Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak entered last weekend’s WRC round in Sardinia as top favourites. Both Neuville and Tänak had advantageous starting positions, while Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä and Sebastien Ogier were tasked with road sweeping on the opening day.
However, Neuville’s rally was ruined immediately on the first day when he retired from the lead after damaging his car on a stone wall. Tänak, on the other hand, had an intense battle for the win with Toyota driver Ogier, but the Estonian eventually had to settle for second place.
Ogier and Tänak had gone head-to-head in Sardinia’s gravel rally a year earlier as well. Back then, Ogier suffered a puncture on the final stage, costing him the win. Tänak claimed the victory by just 0.2 seconds.
Last weekend, Tänak would have needed a similar stroke of luck on the final stage, as Ogier held a 17.2-second lead before the Power Stage. The Frenchman did give Toyota a scare by running wide in a corner and hitting a small tree.
Time was lost, but not enough to swing the rally in Hyundai and Tänak’s favour. Ogier was crowned winner by a margin of 7.9 seconds.
“We hoped for a similar twist in the tale as last year, sadly it didn’t happen for us this time,” said Hyundai technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison.
Toyota have now won all six rounds of the WRC season so far, and in Sardinia, they again extended their lead over Hyundai in the manufacturers’ championship. Despite the setback, Demaison also saw positives for Hyundai from the weekend.
“Ott has closed the gap in the drivers’ standings to the Toyotas ahead of him, and we appear set for a proper fight for the championship. It was a good rally for him; he made no mistakes, but unfortunately his puncture on Saturday was costly,” Demaison summed up.
Toyota’s Evans, Ogier and Rovanperä currently hold the top three spots in the drivers’ championship standings. Tänak sits in fourth place, 25 points behind Evans.
Neuville, now in fifth, saw his gap to the top stretch to 50 points. He collected five points from Sardinia’s Super Sunday.
“Thierry had a great Sunday considering his early road position, and to finish second on the Power Stage and score as many points as he did on Sunday is fantastic,” Demaison said.
The team’s third driver, Adrien Fourmaux, retired on Saturday and came away empty-handed. Even Demaison admitted the event could have gone much better for Hyundai.
“Overall, it has been a frustrating weekend at times for us, but we are determined to turn our fortunes around at Acropolis Rally,” Demaison emphasised.
