Reigning world rally champion Sebastien Ogier has grabbed the lead of Rally Islas Canarias, while officials have been forced to cancel stage three due to spectators parking illegally.
The FIA has confirmed that more than 100 spectator vehicles have been found illegally parked in a protected area near SS3 Tejeda – San Mateo 1 (18.62km), which has made it impossible to run the test.
“Due to more than 100 spectator vehicles being found illegally parked within a protected area near SS3, the Clerk of the Course was forced to cancel the stage in order to allow for the removal of the vehicles from the area,” read a statement from the FIA.
“Spectators are urged to remove their vehicles from the area immediately and are reminded to only park in officially designated parking zones for the remainder of the event.”
As a result, WRC crews were instructed to navigate to stage four, the last test of the morning loop.
Prior to the confirmation that SS3 had been cancelled, nine-time world champion Ogier set the pace in the opening test of the morning loop.
The Toyota driver was 0.5s faster than Oliver Solberg, which was enough to overhaul overnight leader Takamoto Katsuta by 0.8s.
“It is OK. I expected a very close stage. I had a good feeling with the car. At the moment it looks close with my other team-mates, it will be intense,” said Ogier.
As anticipated, Toyota dominated the stage times, filling the top five positions, as Hyundai and M-Sport-Ford struggled to live with the pace of the Japanese marque.
Sami Pajari set the fourth-fastest time, which elevated the Finn to third overall, 0.9s away from the lead and 0.1s behind third-placed Katsuta.
Solberg’s effort was enough to climb from 10th to fourth overall, 0.7s ahead of Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans.
Daniel Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
Dani Sordo emerged as the top Hyundai, albeit 7.6s away from the pace set by Ogier. The Spaniard, making his first Rally1 start since Greece 2024, moved into sixth overall [+7.2s].
“It was a really nice stage and I enjoyed it a lot. I think we can improve the car and I can improve a little bit. The team is working really hard, and maybe we are not fighting at the minute, but I’m happy the team is working hard,” said Sordo.
Sordo was the most positive of the Hyundai crews that were clearly struggling with the balance of the i20 N. Adrien Fourmaux held seventh overall ahead of Thierry Neuville [+9.6s].
“Honestly, I didn’t sleep very well. I was so nervous about how I will drive the car on the stage and it was confirmed this morning. I’m trying to adapt my driving but nothing works. It feels like I don’t know how to drive the car,” said Neuville.
The top 10 was completed by M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong, with 0.2s separating the pair. Lancia’s Yohan Rossel heads WRC2 in 11th overall.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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