Tag: Rally Sardinia

Neuville ignites WRC title push with Rally Sardinia win

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 …

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.”

Thierry Neuville’s Rally Sardinia win thrusts him into the thick of the WRC title battle. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

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.

Toyota’s reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera finished third to maintain his 2023 points lead. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT photo

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.

Andreas Mikkelsen was as surprised as anyone with his last-gasp WRC2 win. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

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   

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

WRC Rally Sardinia: Neuville seizes lead after chaotic Saturday

Thierry Neuville sits on the brink of his first FIA World Rally Championship win of 2023 having taken control of Rally Sardinia on a thrilling and chaotic Saturday which saw eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier crash out of the lead. Neuville …

Thierry Neuville sits on the brink of his first FIA World Rally Championship win of 2023 having taken control of Rally Sardinia on a thrilling and chaotic Saturday which saw eight-time WRC champ Sebastien Ogier crash out of the lead.

Neuville (above) had trailed Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Ogier and his Hyundai Motorsports teammate Esapekka Lappi in third place since the start of the all-gravel, sixth round of the WRC season – but a heavy downpour in the day’s penultimate Erula-Tula stage caused utter chaos and turned the rally on its head.

Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver Ogier, hunting down a record fifth Italian win, entered the stage clinging onto a slender overall lead. However, the Frenchman’s fortunes took a dramatic downturn when he understeered off the road, veering down an embankment less than a mile after the start.

Second-placed Lappi reduced his pace a little upon seeing Ogier’s stricken car, inadvertently dropping more than a half minute to teammate Neuville’s Hyundai i20 N Rally1.  

Neuville had started ahead of the lead pair and was unaware of the drama unfolding behind him on the road, but climbed from third to first overall as a result of Ogier’s exit and Lappi easing off. After setting fastest time on the day’s final stage, the Belgian now heads a Hyundai 1-2 by 36.4s going into Sunday’s four-stage finale.

“I am relieved to be at the finish,” admitted Neuville, who has not won a rally since Japan last November. “It was a tough day out there, but the feeling was getting better and better with the car. We learned a lot, that’s important, but it’s still not always perfect yet and we can still improve.

“Tomorrow is a short but tricky day,” he added. “We need to have a clever drive through and try to bring home the 1-2 for the team.”

Reigning WRC champ and current points leader Kalle Rovanpera was elevated to third at Toyota teammate Ogier’s expense, although the Finn is unlikely to be able to trouble the front-running pair on outright pace. He trailed Lappi by 1m14.3s at the end of the leg after being hampered by excessive tire wear in the afternoon.

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera sits in third, but too far back to trouble the lead Hyundais. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Perseverance paid off for Elfyn Evans, whose day was filled with setbacks. The Welshman’s GR Yaris sustained radiator damage in a water crossing on the third stage of the morning loop and he leaked almost three minutes limping back to service.

History threatened to repeat itself later in the day when Evans’ car momentarily lost power while negotiating another water splash. But the misfire cleared itself shortly afterward and he reached the finish, albeit almost four minutes behind teammate Rovanpera in fourth overall.

Ott Tanak and Takamoto Katsuta were not as lucky, with both suffering water-induced retirements. A faulty electrical sensor was to blame for M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 man Tanak’s exit, while Katsuta bowed out with radiator damage on his GR Yaris.

Their respective mishaps enabled Dani Sordo, recovering from a Friday morning roll, to climb to fifth overall in his Hyundai.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, just four stages stand between Adrien Fourmaux and his first win in the class. 

The Frenchman, driving an M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2, overtook overnight WRC2 leader Sami Pajari in the second stage of the morning and maintained his lead throughout the rest of the day, reaching Olbia’s end-of-leg halt with a 25.7s buffer despite nursing a minor technical issue through the final test.

“It’s been a very challenging day for us and for the car — so I am happy to be here,” Fourmaux said.

M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux is closing in on a first WRC2 class win. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

With Pajari ruled out by rear-suspension damage sustained in a collision with a roadside rock, Skoda Fabia RS pilot Andreas Mikkelsen was Fourmaux’s nearest challenger. Only 0.1s back from the lead at one point in the morning, the two-time WRC2 champ was ultimately repelled by the Frenchman in Saturday afternoon’s wet weather conditions.

Teemu Suninen languished in seventh on Friday night, but an impressive comeback drive by the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver saw him climb to third in the category.  

Expect more rain for Sunday’s short, sharp final leg, which consists of two passes through Arzachena-Braniatogghiu (9.46 miles) and Sardegna (4.84 miles) for a total of 28.6 competitive miles. The second pass through Sardegna is the bonus points-paying, rally-closing Wolf Power Stage.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, leading positions after Day Two, SS15
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3h10m36.9s
2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +36.4s
3 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m50.7s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +5m36.5s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) + 6m27.9s
6 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2 leader) +8m11.7s
7 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m37.4s
8 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N – WRC2) +10m46.4s
9 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m08.3s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +11m40.5s

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.

WRC Rally Sardinia: Charging Lappi edges Ogier in Friday duel

Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (above) demoted Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a gripping conclusion to Friday’s opening leg of WRC Rally Sardinia, claiming the tiniest of overnight leads. After one of the most daunting days so far in this year’s FIA World …

Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi (above) demoted Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier in a gripping conclusion to Friday’s opening leg of WRC Rally Sardinia, claiming the tiniest of overnight leads.

After one of the most daunting days so far in this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, where crews braved a total of almost 90 miles of rough gravel stages in changeable weather conditions on the Italian island, the dueling duo found themselves separated by just 0.1s at the overnight halt.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, making his fourth start of the year aboard a GR Yaris Rally1, began the morning on a tear and led by a seemingly comfortable 16.3s at the day’s halfway point, having blitzed his Finnish rival through the first pass of the tire-shredding, 31-mile Monte Lerno stage.

Sebastien Ogier was the early leader, before Esapekka Lappi’s afternoon charge. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT photo

But the Frenchman’s advantage began to erode as the morning’s three stages were repeated after lunch and Lappi, charging hard in his i20 N Rally1, delivered a masterclass in the leg-closing Monte Lerno 2, turning a 6.7s deficit into that miniscule lead.

“There was no need to push harder; one tenth is enough!” Lappi laughed at the stop line. “I’m glad to be at the finish — that was quite a tricky stage and we got a slow left-rear puncture as well, so that started to disturb (the car) a bit. But we are here, everything is OK, and we are looking forward to tomorrow.”

Despite grappling with an intermittently functioning e-brake, Thierry Neuville fought his way up the leaderboard to make it two Hyundais in the top three. The Belgian trailed Ogier by 18.5s at close of play, with reigning WRC champ and current points leader Kalle Rovanpera another 27.5s behind in his GR Yaris.

Rovanpera had started the final stage down in seventh overall, but the wet conditions played to the 22-year-old Finn’s favor — and to his early starting position. Running first on the road, he experienced the best of the surface conditions and posted the benchmark time, climbing three positions in the process.

Just 1.3s behind Rovanpera was Takamoto Katsuta, who suffered a scare in the morning loop when he hit a rock in his GR Yaris after running wide in a left-hand bend. The mishap cost around 20 seconds and kept his mechanics busy in the mid-leg service.

Completing the Toyota quartet, a right-front puncture toward the end of Monte Lerno left Elfyn Evans 18.2s behind teammate Katsuta in sixth overall. He headed M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak, who overcame a failing water pump in his Puma Rally1, by 4.2sec at the end of the leg.

Ott Tanak is the best of the M-Sport Fords, albeit down in seventh after a water pump issue. M Sport photo

M-Sport Ford’s Pierre-Louis Loubet was Friday’s only casualty among the hybrid Rally1 entries contending for the overall win. Initially holding a solid third overall, the Frenchman incurred a three-minute time penalty when he couldn’t engage any gears prior to the start of the first afternoon stage. Although the issue was swiftly resolved, Loubet’s rally ended later in the day when he beached his Puma in a ditch on the second run through Monte Lerno.

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo completes the Rally1 runners, but languishes in 12th overall. The Spaniard rolled his i20 N in the morning’s final stage, losing more than three minutes in the process.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Skoda Fabia RS driver Sami Pajari holds a 6.3s lead over Adrien Fourmaux’s M-Sport Ford Fiesta. 

Pajari repeatedly punched in top-three WRC2 stage times, but his breakthrough finally arrived in the day-ending Monte Lerno 2 test, where an inch-perfect drive vaulted the Finn from fourth to first in class. 

Skoda driver Sami Pajari vaulted into the WRC2 lead on the day’s final stage. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Emil Lindholm makes it two Skodas in the top three, ending Friday’s leg 6.8s behind Fourmaux, but far from comfortable as two-time WRC2 champ Andreas Mikkelsen closed to within 2.8s in another Fabia RS.

WRC2 points leader Yohan Rossel struggled to find a rhythm aboard his Citroen C3 Rally2 and ended the day down in fifth in class.

More rain is expected for Saturday’s second leg consisting of double runs through Coiluna-Loelle (10.16 miles), Su Filigosu (12.16 miles), Erula-Tula (13.62 miles) and Tempio Pausania (5.62 miles) for a combined total of 83.12 competitive miles.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, leading positions after Day One, SS7
1 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h31m48.8s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +0.1s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18.6s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +46.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +47.4s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m05.6s
7 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +1m09.8s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +3m48.5s
9 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2) +3m54.8s
10 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +4m01.6s

Check out WRC.com, the official home of the FIA World Rally Championship. And for the ultimate WRC experience, sign up for a WRC+ All Live subscription to watch all stages of every rally live and on demand, whenever and wherever.