Greensmith grabs WRC2 lead after late Sardinia drama

Teemu Suninen had the opening day completely under control, holding the category lead from Thursday evening and steadily building an advantage across the punishing gravel stages of Sardinia. The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver remained 9.3sec clear of Emil Lindholm after SS6, even with Korhonen setting the fastest time on the afternoon pass of Su Filigosu – Lerno.

That commanding run completely unravelled on the final Monti di Alà – Sa Conchedda – Lerno test when Suninen stopped 4.8km into the stage to change a damaged tyre. The roadside intervention cost more than two minutes, dropping the Finn all the way to seventh in WRC2 and leaving him 2min 41.0sec away from the lead.

That sudden disaster opened the door wide for Greensmith, who had quietly kept himself in contention throughout a day where avoiding trouble was worth just as much as flat-out speed. The Briton and co-driver Jonas Andersson brought their Toyota through Friday’s finale third-fastest in WRC2 to claim the overnight lead on a total time of 1hr 29min 08.3sec.

Korhonen was just one tenth quicker on SS7 and ends the day only 2.2sec behind his fellow Toyota driver, setting up a tantalising fight for Saturday. The Finn had already signalled his intentions by winning SS6, and his late charge transformed what had been a 19.4sec deficit to Suninen after the morning loop into a genuine battle for victory.

Behind the leading pair, Emil Lindholm holds third in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, though he sits 1min 17.9sec from the front after sustaining tyre damage on that same final test. Defending Sardinia WRC2 winner Roberto Daprà sits fourth and 1min 49.9sec back, with Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Pablo Sarrazin rounding out the top six.

Further down the order, newly crowned WRC2 champion Robert Virves endured a bruising day of his own. The Estonian was delayed by tyre damage on two separate stages, but responded emphatically by winning SS7 by 6.1sec from Korhonen to end Friday eighth in the category, 2min 54.9sec adrift. Léo Rossel was another major casualty of the rough conditions, forced into a retirement for the day after a hard landing caused a mechanical problem on SS3.