Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) returned to fourth place on Friday afternoon during the Estonian Rally, the seventh World Cup round. After five special stages, four of which were completed on Friday, Neuville is 40.3 seconds behind Finnish leader Kalle Rovanpera (Toyota). The Estonian Ött Tanak (Hyundai) had to give up.
Neuville was satisfied with his first two stages of the day, but had to finish the fourth special stage with a flat tire. “I had a flat tire 7 km from the finish”, he explained afterwards. “After that it was careful. We had left very well, but these are things that happen. I tried to have a good ride. At one point the car had a small problem with power loss, but that was quickly resolved.”
Kalle Rovanpera is currently the leader with 4.8 seconds ahead of Irishman Craig Breen (Hyundai). French World Cup leader Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) is third at 33.5 seconds.
Ött Tanak had to give up in his own country after two flat tires in the last stage of the morning. The Est changed a tire but then ran off the road.
Still on the Belgian side, Renauld Jamoul, co-pilot of the Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux (Fiesta), is twelfth. He is third in the WRC2 class.
Thierry Neuville is third in the World Cup standings with 77 points. World Cup leader Ogier has 133 points, his first pursuer is Welshman Elfyn Evans (Toyota) with 99 points.
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