JEDDAH — Title contenders Elfyn Evans and Sebastien Ogier toiled on the second day of the season-closing Rally Saudi Arabia.
After the morning’s testing stages on the dusty gravel tracks north of Jeddah, M-Sport Ford driver Martins Sesks emerged as the surprise front-runner.
The 26-year-old Latvian posted the quickest times in the second and third stages to top the standings by 1.3 seconds from Adrien Fourmaux, AFP reported.
Ogier, only three points behind Evans in the title battle, is placed seventh after a brutal morning, almost half a minute off Sesks.
His Toyota teammate Evans, compromised by little grip having to open the road on the loose surface, ended the session in eighth, 50.3s off the lead.
Ogier, who described the conditions as “terrible’, won last time out in Japan to keep the wheels on his bid for a record-equalling ninth world rally crown.
The Frenchman has enjoyed a stand-out season given he missed three of the 14 rounds of the championship in his capacity as a ‘part-time’ driver.
Finland’s Kalle Rovanpera, who is 24 points behind Evans and still in with a mathematical chance of the title, lost valuable time with a puncture to finish over one minute behind Sesks.
Evans lost ground to title rival Ogier on second day of Rally Japan as Kalle Rovanpera’s hopes of a third world crown took a hit.
Welshman Evans went into the penultimate rally of the season with a 13-point lead over his Toyota teammates Ogier and Rovanpera and can wrap up his first world title in Japan if he outscores both by 23 points.
Evans was in third place, 10.2 seconds behind leader and eight-time world champion Ogier.
“Seb’s pulled the pin out a bit this afternoon, and I haven’t had the pace to follow him,” said Evans, a four-time championship runner-up.
“That’s the case but there’s a long way to go in this rally, and we’ll keep trying.”
If Evans does not win the title this weekend, the championship will be decided at the season-ending Rally Saudi Arabia later this month.
Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta finished the day in second, 7.9 seconds behind Frenchman Ogier.
