Sébastien Ogier is now just one stage away from tying the all-time record with a ninth World Rally Championship title, after a wild final day at Rally Saudi Arabia vaulted him from sixth to a stunning second overall.
Thierry Neuville heads the rally by 1m10.9s over Ogier, with Adrien Fourmaux holding third. But the real drama erupted on the notorious SS16 Asfan, a stage that detonated the leaderboard and flipped the championship fight on its head.
The Stage That Shook the Rally
Mãrtiņš Sesks began Saturday as the leader, but Neuville immediately snatched the top spot on the opening test, edging ahead by 2.0 seconds.
Then SS16 delivered pure carnage:
- Sesks stopped to change two punctures, falling from second to ninth and limping into stop control with a sick-sounding car.
- Takamoto Katsuta ran wide, rolled in soft sand, and tumbled down to fifth.
- And most crucially, Kalle Rovanperä lost massive time after stopping to change a wheel, dropping behind both Ogier and Elfyn Evans.
Rovanperä, competing in his final WRC event, did not sugar-coat his feelings:
“What a fing s show.”
Ogier’s Title Charge Roars to Life
With Evans delayed and the leaders collapsing around him, Ogier’s all-out push paid off. He rocketed up to second overall — four places ahead of Evans — and suddenly seized control of the championship picture.
As things stand, Ogier is on course to outscore Evans by 10 points, giving him a seven-point cushion heading into the decisive powerstage. One more clean run could lock down title number nine.
Fourmaux Furious After Dust Delays
Elsewhere, Adrien Fourmaux continued battling a weekend of frustration.
After receiving a one-minute penalty for checking into Friday’s final control early, Hyundai is now investigating the situation with rally officials.
Fourmaux told DirtFish he wanted to remain within a minute of the rally lead — but after SS16, his first question was:
“What is the gap to the lead?”
When informed it had ballooned to 1m29.9s, he didn’t hide his anger:
“I was in the dust with cars of punctures in front, probably 10km I have to slow down completely. We need to see how much we lose because it’s not fair, it’s not fair.”
Neuville: “I Felt Too Careful… But It Wasn’t Too Bad”
Despite leading comfortably, Neuville thought he was losing time due to being overly cautious. But co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe urged him to stay calm — and the strategy is paying off.
“Incredible, incredible,” Neuville said. “I was saying to Martijn ‘I’m too careful, I’m too careful’ and he was like ‘no, no, no, no stay like this’. I really felt like losing time but at the end the approach wasn’t too bad.”
Neuville now stands on the brink of winning his first rally of the season, at the last possible opportunity.









