Neuville snatches Sardinia lead as Solberg keeps WRC title bid alive

Thierry Neuville (above) snatched the Rally Italy Sardinia lead from his Hyundai teammate Adrien Fourmaux on Friday’s final stage, while Toyota’s Oliver Solberg kept the pressure firmly on his rivals in the WRC’s three-way title fight after a charging drive to third overnight.

Just 0.4s separates the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 duo at the top of the leaderboard after a tough opening leg on Sardinia’s rough gravel roads, with Solberg only 12.3s further back in the first of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 fleet. 

As things stand, Solberg’s current podium position wouldn’t be enough to overcome a 21-point deficit to Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate and World Rally Championship points leader Elfyn Evans in the battle for the drivers’ championship. But as a statement of intent, and with plenty of stage miles – and possibly crucial Sunday bonus points to go – it shows the 25-year-old Swede means business in his pursuit of a first crown.  

Back to the all-Hyundai lead battle, and Fourmaux had moved to the top of the timesheets on the morning’s second stage, the 11.08-mile Su Filigosu-Lerno 1 test. The Frenchman is yet to take his first WRC victory, but was pushing to win the last event of the Rally1 era. After maintaining his pace and composure through an afternoon littered with rocks, punctures and tire-management concerns, he looked set to take a slender advantage into Saturday’s second leg.

Neuville had other ideas. The 2024 WRC champ won both of Friday afternoon’s final two stages, overturning a 4.7s deficit on the 14.43-mile Monti di Ala-Sa Conchedda-Lerno 2 closer to end the day in the top spot.

“Our tire management and our tire choice paid off,” said Neuville. “I was tempted to make a similar choice to him [Fourmaux], but in the end I was pretty confident that my feeling was the good one, and I’m happy with that.

“It’s good for Hyundai and for Adrien as well, so it’s a nice battle and hopefully we can continue tomorrow.”

Fourmaux nevertheless completed one of the strongest days of his Rally1 career. He won both passes of the 11.66-mile Tula-Erula stage and stayed error-free through the afternoon’s increasingly punishing roads to remain firmly in the victory fight.

“Very pleased with the day,” he said. “We started off strong. I think it’s good also for the team.”

Behind the Hyundai duo, Solberg delivered another statement performance in his pursuit of a maiden world title. He’d lost time with tire damage on Friday’s opening stage, but fought back relentlessly, winning the first pass of Monti di Ala-Sa Conchedda-Lerno before producing two particularly strong runs to close the day. He ends Friday 27.9s ahead of fellow title contender Sami Pajari and 56.6s clear of championship leader Elfyn Evans in the all-Toyota fight for the crown.

Oliver Solberg knows he’ll have to push hard to boost his long-shot WRC title hopes, and the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1-driving Swede did just that on Friday’s opening leg.

Pajari arrived in Sardinia 17 points off the championship lead, with a maximum of 35 available over the course of the weekend. The Finn was quicker than Evans on all six of Friday’s gravel stages, but sits fifth overall, 40.2s from leader Neuville, with nine-time and outgoing WRC champ Sebastien Ogier separating he and Evans in fourth.

Ogier’s victory hopes suffered a major setback when a front-right puncture on the morning’s second stage cost more than 25s. He nevertheless recovered strongly and remains 37.4s from the lead in an event he’s won five times.

Evans, meanwhile, faced the toughest road conditions as championship leader and struggled for confidence with the handling of his GR Yaris Rally1 during the afternoon. Running first on the road, he played road sweeper for the cars behind, but sought to minimize the negatives with a consistent, if not particularly quick day’s running. 

“We’re here. Let’s see,” said the Welshman after the closing stage. “I guess tomorrow will be the test of how we are going to respond to the road position.”

Running first on Sardinia’s rough gravel stages was never going to be a fun day for Toyota’s WRC points leader Elfyn Evans. He’ll start Saturday’s second leg in sixth overall.

Josh McErlean completed Friday seventh overall in the best of the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1s, with teammate Jon Armstrong in eight, albeit more than two minutes further back. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and M-Sport Ford part-timer Martins Sesks complete the top 10.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Gus Greensmith holds a slender 2.2s lead over Roope Korhonen after a dramatic final stage turned the class order on its head.

Teemu Suninen had looked firmly in control for much of the opening day, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver grabbing the category lead in Thursday evening’s opening superspecial and steadily building his advantage through Friday. He remained 9.3s clear of fellow Finn Emil Lindholm’s Skoda Fabia RS after the penultimate stage, despite Korhonen in another GR Yaris Rally2 setting the fastest time on the afternoon pass of Su Filigosu-Lerno.

But Suninen’s rally unraveled on the final Monti di Ala-Sa Conchedda-Lerno test when he stopped three miles into the stage to change a damaged tire. The roadside intervention cost more than two minutes and dropped him to seventh in class, 2m41.0s from the WRC2 lead.

That opened the door for Greensmith, who’d quietly kept in contention throughout a day when avoiding trouble proved every bit as important as outright speed.

Gus Greensmith (above, between stages) was there to take over the WRC2 lead when fellow Toyota driver Teemu Suninen hit tire trouble on Friday’s final stage. Red Bull Content Pool

The British driver and Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson brought their GR Yaris Rally2 through the final stage only third-fastest in WRC2, but it was enough to take the overnight lead. Korhonen was just one tenth quicker on that final test and ends the day only 2.2s behind Greensmith, setting up an intriguing fight for Saturday’s second leg.

That leg consists of six more rough-gravel stages and 76.84 competitive miles to challenge the Hyundai duo fighting for the lead and the Toyota trio battling for the bigger picture of the 2026 WRC drivers’ crown.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, positions after Friday/Leg One, SS7
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h25m04.9s
2 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +0.4s
3 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +12.3s
4 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +37.4s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +40.2s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m08.9s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m21.1s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m26.5s
9 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m27.2s
10 Martins Sesks/Renars Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m39.9s
11 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +4m03.4s

• Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App. Tune in on Monday, Oct. 5 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Rally Italy Sardinia.  

• RACER Network is also your home for the WRC Magazine show, with new episodes landing on the Thursday before every WRC event. 

• Join R92, RACER’s ultimate all-access membership, for just $99 for one year and get 24/7 motorsports streaming on the RACER+ app, unlimited digital access to the RACER archive, and exclusive member perks. CLICK HERE and join now for the ultimate motorsports fan experience.