate stage, dropping more than two minutes to fall behind Gryazin and now sit 2m37s off the class lead.

Rally Saudi Arabia’s final leg on Saturday features two runs through the 10.18-mile Thabhan stage and a single pass over the rally’s longest test, 20.43-mile Asfan, to determine who will be crowned 2025 WRC champion.

WRC Rally Saudi Arabia, positions after Friday/Leg Two, SS14
1 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) 2h43m20.1s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3.4s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +41.5s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +57.6s
5 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m12.6s
6 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m12.8s
7 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m34.8s
8 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m52.6s
9 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +6m13.4s
10 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2/non-points) +7m29.1s 

• Watch the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage action from Rally Saudi Arabia LIVE on RACER Network and the RACER+ App on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 5am ET. 
• Plus, for a deeper dive into the FIA World Rally Championship, check out the WRC Magazine Show on RACER Network. Catch the latest episode on Friday, Nov. 28 at 11.00pm ET.  
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