Solberg takes Sardinia lead as Evans faces WRC title pressure

Oliver Solberg moved into the lead of Rally Italia Sardegna on Saturday morning, strengthening his World Rally Championship title challenge while Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans remained sixth. According to Autosport, Solberg won two of the morning's three stages to turn an overnight deficit of 12.3 seconds into a 2.7-second advantage over Thierry Neuville.

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The change came after Neuville initially extended his lead. The Hyundai driver beat Solberg by 2.1 seconds on Saturday's opening test, but the Swede responded by taking 11.1 seconds out of him on the next stage. Another stage victory, this time six seconds faster than Neuville, put Solberg ahead at the end of the loop.

Adrien Fourmaux's challenge suffered an early setback. Autosport reported that a front-left puncture on the morning's first stage cost the Hyundai driver a minute after he continued without changing the tyre. Fourmaux dropped to fifth before recovering fourth place from Sami Pajari on stage nine, with Sebastien Ogier holding third.

BBC Sport reported that Evans and co-driver Scott Martin were one minute 57.7 seconds behind Solberg after the morning stages. Pajari, another contender for the championship, was 42.2 seconds ahead of them in fifth. Evans said the effect of road cleaning left him with little realistic prospect of catching the cars ahead and made avoiding trouble his immediate priority.

The title remained unresolved in the final round of the season. BBC Sport noted that as many as 10 additional points were available from Sunday's stage classifications and the concluding Power Stage. Those opportunities meant Saturday morning's running order could not, on its own, determine which driver would leave Sardinia as champion.

Solberg's move continued a recovery that began on Friday. The FIA's opening-day report said tyre damage had interrupted his first stage before he won SS4 and secured third overnight. Neuville had finished Friday just 0.4 seconds ahead of Fourmaux, while Evans had struggled with handling and the demands of running first on the gravel roads. The crews were due to repeat Saturday's three-stage loop after service, with Solberg now defending the rally lead.