Rallying-Tanak leads in Belgium after Neuville crashes

Estonian Ott Tanak inherited the lead of Ypres Rally Belgium on Saturday after Hyundai team mate Thierry Neuville crashed out of his home event. Tanak, winner in Finland earlier this month, led Toyota’s Elfyn Evans by 8.2 seconds going into Sunday’s final four stages with the Welshman’s team mate Esapekka Lappi in third place, a minute and nine seconds off the pace.

“Tomorrow will be far from easy. I think it will be a big push in the morning,” said Tanak. Toyota’s world championship leader Kalle Rovanpera is out of contention for victory after crashing on Friday but he returned on Saturday after repairs to the car and can still pick up points in Sunday’s final Power stage.

Neuville pitched into a ditch on the penultimate stage of the day but will also return on Sunday in the hope of salvaging bonus points. “I came to a slow left-hand corner (in stage 15), on quite slippery Tarmac, and it was full of dirt from the cars in front,” said the Belgian.

“There was nothing in our pace notes and we weren’t aware it could be that tricky. “We were just caught by surprise. Nothing we could do, I just understeered into a ditch. The car didn’t have much damage but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the end and had to retire there.”

A total of 51.34km of competitive action remains on Sunday. Rovanpera leads closest rival Tanak by 94 points after eight of 13 rallies.

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