Toyota once again got the upper hand over main rival Hyundai. While strong performances were expected from Hyundai, the team left Sardinia with only Ott Tänak’s second place to show for it.
Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier ended Hyundai’s recent winning run in Sardinia by claiming victory on the Mediterranean island. Kalle Rovanperä supported with a third-place finish, and Elfyn Evans came home fourth.
Toyota was the only team whose drivers all finished the rally without retirements. All five Toyota drivers ended up in the top seven: Takamoto Katsuta was fifth, and Sami Pajari seventh. By contrast, Hyundai had just one driver -Tänak – finish without major issues.
“First of all, I have to say that all our cars came to the finish and all the cars are inside top ten – so no super rally,” Latvala beamed.
Ogier once again showed why he’s an eight-time world champion. The experienced veteran drove superbly in the demanding rally, taking his third win of the season.
“Coming to this event, I could see from his (Ogier’s) eyes that he had come here to win this rally. Even if he had a bit of a moment on the last stage, I think when he started to get maybe a little bit nervous about that victory is getting close, but he managed it,” Latvala praised the French star.
Third-place finisher Rovanperä also received high marks from the team boss. Rovanperä ended up with the second-largest points haul of the weekend, having won both the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage.
“I think the big positives were Kalle. He was able to improve his performance day by day. And then he did amazing performance on the Power Stage,” Latvala lauded.
Championship leader Elfyn Evans couldn’t quite find top speed in Sardinia, but still came away with a solid haul of points to support his title campaign.
“Elfyn was suffering opening the road, but he fighted and he was driving a clever event, taking the points what he can on the road position he had,” Latvala assessed.
The next round of the WRC season will take place in Greece at the end of June.
