Adrien Fourmaux led Rally Saudi Arabia on Thursday night after a chaotic opening leg in the desert, while Sébastien Ogier moved narrowly ahead of Elfyn Evans in the FIA World Rally Championship title race.
Fourmaux climbed to the front after a bruising afternoon in which drama reshuffled the order on the second pass of Khulays. The Frenchman stayed clear of major issues across all seven stages to end the day 6.0sec ahead of Toyota's Sami Pajari, with early pacesetter Mārtiņš Sesks just 0.9sec further back in third.
The rally lead had changed hands several times through the day. Sesks dominated the morning loop with two stage wins and built a strong advantage before a right-rear puncture on the repeat of Moon Stage cost him more than 15sec. Pajari then moved ahead after winning SS6, only for a front-right delamination on the final stage to drop him back behind Fourmaux. Both remain firmly in the fight heading into Friday.
"I'm really pleased with the day," Fourmaux said. "To be fair, I'm always thinking that we could push more and gain a bit more time, but it's always playing with the balance between pushing and saving the car and the tyres, so I think we did it quite well. The gaps are small, so nothing is done for sure, but it's positive to finish the day like that - the road position is important here and I'm pleased to have a good road position for tomorrow."
The biggest shift, however, came behind them. Championship leader Evans, running first on the road, fought poor grip all day as he swept loose sand and rocks for the field behind. A minor overshoot in the morning added to his deficit and he ended the day ninth, more than a minute adrift after further time loss on the abrasive afternoon loop.
Ogier, who trailed his GR Yaris Rally1 team-mate by three points coming into this final round, managed the conditions more effectively and avoided the issues that delayed several rivals. The Frenchman reached the overnight service in seventh and, with Evans struggling, moved into the provisional championship lead by a single point.
Kalle Rovanperä's hopes of a third world title narrowed further after two punctures restricted him to eighth, slotting him between Ogier and Evans at the day's end.
Evans will start fourth in the road order on Friday, with Ogier sixth - two places further back and directly behind Rovanperä - handing the Frenchman a small but meaningful advantage.
"You can't see it on the classification, but we've been doing a pretty good job today," Ogier said. "My main target anyway is Elfyn and Kalle, and on that side we have done what we had to do – we are in front of them."
Ott Tänak sits fourth overnight after winning the penultimate stage despite reporting possible suspension damage. His i20 N Rally1 colleague Thierry Neuville is fifth after a day marked by a cracked windscreen and a slow puncture, while Takamoto Katsuta holds sixth following a cautious, tyre-protecting approach.
Grégoire Munster and Oliver Solberg completed the top 11, while Munster's M-Sport Ford team-mates Josh McErlean and Nasser Al-Attiyah were both delayed by tyre deflations - the latter losing more than seven minutes when his jack became stuck.
End of day two (Thursday):
1 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h18m45.3s
2 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6.0s
3 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +6.9s
4 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +13.7s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +14.9s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +22.9s
7 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +44.2s
8 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m21.2s
9 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m25.3s
10 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m10.9s ...
(Results as of 21:10 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What's next?
Friday will be the longest day of the rally, with 134.34 competitive kilometres to be driven across another two loops of three stages, separated by mid-day service.
