Rallying-Championship leader Evans trails title rivals in Sardinia, Neuville fastest

FILE PHOTO: Jun 16, 2019; Sassari, Sardegna, Italy; WRC driver Elfyn Evans (BGR) drifts a corner in front of a yacht on the Mediterranean Sea during SS19-Sassari-Argentiera 2 of Rally Italia Sardegna, round 8 of the World Rally Championship. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

Oct 2 (Reuters) - World Rally Championship ⁠leader Elfyn Evans trailed his rivals but kept on course for ⁠the title after the first full day of the decisive season-ending ‌Italian round in Sardinia on Friday.

Hyundai's Thierry Neuville grabbed the overnight lead on the day's closing seventh stage, the 2004 world champion a mere 00.4 clear of teammate Adrien Fourmaux who had ​been ahead since the third stage.

Toyota's Oliver Solberg ⁠was the fastest of the ⁠title contenders in third place, 12.3 off the lead, with teammate and rival ⁠Sami ‌Pajari fourth and 37.4 behind Neuville.

Evans, who had the disadvantage of being first on the island's rough gravel roads in his Toyota, was ⁠sixth and a minute and 08.9 seconds off the ​lead.

"I think overall today ‌we did pretty much what we could have done. It's still ⁠two more days ​to go, and I hope we are ready for the fight,” said Pajari.

There are 35 points to be won this weekend, the final round of the championship after ⁠Saudi Arabia was cancelled, and Welshman Evans is ​17 clear of Finland's Pajari and 21 ahead of Sweden's Solberg.

All three title contenders would be first-time champions if they prevail.

Solberg won Thursday's opening stage and was ⁠also fastest on Friday's fourth stage, 0.8 seconds quicker than Toyota's reigning champion Sebastien Ogier, who is out of contention for the title but was running fifth in Sardinia.

As things stand, Evans would be champion -- after finishing runner-up five ​times in the last six seasons -- but there are ⁠plenty of pitfalls ahead before the rally ends on Sunday.

Apart from Solberg's two ​stage wins, the two Hyundai drivers were fastest ‌on all the others with Neuville taking ​three. Saturday has six more stages before the final four on Sunday.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in LondonEditing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)

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资料照片：2019年6月16日；意大利撒丁岛萨萨里；世界拉力锦标赛（WRC）第八站意大利撒丁岛拉力赛SS19-萨萨里-阿根蒂耶拉2赛段，WRC车手埃尔芬·埃文斯（BGR车队）在地中海上漂移过弯，前方有一艘游艇。图片来源：Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports/资料照片（必须注明出处）

10 月 2 日（路透社）——在周五于撒丁岛举行的决定性赛季收官之战——世界拉力锦标赛的领头羊埃尔芬·埃文斯在首个完整比赛日结束后落后于他的竞争对手，但仍朝着冠军头衔稳步前进。

现代车队的蒂埃里·诺伊维尔在当天最后一个赛段（第七赛段）中夺得了领先位置，这位 2004 年世界冠军仅领先队友阿德里安·福尔莫 0.4 秒，后者自第三赛段以来一直领先。

丰田车队的奥利弗·索尔伯格是所有冠军争夺者中最快的，排名第三，落后领先者 12.3 秒；他的队友兼对手萨米·帕贾里排名第四，落后诺伊维尔 37.4 秒。

埃文斯驾驶着他的丰田车，在岛上崎岖的碎石路上第一个出发，这对他来说是一个不利因素，他最终排名第六，落后领先者 1 分 08.9 秒。

帕贾里说：“我认为今天我们基本上已经尽力了。还有两天时间，我希望我们已经准备好迎接挑战。”

本周末是沙特阿拉伯站比赛取消后锦标赛的最后一轮，共有 35 个积分可供争夺。威尔士车手埃文斯领先芬兰车手帕亚里 17 分，领先瑞典车手索尔伯格 21 分。

如果这三位冠军争夺者全部获胜，他们都将成为首次夺冠的选手。

索尔伯格赢得了周四的首个赛段，并在周五的第四赛段中也取得了最快成绩，比丰田车队的卫冕冠军塞巴斯蒂安·奥吉尔快了 0.8 秒。奥吉尔虽然已经无缘冠军，但在撒丁岛的比赛中排名第五。

就目前的情况来看，埃文斯有望夺冠——他在过去六个赛季中五次获得亚军——但在周日比赛结束前，还有许多陷阱需要克服。

除了索尔伯格赢得的两个赛段冠军外，现代车队的两位车手在其他所有赛段都跑出了最快圈速，其中诺伊维尔更是拿下三个赛段冠军。周六还有六个赛段，周日则是最后的四个赛段。

（伦敦 Alan Baldwin 报道，Toby Davis 和 Pritha Sarkar 编辑）

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