The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway last night in Alghero and crews contested one short super special stage before heading into the hills this morning for two identical loops of four stages covering 102.86 competitive kilometres. Neuville started slowly and from fifth position after the first test of the day he climbed to third in the following, and then two consecutive fastest times in SS4 and SS5 catapulted the Belgian into a slim but important 1.5 second lead by the mid-day service. This afternoon he and Latvala continued to battle hard, the lead changing stage by stage, but with another two stage wins Neuville was able to leapfrog the Finn and take the overnight lead. Latvala’s charge was hampered by some front diff and understeer problems but he has otherwise run without problems and is 29.2 seconds ahead of Ogier. Once again, Ogier’s position at the front of the field saw him sweeping the roads this morning, but conditions were easier this afternoon and the French reigning World Champion ended the day happy with his performance.

Andreas Mikkelsen has had an up and down day; he was second overall after the first stage but slipped down the order despite battling hard with Mads Østberg, whose decision to take two spare wheels for the second loop didn’t perhaps pan out as planned. The two Norwegians are fourth and fifth respectively and split by just one second tonight. Dani Sordo is sixth, the Spaniard not entirely happy with the set-up of the car and consequently lacking confidence in places. Umberto Scandola – the 2013 Italian Rally Champion – has enjoyed a fantastic day and is seventh in his less powerful Skoda Fabia R5. He also leads the FIA WRC 2 Championship category overnight after some great battles during the day with early leader Teemu Suninen who set a blistering pace this morning. Henning Solberg is eighth having had some issues with the throttle and Ott Tanak is ninth, the Estonian losing time with a spin this morning. Esapekka Lappi, another WRC 2 Championship contender, rounds off the 10 with Suninen less than 10 seconds adrift in 11th. The FIA WRC 3 Championship is being led by Fabio Andolfi in his Peugeot 208 R2.

The leading retirement of the day was Hayden Paddon, the Kiwi driver off the road in SS7 after spinning this morning and damaging a suspension link.

Rally Italia Sardegna – Unofficial Classification after Section 3