Tag: Sebastien Ogier

Neuville’s WRC title hopes take a hit, Ogier leads after Central European Rally Saturday dramas

Thierry Neuville’s hopes of clinching his first FIA World Rally Championship title at the Central European Rally took a significant hit after a dramatic Saturday morning saw the Hyundai ace fall from first to fourth overall as Toyota’s Sebastien …

Thierry Neuville’s hopes of clinching his first FIA World Rally Championship title at the Central European Rally took a significant hit after a dramatic Saturday morning saw the Hyundai ace fall from first to fourth overall as Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (above) moved into the lead on Saturday’s second leg.

The Belgian had made a near-perfect start on the all-asphalt, multi-country event, leading by 6.4s in his i20 N Rally1 after Friday’s opening leg in the Czech Republic. But on the penultimate day of the penultimate round of the 2024 WRC season, he suffered not one, but two costly off-road excursions within the span of a minute.

Just yards after recovering from a first spin during the morning’s second stage, the 15.12-mile, German-Austrian border-straddling Beyond Borders 1 test, Neuville found himself wide on the grass again. The second off proved particularly costly as he struggled to extract his car from a concrete drainage ditch and lost nearly 40s.

Two time-consuming off-road moments look to have thwarted Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville’s chance of sealing his first WRC crown at the penultimate round. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier found himself back in the lead for the first time since Friday morning, but the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver had Ott Tanak’s Hyundai hot on his heels. Tanak, who’d briefly headed Ogier after the opening stage of the day, claimed two fastest times, compared with Ogier’s three, and trails the Frenchman by 5.2s heading into Sunday’s four-stage final leg.

Today’s events have made it increasingly likely that the championship will be decided at the season-ending Rally Japan next month. Based on Saturday’s provisional points haul (which are only locked in on completion of the event), Neuville has surrendered eight to Ogier and three to Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who currently sits 25.8s ahead of him in third place.

Crucially, he’s lost five points to teammate Tanak, his closest championship rival, but needed to outscore the Estonian by two to secure the title this weekend.

Ott Tanak holds second after Saturday’s leg, meaning the Hyundai ace could take his long-shot WRC title chances to the season finale. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

“There is disappointment, for sure, but the rally isn’t over and tomorrow is an exciting day,” Neuville said. “We paid the price. It was definitely a mistake in the recce with the pace notes. The note was too fast, and I am a bit disappointed about that, but it is what it is.”

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta trailed Neuville by 52.0s in fifth, the Japanese driver’s cause not helped by the 16-second time penalty he incurred on the first stage of the day. He exceeded the target speed in a virtual chicane area by 8km/h (5mph) and was penalized by 2s per km/h as a result.

Sixth at the overnight halt went the way of Katsuta’s fellow Toyota pilot Sami Pajari, the Finn enjoying the experience of his first asphalt start in a Rally1 car.

M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster held seventh overall, but it was a disappointing day for his teammate, Adrien Fourmaux, who retired his Puma Rally1 after the day’s second stage with a front differential issue that compromised his car’s handling, leading to two trips off-road.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Yohan Rossel’s WRC2 title ambitions took a heavy blow, but his DG Sport Competition Citroen teammate Nikolay Gryazin enjoyed another dominant day.

Citroen C3 driver Nikolay Gryazin continues to hold a healthy WRC2 lead. In contrast, teammate Yohan Rossel has seen his class title chances dashed…  McKlein/Motorsport Images

Rossel began the penultimate round of the season well aware that only a victory would be enough to keep his championship hopes alive, but his rally began to unravel from the get-go. A broken wheel after an excursion on Thursday, followed by a lackluster run through Friday, left him languishing far down the order.

Saturday turned out to be even more frustrating for the Frenchman when he slid his Citroen C3 off the road on the opening stage, damaging the rear suspension. Although Rossel and co-driver Florian Barral managed to make repairs, the 14-minute time loss effectively ended their title challenge.

Rossel’s misfortune leaves only two drivers in the WRC2 title fight: Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. Neither are scoring WRC2 points this weekend. Solberg is using CER to gain asphalt experience and currently sits second fastest of the Rally2-spec machines, but has already completed the maximum-allowed seven rounds this season. The Swede currently leads the series, but must wait until the Rally Japan finale to see whether Pajari, who’ll return to his Rally2-spec GR Yaris for his seventh counting event, can better his score.

Sunday’s finale is made up of two runs through the 7.56-mile Knaus Tabbert Am Hochwald test, plus two through the 9.24-mile Passauer Land stage The second blast through the latter forms the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage. Can Neuville dominate the final leg and claw back some of his advantage in the title race, or will he play it safe and aim for sealing the deal in Japan?

WRC Central European Rally, positions after Leg Two, SS14
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h10m12.7s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5.2s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +14.0s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +39.8s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m31.8s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m07.3s
7 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m22.7s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +7m39.6s
9 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 – non-points) +8m10.6s
10 Filip Mares/Radovan Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +9m30.4s

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Ogier closes in on WRC Rally Italy Sardinia win as title chasers falter

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier is closing in on a third straight FIA World Rally Championship win after distancing his nearest rival, Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, on Saturday’s grueling second leg of Rally Italy Sardinia. The eight-time WRC champ (above), who’s …

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier is closing in on a third straight FIA World Rally Championship win after distancing his nearest rival, Hyundai’s Ott Tanak, on Saturday’s grueling second leg of Rally Italy Sardinia.

The eight-time WRC champ (above), who’s running only a part-time schedule in 2024, will start Sunday’s final leg with a 17.1s advantage over Tanak after a turbulent day which included four lead changes and saw WRC points leader Thierry Neuville crash out.

Fortune initially favored Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver Tanak when overnight leader Ogier’s decision to carry only one spare wheel for the morning tests backfired. A deflated tire on Ogier’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 forced him to use the same set of rubber for three increasingly rough and abrasive stages. After trading positions three times, the 40-year-old Frenchman trailed Estonian Tanak by 3.5s at the mid-leg tire fitting zone.

In the afternoon’s classic loop of stages around Monte Lerno, however, Ogier threw caution to the wind. With Tanak’s pace dropping away — the 2019 WRC title winner hinting that it was because he’d been instructed to play it safe — Ogier stormed back into the lead after just one stage and went on to post a trio of benchmark times.

Ott Tanak led after the morning loop, but was advised to back off in the afternoon by his Hyundai team… Jaanus Ree /Red Bull Content Pool

A win on Sunday for Ogier would follow back-to-back victories on Croatian asphalt and Portuguese gravel, and could see him confirm his place as the most successful driver in Rally Italy Sardinia history.

“It has been a positive day, and an even more positive afternoon,” said Ogier after the day’s eighth and final stage. “This morning’s stages were very rough, but I enjoyed the afternoon so much more and it was a pleasure to drive the car.”

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville arrived in Sardinia with a 24-point championship lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Elfyn Evans, and looked set to increase that margin after climbing from fifth to third early in the day. But his podium hopes went awry when he misjudged a braking point in the final stage before the mid-leg regroup, sliding his i20 N Rally1 off the road, down a bank and into retirement.

Takamoto Katsuta was elevated to the final podium spot as a result, but the Japanese rising star’s time inside the top three was short lived. His GR Yaris Rally1 developed a transmission issue which proved terminal on the afternoon’s first test.

The drama up front opened the door for Dani Sordo to complete the leading trio in the third of the factory Hyundais. Still struggling to find his rhythm in only his second WRC start of the season, the Spanish part-timer trailed teammate Tanak by almost two minutes, with Evans a further 30.5s behind.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans sits in an off-the-pace fourth, but Thierry Neuville’s exit could be good for his WRC title tilt. Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT photo

Thanks to the attrition among the leading cars, M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster rounded out the top five in his Puma Rally1, albeit more than five minutes off the lead pace.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 driver Sami Pajari continues to put on a masterclass in sixth place overall. The 22-year-old Finn expanded his lead to 54.7s over Yohan Rossel’s Citroen C3, with Jan Solans in another GR Yaris maintaining his impressive form in third.

Such was Pajari’s pace that he was battling Munster’s Ford Puma Rally1 for a top-five place on the overnight leaderboard, before easing slightly on the day’s final stage to sit just 9.7s behind the Luxembourg driver.

Sami Pajari built his WRC2 class lead and even challenged for an overall top-five spot in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Sunday’s short, sharp final leg is centered northwest of Alghero and includes two loops of two stages for a total of just 24.42 competitive miles. It ends with the bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage — the 4.41-mile Sasseri-Argentiera 2 test, which finishes amid spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea.

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, positions after Leg Two, SS12
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h39m43.2s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +17.1s
3 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m12.8s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2m43.3s
5 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +5m28.8s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +5m38.5s
7 Yohan Rossel/Benajmin Boulloud (Citroen C3 – WRC2) +6m33.2s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +6m45.2s
9 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m12.1s
10 Martin Prokop/Michal Ernst (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +8m22.1s  

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Ogier leads after rough, tough opening day on WRC Rally Italy Sardinia

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier delivered a near-perfect performance to lead Hyundai’s Ott Tanak after Friday’s super-rough, incident-filled opening leg of WRC Rally Italy Sardinia. Eight-time FIA World Rally Champion Ogier (above) is running a limited …

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier delivered a near-perfect performance to lead Hyundai’s Ott Tanak after Friday’s super-rough, incident-filled opening leg of WRC Rally Italy Sardinia.

Eight-time FIA World Rally Champion Ogier (above) is running a limited schedule in 2024, and despite winning two of his three starts so far, he sits only fifth in WRC points. Hence, he’d start day one of the season’s sixth round as fifth car on the road.  

The 40-year-old Frenchman capitalized on the increased traction offered by his later starting position to win two of the day’s four gravel special stages in his GR Yaris Rally1, ending the leg with a 4.5s advantage over i20 N driver Tanak.

Ogier’s only blot on the day was an overly cautious first run through the 8.24-mile Sedini-Castelsardo test, where he yielded 5.9s to Tanak while trying to conserve tires (to save weight, he’d opted to carry only one spare, instead of the allowed two). In the end, Pirelli’s hard compound rubber stood up to the test of the Mediterranean island’s high temperatures and rock-strewn roads.

“It’s good,” said Ogier after the final stage. “It’s been extremely rough and demanding for the tires and I am happy that we made it because it was challenging with only five tires.”

Tanak went fastest on the day’s second test, that first run through Sedini-Castelsardo, and despite losing hybrid boost on two occasions, second place overnight marks the Estonian’s strongest start to a rally so far this season.

Ott Tanak overcame hybrid issues to sit second overall in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

His Hyundai teammate, Dani Sordo, completed the overnight podium a sizable 28.7s behind, only grabbing the position when M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver Adrien Fourmaux suffered a tire delamination on the third stage. Fourmaux, who was fourth in WRC points prior to Rally Italy, later retired with an electrical issue.

While the overnight fourth went the way of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who noted that his GR Yaris felt quicker than the times he was posting, it was a testing afternoon for championship front-runners Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans, who held fifth and sixth respectively after starting in the worst possible road positions– first and second, where grip was at its lowest on the sandy gravel as the pair acted as unwitting road sweepers for the cars behind.

A leaking tire on his GR Yaris during the opening stage only compounded Evans’ frustrations, and the Welshman ended the day almost one minute adrift of the lead.

“That has definitely been the hardest day you could imagine to open the road in Sardinia,” bemoaned Hyundai driver Neuville, who headed Evans by 24 points in the WRC drivers’ standings before this round. “A tough day for us, but [we will] carry on…”

Starting first on the road in his Hyundai, WRC points leader Thierry Neuville struggled to sixth overall in the Sardinian dust. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Gregoire Munster completed the still-running Rally1 crews, the M-Sport Ford driver trailing Evans by 11.9s in seventh overall.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Sami Pajari pushed hard from the get-go, charging to a lead of 18.3s alongside co-driver Enni Mälkönen.

The former Junior WRC champion bookended his day with the quickest times on the opening and closing of the day’s four stages as he targets a maiden victory aboard a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

The Finn’s biggest threat came in the form of Pierre Louis-Loubet, who’s making only his second start of the season in a Skoda Fabia RS. The Corsica native won the day’s second stage to briefly take the overall lead by 1.2s.

But Loubet’s time at the top of the WRC2 leaderboard was short-lived after he was caught in the dust of Emil Lindholm, who’d pulled over to change a wheel on his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 in the third stage. Loubet completed that test only ninth quickest as a result and is awaiting a notional time to redress some of his loss.

Pajari moved back into the lead, completing the penultimate test just 0.6s down on stage winner Georg Linnamae’s GR Yaris before going 3.5s quicker than Loubet on the day’s final test.

Sami Pajari went full send right from the start in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, and it’s paying off for the WRC2 leader. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Saturday is Rally Italy’s longest leg, with eight special stages adding up to 92.58 competitive miles and no opportunity for midday service. The morning features double runs of Tempio Pausania and Tula, while the afternoon includes four tests in the Monte Lerno area, including the breathtaking Micky’s Jump on the 15.74-mile Monte Lerno stage.    

WRC Rally Italy Sardinia, positions after Leg One, SS4
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 53m43.1s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4.5s
3 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +33.2s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +34.5s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +36.6s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +57.3s
7 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m09.2s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +1m34.6s
9 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Loris Pascaud (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +1m52.9s
10 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +2m03.2s

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Ogier seals record-breaking sixth WRC Rally Portugal win

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier has taken a record-breaking sixth WRC Rally Portugal win, securing his victory 7.9s clear of Hyundai’s charging Ott Tanak. The 40-year-old Frenchman (above) breaks a tie with WRC legend Markku Alen, who won Rally Portugal – …

Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier has taken a record-breaking sixth WRC Rally Portugal win, securing his victory 7.9s clear of Hyundai’s charging Ott Tanak. 

The 40-year-old Frenchman (above) breaks a tie with WRC legend Markku Alen, who won Rally Portugal — a founding round of the FIA World Rally Championship back in 1973 — five times between 1975 and 1987 with Fiat and Lancia.

Five different drivers led the grueling fixture, which ran over the dusty, rutted and often rock-strewn gravel roads near the northern Portuguese cities of Porto and Matosinhos.

Eight-time WRC champ Ogier, making only his third start of a part-time 2024 campaign, seized the top spot on a tumultuous Saturday – a day when fellow Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 drivers Kalle Rovanpera rolled out of the lead and Takamoto Katsuta retired with shattered rear suspension.

Ogier headed the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 of Tanak by 11.9s heading into Sunday’s four-stage final leg and stayed cool and calm to keep the Estonian former champ at bay and complete back-to-back WRC victories following his win in Croatia last month. 

Sebastien Ogier, with co-driver Vincent Landais, celebrated a record-breaking sixth WRC Rally Portugal win. Sophie Graillon photo

“I had nothing against being tied with Markku Alen,” Ogier smiled. “He is a legend, but I heard for many years, ‘When will you beat this record?’

“It was a not a great weekend for the whole Toyota team [with Rovanpera and Takamoto’s DNFs], but it was a good rally for us and I am glad we could bring some points.”

Second place marked Tanak’s best result since rejoining Hyundai from M-Sport Ford for 2024. The additional seven points he earned for topping the Super Sunday classification helped move him ahead of Adrien Fourmaux to third in the WRC drivers’ championship standings.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak chased Sebastien Ogier until the end, securing his best finish of 2024 with second. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Championship wise, it was also a strong weekend for Thierry Neuville, who filled the final podium spot 1m1.9s behind his Hyundai teammate. The Belgian extended his drivers’ title lead to 24 points over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans after the Welshman endured a torrid weekend in Portugal, finishing down in sixth having overcome a coolant leakage through the final day.

M-Sport Ford’s Fourmaux climbed from fifth to fourth on the final leaderboard, passing the overly cautious Hyundai of Dani Sordo on Sunday’s first stage and pulling more than a minute clear of the Spaniard, who was making his first WRC start of the season, by the end. In a breakout season, Fourmaux has finished all five WRC rounds so far this year, finishing in the top five in all but one.

Evans’ coolant leak forced him to crawl out of the day’s penultimate stage in EV mode in his hybrid GR Yaris, adding more woe to what had already been a challenging event for him. On Friday’s opening leg, his co-driver Scott Martin resorted to reading pace notes from a cell phone after misplacing his actual notebook, and the duo failed to post a single top-three stage time.

It’s been a rally to forget for Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, who lost ground to Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville in the WRC title chase. Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT photo

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Jan Solans found an edge over rival Josh McErlean on Sunday’s final leg to claim his first victory in the class.

The Spaniard, co-driven by Rodrigo Sanjuan, led WRC2 by 8.0s at the start of the final leg, but came under pressure as the charging McErlean won the opening two stages to take a 0.1s lead.

But Solans trounced McErlean by 6.5s in the penultimate stage at Cabeceiras de Basto, a feat which ultimately proved decisive in securing him the win. Despite Irishman McErlean’s best efforts, the Skoda Fabia driver could only reduce the gap to 3.2s in the Fafe finale.

As well as being Solans’ first win at this level, it was also the first for Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2 car, which was launched earlier this year.

Jan Solans secured his first WRC2 class victory, and the first for Toyota’s new GR Yaris Rally2. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

The WRC crews face more hot weather and rough gravel roads as the series moves to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia later this month. Alghero-based Rally Italy Sardinia takes place May 30-June 2.    

WRC Rally Portugal, final positions after Leg Three, SS22
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 41m32.3s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m09.8s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m47.8s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m48.9s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +6m36.0s
7 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroen C3 – WRC2, non-points) +11m48.4s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris – WRC2 leader) +11m56.1s
9 Josh McErlean/James Fulton (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +13m32.9s
10 Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +13m40.3s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 5 rounds
1 Neuville 110 points 
2 Evans 86
3 Tanak 79
4 Fourmaux 71
5 Ogier 70

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 5 rounds
1 Hyundai Motorsport 219 points   
2 Toyota Gazoo Racing 215 
3 M-Sport Ford 116    

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

Neuville holds off Ogier for slender WRC Acropolis Rally lead

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville (above) kept a charging Sebastien Ogier at bay to lead WRC Acropolis Rally Greece after Friday’s opening leg, the Belgian overcoming a late technical drama in the process. Just 2.8s separated Neuville from Toyota Gazoo …

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville (above) kept a charging Sebastien Ogier at bay to lead WRC Acropolis Rally Greece after Friday’s opening leg, the Belgian overcoming a late technical drama in the process.

Just 2.8s separated Neuville from Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Ogier after the first full day of competition at the legendary Acropolis’s 70th edition. And despite winning just one of the five grueling gravel road tests that made up Friday’s 63.37 competitive miles, he led the day from start to finish. 

The Hyundai i20 N Rally1 driver passed overnight leader Kalle Rovanpera, who’d set the pace on Thursday evening’s rally-opening, 0.92-mile super special stage in Athens, by going fastest through Friday morning’s Loutraki opener. Pushing on, Neuville had pulled out a 7.4s buffer over Ogier’s GR Yaris Rally1 going into the day’s final stage in Elatia, but his hard work was very nearly in vain as a mechanical problem, suspected to be transmission related, hampered him throughout the 17.6-mile blast.

“The rear diff was slipping all the time and I couldn’t go on full-throttle for first, second and third gear,” Neuville explained. “I was constantly losing time and I couldn’t rotate the car on throttle, so I was struggling a lot. 

“It was stressful, also because it was a challenging stage. From the first kilometer I could hear the noise from the rear diff and I was worried that I couldn’t go to the end, but we managed.”

Ogier, who’s running a limited schedule in 2023 and is back in action for the first time since June, was poised to steal the lead late, but could only claw back 5.0s after low-hanging tree branches removed his Yaris’s rear wing. The eight-time WRC champ believes tire strategy will be key in Saturday’s punishing leg, which boasts almost 90 miles of competition. 

“I felt that my rear wing was missing, but I had no idea why,” he recalled. “It’s going to be a bit like this all weekend — what the tire differences are between us — but it’s a big day tomorrow.”

Sebastien Ogier (above, rear wing still intact…) closed to within 2.8s of rally leader Thierry Neuville. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

GR Yaris Rally 1 driver Rovanpera earned one stage win as the rally threaded up the country following Thursday’s spectacular start in Greece’s capital city. Opening the road, the reigning WRC champ and 2023 points leader was hindered by loose stones as the surface dried after torrential rains in the days leading up to the event and trailed teammate Ogier by 25.5s at the end of Friday. 

Just 5.5s behind was Elfyn Evans, who struggled to make an impact despite this rally being crucial in his bid to hunt down teammate Rovanpera in the championship points battle. A slow puncture in the morning’s first stage caused the Welshman minor time loss and he, like teammate Ogier, also lost his Yaris’s rear wing in the final stage.

Evans leapfrogged Esapekka Lappi in the Elatia closer to hold fourth overall by just 1.1s after the Hyundai driver was forced to err on the side of caution after nursing a water leak for much of the afternoon. 

A stall in the final stage saw Hyundai’s other entry, Dani Sordo, slip from fifth to seventh on the leaderbaord, but the Spaniard’s frustrations were nothing compared with those of Ott Tanak, who sat ninth overall in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. 

Tanak checked out of the mid-leg tire fitting zone 22 minutes late after repairing a technical fault and incurred a 3m40s time penalty as a result. Although coy on the details, he believed the issue was similar to the one which ruled out his M-Sport Ford teammate, Pierre-Louis Loubet, who retired before the day’s first stage citing “temperature issues.” But there were at least some positives the Estonian could take from the day, as he won two special stages in his Puma. 

 

M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak has the speed, but a tech issue has put him out of contention.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Yohan Rossel stormed to the front of the class field after rival Adrien Fourmaux suffered heartbreak late in the leg.

Fourmaux, who drives a Ford Fiesta Mk2 for M-Sport Ford, was undoubtedly the star performer on what proved to be a testing day for several of the WRC2 category’s regular front-runners. 

His consistency appeared to be paying off as he carried an eight-second lead into the penultimate stage, but a pesky rock on the start line dealt the Frenchman front-left tire damage and his advantage was sliced to just 0.9s. 

Worse was to come on the Elatia finale, however, in the form of another puncture. Fourmaux and Alex Coria opted to perform a mid-stage wheel change, dropping almost two minutes and handing the class lead to compatriot Yohan Rossel. 

Rossel didn’t win any stages aboard his Citroen C3 Rally2, but headed Skoda Fabia RS driver Gus Greensmith by 6.8s at the overnight halt.

Adrien Fourmaux was WRC2’s star of the day until a pair of late punctures.

WRC Acropolis Rally Greece, leading positions after Day One, SS6
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 55m10.4s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +2.8s
3 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +25.5s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +31.0s
5 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +32.1s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +41.7s
7 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +48.6s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2, non-points) +3m16.7s
9 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m34.5s
10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroen C3 – WRC2 leader) +3m46.3s

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.

Ogier rewrites records with seventh WRC Rally Mexico win

Sebastien Ogier added another FIA World Rally Championship record to his already impressive tally with a seventh victory at Rally Mexico on Sunday afternoon. The eight-time WRC champion, competing in the second event of his part-time 2023 campaign …

Sebastien Ogier added another FIA World Rally Championship record to his already impressive tally with a seventh victory at Rally Mexico on Sunday afternoon.

The eight-time WRC champion, competing in the second event of his part-time 2023 campaign with Toyota Gazoo Racing, moved to the top of the Rally Mexico roll of honor with his record-extending triumph – breaking a six-win tie with nine-time WRC champ and fellow Frenchman Sebastien Loeb.

With a sizeable 35.8s advantage going into the final leg of four special stages, it was a relatively straightforward Sunday for the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 pilot (above).

Ogier negotiated the first three tests well within his comfort zone, but turned it on for the rally-closing Wolf Power Stage, setting fastest time and collecting maximum bonus points. In the end, he finished 27.5s clear of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville at the event where he made his FIA World Rally Championship debut in 2008.

Sebastien Ogier’s seventh Rally Mexico win also moved him into the WRC points lead.

“The car was great this weekend and it was a faultless rally for us and the team,” said Ogier, who now leads the drivers’ championship by three points from Neuville.

“As I am doing the next rally, it’s important to start first on the road there and it was important to get the points for the team as well,” he added, referencing the all-asphalt WRC Rally Croatia, where an early staring position delivers the cleanest road surfaces.

Neuville’s stubborn spirit behind the wheel of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 took the battle for second with Ogier’s Toyota teammate, Elfyn Evans, all the way to the wire. Having started the day 5.3s in arrears, Neuville closed in on the Welshman, who was impeded by a bent suspension arm on his GR Yaris.

The Belgian’s perseverance paid off as he overtook Evans in the final stage, claiming second overall by just four-tenths of a second and providing an exhilarating end to the first full gravel event of the season.

Thierry Neuville left it late to grab second place after a hard-charging drive.

Reigning WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera struggled to match the pace of the front-running trio and settled for a lonely fourth overall in his Toyota. Still, he continued to pull further away from Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, who finished more than one minute further back in fifth.

The rough gravel terrain and power-sapping altitude took its toll on several of the leading Rally1 crews, enabling Gus Greensmith to finish an impressive sixth overall in his first outing in his WRC2-spec Skoda Fabia RS.

WRC2 winner Gus Greensmith finished an impressive sixth overall in his new Skoda Fabia RS.

Filling the other podium spots in international rallying’s second-tier class, and seventh and eight overall, were Emil Lindholm (Fabio Evo) and Oliver Solberg (Fabia RS), following the final-leg retirement of M-Sport Ford Fiesta driver Adrien Fourmaux from his overnight runner-up spot in WRC2.

Ninth overall was the best that erstwhile WRC points leader Ott Tanak could manage after turbocharger issues cost the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 driver more than 14 minutes on Friday morning, while WRC2 driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz completed the overall top 10.

The WRC returns to asphalt for next month’s Rally Croatia, April 20-23, based in capital city Zagreb. With Ogier on the entry list and looking for a perfect start of three wins from three starts for his part-time campaign, can any of the full-season crews beat the on-form Frenchman and kickstart their own title chances?

WRC Rally Mexico, final positions after Day Three, SS23

1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3h16m09.4s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +27.5s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +27.9s
4 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m55.3s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m58.8s
6 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson ((Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 leader) +12m31.5s
7 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia Evo – WRC2) +13m04.4s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +13m37.7s
9 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +15m19.6s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia Evo – WRC2) +15m56.6s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 3 rounds

1 Ogier 56 points
2 Neuville 53
3 Rovanpera 52
4 Tanak 47
5 Evans 44

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 3 rounds

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing 127 points
2 Hyundai Motorsport 100
3 M-Sport Ford 73

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.