WRC – Title contenders Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier separated by just 0.3-seconds after the opening day of Rally Turkey

World Rally Championship title contenders Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier are split by just 0.3-seconds after seven competitive stages in Rally Turkey, the tenth round of the 2018 season.

Despite starting first on the road, Neuville leads the rally, having taken over from his Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team colleague Andreas Mikkelsen. The Norwegian had held the top spot for much of Friday’s running. Hayden Paddon is also in touching distance of the top-five, concluding the opening day in sixth.

Neuville and co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul, who recently announced a three-year extension to their Hyundai Motorsport contract, claimed two stage wins on Friday, in both runs through the 21.75km Ula stage.

Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jæger have also taken two stage victories this weekend, topping the timesheets on Thursday evening’s Super Special Stage Turkey and again in SS4 (Çiçekli).  It represents a competitive start to Hyundai Motorsport’s first-ever participation in Rally Turkey and on harsh rocky stages that are new to all competitors.

Friday’s itinerary has covered a total of 144.84km of special stages, the longest individual day of the rally. With 2.6 seconds between the top-three, the battle for Rally Turkey is still truly wide open.

Crew Notes: Neuville/Gilsoul (#5 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Leads Rally Turkey by 0.3-seconds from championship rival Sébastien Ogier
• Two stage wins helped put the Belgian crew in contention on a demanding Friday

Neuville said: “We are involved in a fantastic fight for the leading positions, which is a great way to start this new event. The conditions we have faced today have been really tough. We had a good clean run this morning, and didn’t expect to be so involved. The dusty conditions lessened our disadvantage from being first on the road so we could keep in touch. These roads have been a completely different challenge to any other we’ve faced this season, which keeps things fresh. We had to take things a bit more carefully this afternoon. We lost a lot of time in SS5 and had to take some risks in the subsequent stage as a result. We then lost several seconds in the final stage, needing to reverse after making a mistake. It was a reminder that this rally could be won or lost on the smallest of things. It is exciting, just how we like it!”

Crew Notes: Mikkelsen/Jæger (#4 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Took an early lead in the rally with a stage win on Thursday evening
• Retook the rally lead after stage win in SS4, and remains in close victory fight

Mikkelsen said: “I am pleased to end the opening day inside the top-three, and to be involved in a close fight for the lead with Thierry and Séb. We’ve had a strong start, though not perfect, in very demanding conditions. After starting the weekend with a stage win on Thursday night, we made a clever tyre choice for the Friday morning loop, which really paid dividends. We had a clean drive, avoiding the big rocks, pushing where we could but playing it safe at the same time. I knew the afternoon would be harder. We ended the day with a lot of caution, first because of a right-rear puncture and then tackling the final stage on very used tyres. Overall, two stage wins so far, we led the rally for three stages today, and we have more to come on Saturday. Plenty of cause for optimism!”

Crew Notes: Paddon/ Marshall (#6 Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)

• Kiwi and British co-driver return to action for first time since Finland
• Demonstrated top-five pace throughout Friday

Paddon said: “It has been a hard day’s work for pretty much everyone out there today. Some of the roughest conditions I have ever seen! We had a plan from the start, aiming to be sensible, look after the car and keep the driving nice and clean. We didn’t really get an advantage from our road position so we just stuck to our pace notes. The afternoon was even harder, and it is testament to the strength of the cars that they withstood the stages as much as they did. We had a broken damper on the final stage, which didn’t help matters but we’re P6 in an incredibly close fight. Considering the conditions, that’s not a bad start.”

Rocky road

Team Principal Michel Nandan commented: “We were expecting this rally to be a step into the unknown, and we’ve not been disappointed! After 147km of stages, there are just 2.6-seconds between Thierry in first, Ogier in second and Andreas in third. Quite incredible considering the road conditions we’ve seen today. It has been a real test for the cars and I am pleased our i20 Coupe WRC has held up well. There have been a few small issues along the way, which is to be expected, but overall we are in a promising position  but we know there are more unpredictable stages yet to come.”    Saturday at a glance

• Six special stages make up Saturday’s itinerary over a total distance of 130.62km, marginally shorter than Friday’s distance
• A repeat loop of the 34.24km Yesilbelde, 10.70km Datça and 20.37km Içmeler stages will put cars and crews through another tough test
• Lunchtime service splits the two loops.

Classification after Day One  

Press release Hyundai Motorsport