After 14 stages and more than 200 timed kilometres, the difference between first and second place at the end of the second leg of the 50th Rally Islas Canarias – Rally of Spain is a mere 3.8 seconds. A minimal difference with which Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais and Oliver Solberg / Elliott Edmondson will start the four remaining special stages of the final day.
The back-and-forth between teammates has been fantastic, a sporting spectacle that has featured the ‘Maspalomas’, ‘Arucas – Firgas – Teror’, and ‘Moya-Gáldar’ stages. On their fast and technical roads, the two leading duos have fought down to the tenth throughout the day, leaving everything open for tomorrow’s grand finale.
The only crew who have come close to the leading pace are Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin. The Welshman has consolidated his third-place position after winning the first two stages of the day. Sami Pajari / Marko Salminen, along with Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston, secured fourth place on the final day.
Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria were also among the standout names on the second day. The Frenchman climbed to sixth place in the morning section and maintained his position throughout the rest of the day, remaining the highest-placed Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT driver.
Dani Sordo / Cándido Carrera and Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe will battle for seventh place on Sunday’s stage, starting just 2.0 seconds apart.
Yohan Rossel / Arnaud Dunand continue to hold the lead in WRC2. Leading since Friday, the French duo have slightly increased their advantage to 27.5 seconds over Alejandro Cachón / Borja Rozada.
The Spanish crew gave their all on Saturday’s stages; their effort paid off, finishing the day just two-tenths of a second ahead of the third-placed crew in the category, Léo Rossel / Guillaume Mercoiret.
Meanwhile, Jan Solans / Rodrigo Sanjuán are running in seventh position, two places ahead of the best Canary Islands team in this edition, Enrique Cruz / Yeray Mujica, while Armide Martín / Eduardo González are in 16th.
In WRC3, there has been a change of lead. The Polish duo Tymoteusz Abramowski / Jakub Wróbel have edged out the Spanish team Gil Membrado / Adrián Pérez by just 2.6 seconds, the latter hampered by a mechanical problem on the afternoon stages.
The final day of the 50th Rally Islas Canarias – Rally of Spain will feature more than 78 timed kilometres, divided into two stages that will be run twice each: ‘Ingenio – Valsequillo’ (25.93 km) and ‘Santa Lucía – Agüimes’ (13.27 km), the new Wolf Power Stage of this edition which will bring the Super Sunday to a close.
