Puncture drops Tänak off the rostrum, Fourmaux has a scare – DirtFish

Ott Tänak dropped out of the rostrum locations with a puncture on the penultimate stage of Rally del Paraguay, as there was additionally a scare for Hyundai team-mate Adrien Fourmaux.

Tänak had been third midway by means of the ultimate leg, 1.8s forward of Elfyn Evans, however a rear-right puncture price him 11.4s and dropped him to fifth behind Thierry Neuville as nicely.

Explaining what occurred, Tänak mentioned: “It’s Hankook, so it can happen. In the beginning, the water splash, the engine was full of water so we stopped there as well. It was not a good stage.”

Evans might perceive how his rival hit hassle.

“There’s just big rocks there everywhere, a bit of a lottery,” he mentioned. “I tried to keep my car in the middle of the road as much as possible, but there’s rocks everywhere.”

Evans has 4.7s in hand over Neuville, however second-placed Fourmaux is now simply 3.3s forward as he misplaced invaluable time by means of the identical water splash that induced issues for Tänak.

“In a water splash the engine died,” Fourmaux mentioned. “To be fair I thought it was over, but the engine cleared itself and came back after. But I lost also the lights so I didn’t know when to shift.

“We need to finish second, for me it’s deserved with all that’s happened,” he added. “One to go.”

Sébastien Ogier’s rally lead stands at 39.1s with one stage to go.