Breakthrough WRC3 victory beckons for Maior

Co-driven by his sister Francesca, the Romanian pairing go into Sunday with a buffer of more than two minutes over their closest rival Romet Jürgenson, who is behind the wheel of an identical M-Sport Poland Ford Fiesta Rally3.

The already daunting challenge of the longest day of the season was further compounded by a combination of temperatures in the mid-thirties and unforgiving jutted and dug-out stages, seeing nearly every crew forced to change wheels at some point during the day.

Maior started Saturday in the lead but immediately conceded it to Jürgenson. Nevertheless, he remained within touching distance up until the penultimate stage when his Estonian rival was forced to stop to change a wheel, losing more than three minutes.

None of the other crews could capitalise on Jürgenson’s error, however, and the FIA Rally Star driver was still able to complete the day in second overall, 1min 40.8sec ahead Petr Borodin. Borodin inherited the final podium spot from Ali Türkkan, who retired on the road section to the day's final stage with a broken rear wishbone.