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Turkey debrief: Part two

In the second part of our Rally Turkey review, we put the spotlight on a moment that turned the rally on its head and celebrate the return of one of the WRC's most colourful characters.

Stage of the rally

We're spoilt for choice as there were lots of stages that took our breath away. So we're going a little off-piste and nominating the whole of Saturday morning.

The three tests served up incredible drama that shook up the WRC title race. First, Thierry Neuville retired from the lead when his Hyundai's suspension made a bid for freedom and punched through the bonnet. Then, just a stage later, Sébastien Ogier suffered time-sapping suspension problems of his own.

Factor in a retirement for Pontus Tidemand and tyre-changing drama for Jan Kopecký - both WRC 2 title rivals - and Saturday morning was one to remember.

Turning point

Neuville was on cloud nine when he claimed the lead in Friday's last stage. However, his bubble burst when he hit terminal suspension trouble in Saturday's opening test.

His early retirement not only extinguished his hopes of valuable championship points for a top-10 finish, but boosted the hopes of fast-closing title rival Ott Tänak.

Five bonus points for victory in the live TV Power Stage allowed Neuville to salvage something, but with his lead slashed from 23 to 13 points, the Belgian will hope the turning point in his rally doesn't also prove a turning point in his quest for a maiden title.

Surprise of the rally

This accolade goes to Henning Solberg (below). It is always great to have the bubbly Norwegian back on the WRC stages, but we don't think even he could have predicted finishing sixth in his Skoda Fabia R5.

Beating WRC 2 points leader Kopecký by almost five minutes, Henning claimed the joint-highest finish for an R5 entrant on a WRC event - matching Elfyn Evans' result at Rallye Deutschland in 2013. Hopefully, we'll see the 45-year-old competing again soon!

Save of the rally

After Neuville's retirement, Ogier inherited the lead and was focused on closing the gap to the Belgian in the drivers' standings.

However, front-right suspension damage in SS9 dropped him to fourth and his rally looked in tatters.

But thanks to monumental repair work on the following road section, the Frenchman saved his rally and promptly set fastest time in the next stage as he looked to leap back into podium contention.

Unfortunately, a costly off on the next test took the shine off his roadside heroics and brought about an early retirement.

Zdroj: wrc.com