Thierry Neuville leapt from fifth to second in the FIA World Rally Championship standings on Sunday afternoon after clinching a long-awaited victory at Rally Sardinia.
The Belgian (above) headed home Hyundai Motorsports teammate Esapekka Lappi by 33.0s in a dream 1-2 finish for the Korean marque and its hybrid i20 N Rally1 machines.
The result — Neuville’s 18th WRC career success alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe — was the first win of the 2023 season for both Neuville and his team, helping Hyundai to move within 23 points of Toyota Gazoo Racing in the WRC manufacturers’ standings.
The rally lead changed hands a staggering nine times during the fast and furious, all-gravel Mediterranean island fixture until Neuville seized the initiative when erstwhile leader Sebastien Ogier put his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 off the road on Saturday’s rain-hit penultimate test.
Neuville also surpassed Lappi, who celebrated his third-consecutive top-three finish, in the same stage and managed his comfortable advantage through Sunday’s four-stage finale.
“Obviously it was a challenging weekend,” said Neuville, who now trails Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera by 25 points in the WRC drivers’ standings after six of 13 rounds. “We came here with the belief that we could fight for victory, but the first day was challenging and we lost a bit of time. Yesterday we found ourselves in the lead and we had to manage it until the end.
“It’s the first victory for the team this year, it’s a 1-2, and the first win for our team principal [Cyril Abiteboul] as well. Craig Breen [who died in a pre-Croatia Rally testing accident in April] is in our memories also — we wanted the win in Croatia for him, but we got it now.”
Rovanpera completed the podium in third overall, the reigning WRC champ’s best result out of five Rally Sardinia attempts, and ended his Sunday with fastest time in the rally-closing, bonus-points paying Wolf Power Stage.
Although Rovanpera trailed fellow Finn Lappi by 1m22.3s at the finish, the high rate of attrition saw him end the rally a sizeable 3m25.2s clear of fourth-placed Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans. Evans struggled to get into a rhythm in his GR Yaris and dropped around three minutes on Saturday when the car’s radiator sustained damage in a water crossing.
Dani Sordo almost made it three Hyundais in the top five, but retired after Sunday’s second stage due to an exhaust issue. It brought an early end to what been a turbulent weekend for the Spaniard, having previously rolled his i20 N on Friday morning.
Sordo’s demise paved the way for Andreas Mikkelsen to claim fifth overall as well as taking a surprise victory in WRC2, the second tier of international rallying.
Mikkelsen celebrated the unlikeliest of victories when leader Adrien Fourmaux slid off the road a mile into the weekend’s final stage, denying the Frenchman a maiden WRC2 class win.
Starting the 4.84-mile, rally-closing Wolf Power Stage 31s down on Fourmaux, Mikkelsen looked destined to bring his Skoda Fabia RS home second overall — his best-ever WRC2 result on Sardinia after retiring there in the previous two seasons.
However, as the Norwegian approached the flying finish, news began filtering through that Fourmaux had slid off the road in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, succumbing to the changeable weather and slippery conditions. Despite the best efforts of onlookers, they were not able to get the Fiesta back on the road, forcing Fourmaux’s retirement.
“Wow,” was Mikkelsen’s first response when learning of his rival’s demise. “We made the best of the situation. Not a nice end for Adrien — he has done a fantastic weekend and the whole M-Sport team has so many positives to take out of here.
“If it’s a win for us then we are of course very happy.”
Sardinia marked just the second start this season for the 2021 WRC2 world champion, following on from his third place finish last month at Rally Portugal. The high attrition among the Rally1 crews means Mikkelsen’s fifth overall is the highest finish for a WRC2 entry this season.
A broken wheel ruled Teemu Suninen out of WRC2 victory contention in Friday’s opening leg, but the Hyundai i20 N driver recovered valiantly to finish 2m15s back from Mikkelsen for his first podium of the season.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz’s Fabia RS completed the top three, almost a minute behind Suninen.
Next up, the WRC season heads into its second half with a highly anticipated visit to Africa later this month for the legendary Safari Rally Kenya, June 22-25. With its car-swallowing fesh-fesh dust and extreme temperatures, the Naivasha-based event is a grueling test for the crews and their machines.
WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, final positions after Day Three, SS19
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3h40m01.4s
2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +33.0s
3 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m55.3s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5m20.5s
5 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 winner) +9m33.3s
6 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N – WRC2) +11m48.9s
7 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +12m46.1s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +12m53.5s
9 Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +15m33.8s
10 Erik Cais/Petr Tesinsky (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +16m49.4s
WRC Drivers’ Championship after 6 rounds
1 Rovanpera 113 points
2 Neuville 93
3 Tanak 81
4 Elfyn Evans 81
5 Sebastien Ogier 69
WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 6 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 228 points
2 Hyundai Motorsport 212
3 M-Sport Ford 144
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