Warren Nel

After the action got underway with the short stage on Thursday evening, the first full day of action got going with stage two. Ott held the lead for Hyundai with his teammate Thierry second and Elfyn was third after Thursday’s stage.

Into the first stage then, SS2 Stańczyki 1 – 29.40 km and there was early amazing pace from Ott and Martin who despite being second on the road were setting stage winning pace. Unfortunately, they collided with a deer on the stage heavily damaging the front of their i20 and putting them out for the day. The big news was that Andreas was fastest from Martin Sesks who was in the non-hybrid Puma and Kalle third fastest. All three crews gained positions and moved into the top three overall.

Next up was SS3 Wieliczki 1 – 12.90 km and it was a surprise to see Thierry set the fastest time from Elfyn, but the stage was actually cancelled after they completed. The reason? Some spectators were not standing in the right places, and it was not safe to continue. All the other crews were given a notional time. Elfyn gained one position and moved into third overall.

Onto SS4 Olecko 1 – 13.20 km and Andreas was showing great pace, winning the stage from Gregoire and Elfyn. It was interesting to see Martin maintain such great pace holding second overall from Elfyn who was 4.5 seconds behind the Latvian.

After the tyre fitting zone the second run of SS5 Stańczyki 2 – 29.40 km and Kalle found his way to the fastest time with Elfyn second and Martin third. The decision by Toyota and their crews to run hard tyres in this one was inspired as they saw those who ran the softs all round fall back, but the way to run them was highlighted by Andreas who had the two softs on the rear and the hards on the front. The Norwegian was finding the balance tricky and lost 14.4 seconds. Kalle emerged in the lead, just two tenths ahead.

The following stage, SS6 Wieliczki 2 – 12.90 km was again taken by Thierry with Elfyn and Takamoto setting the same time for joint second. Once again, we saw a notional time given as the stage was red flagged due to spectators in the wrong places again, just like earlier. The top two changed again as Andreas and Elfyn moved into the top two positions.

The final proper stage of the day, SS7 Olecko 2 – 13.20 km and Adrien won the stage with Elfyn and Andreas second fastest. Once again, the spectators ruined things by crossing the stage and the stage was stopped and then later cancelled.

The final stage then of the day, SS8 Mikołajki Arena 2 – 2.50 km was won by Takamoto and Kalle was second with the same time as his teammate and Andreas was third.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1   A. Mikkelsen T. Eriksen Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid 59:43.7

2   K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +1.8

3   E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +2.0

4   A. Fourmaux A. Coria Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +7.5

5   M. Sesks R. Francis Ford Puma Rally1 +7.7

6   G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +21.3

7   T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +29.8

8   T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +32.3

9    S. Pajari E. Mälkönen Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +2:15.6

10 K. Kajetanowicz M. Szczepaniak Škoda Fabia RS +2:24.5

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Andreas Mikkelsen

“It has been a good day at Rally Poland. It is a shame we couldn’t do more stages, but all in all a positive day. I was far too cautious on the long stage after mid-day service: I am used to the Rally2 cars where you have to be really careful in the ruts, but with these tyres you can just throw the car in. It’s one of the learnings I can take advantage of moving forward; I love this event, and I want to bring a fight to the guys tomorrow. It will be a proper battle, with no road cleaning and the top guys starting in front of me, so a completely different day to today.”

Thierry Neuville

“A really tough and challenging day. The temperature in the car was crazy, and we’re pretty exhausted after a long Friday. Let’s see what the weather will do overnight – if it’s dry, it won’t be much easier than it was today, but we could have more chances to catch positions if it rains. It could be an interesting day with wet and slippery conditions, but today we made the most out of the situation we faced.”

Ott Tänak

“It was really bad luck for us today. Looking back at the onboard, we were on a straight section but the time between the deer emerging from the bush and the impact was only 0.26 seconds. There was no time to react and avoid the situation. The opening stage with very loose gravel wasn’t the easiest, but we felt okay in the car for those first kilometres. It is disappointing that we finished early, and we will come back fighting, however it isn’t going to be easy. We can see that opening the road is losing a lot of time, so it will be a challenging task to score those Super Sunday points, but we will do our best for sure.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“This morning everything was quite tricky for me given our preparation, even more than I was expecting. With the preparation time we had, and after such a long time without driving a fast rally or even a test, it’s not been easy to make good and precise pacenotes for these speeds. I just tried to find a pace, where I was comfortable and to finish the loop without any mistakes. Then in the afternoon we could show our pace straightaway, and it was more enjoyable. I think we did all we could, it was a clean day with no mistakes and our position is not bad tonight considering everything. Tomorrow, I hope we can be stronger in the first pass and let’s see what we can do.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had quite an OK start this morning, getting used to these high-speed stages. The grip was quite changeable and difficult to judge, but everything was working fine in the car and the speed was OK considering the road position and the cleaning that we had to do. This afternoon was pretty similar, but we were able to get closer to the front, and on the whole it’s been a pretty clean day with no mistakes. Let’s see what’s possible tomorrow – and what the weather does overnight, because if it rains a lot that will obviously make things less straightforward.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“In the morning loop, I was struggling quite a lot. I think I went in the wrong direction with the car setup after my test. It was not really feeling good or consistent, it was hard to have trust and keep a good pace, and we were losing a lot of time. But with the help of the engineers, we changed what we could during the day, and it started to feel better in the afternoon. We’ve found the right direction, and tonight we can change even more to make it better tomorrow. Our road position might be more difficult if it’s dry, but the weather is uncertain: hopefully for me it rains and that could be better for us.”

 

WRC2

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a tough day,” said the Škoda driver. “We’ve struggled for confidence and some grip today. The surface has been really tricky, it’s been cleaning and getting quicker and quicker for the cars behind. We will work with the team for the set-up on the car tonight and let’s go again in the morning.”

Summary

Well, it was a tricky day out there for the crews and, but more so for the organisers. Having to stop stages when spectators are standing in dangerous places or even walking on the live stage is not very good and is one of the original reasons that the event was not selected for a number of seasons after the 2017 event.

They will not want that to continue during the Saturday’s stages which will see the crews tackle 124km’s over seven stages.

The championship moved to the next round and a return to Polish roads for the first time since 2017. On that occasion Thierry was victorious from former teammate Hayden and Seb Ogier was third, that being the first year the Frenchman was driving at M-Sport Ford.

The rally has still been run as part of the European championship in the seasons between the last WRC round and this year.

The big news to report on before we talk about the stages and hear from the drivers is that during recce earlier this week Seb and co-driver Vincent were involved in a road crash with a normal vehicle and as a result, they are not going to take part. Instead Kalle and Jonne have been allowed to take their place and will drive the rally for Toyota.

Let’s hear from the drivers then and take a look at the stages.

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Poland is an event that I really enjoy. As a fast gravel rally with some prominent jumps and crests, the stages can be really exciting, and we can have a lot of fun. We need to make sure that we have the right setup and good pace notes from the start, as we haven’t done any testing on Polish roads. In terms of setup, we need a lot of grip and traction, but I don’t think it will be hugely different to other gravel rallies we have competed in this season. Starting first could be a huge advantage or disadvantage depending on how much cleaning of the road we will be doing, but we will have to see when we get there. We expect to be consistent and fast to bring home some decent points for all three championships.”

Ott Tänak

“My memories of Poland are great – it’s a rally that I have enjoyed a lot. It has very fast, demanding roads that can change massively depending on the weather, but I am really looking forward to it. I really like the profile of this event, and it’s similar to where I learnt to drive in Estonia. I was really close to winning my first ever rally in Poland, but it didn’t happen. Since then, I have finished on the podium a few times, so I know I can perform well but still have some room for improvement. Hopefully we can find a good feeling in the car to give us the amount of confidence needed to push across the whole weekend.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“I am very excited to be back with the team in Poland after their recent success in both Portugal and Sardinia. Rally Poland is a super-fast event with a sandy surface, so you can make the most of the ruts in a stable and fast car like ours. I haven’t driven the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 competitively on gravel yet, but with two days in the car before the event I am hoping to find the right setup for the weekend there so I can be ready to take my fight to the front of the field. Road position is also crucial at this event and very dependent on the weather, so it will play a major part in my weekend. I am hoping to be fighting for the important positions throughout the weekend. I have had two podiums and a win here and I would like to replicate these good results once again.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“After a difficult couple of rallies for us, we’re definitely hoping to find better form on these faster rallies coming up. Even though they’re quite similar in character, they will each have their own challenges. The overriding memory of Rally Poland from the past is that it’s a pretty fast rally: it will definitely be a change of pace from the last event in Sardinia. It’s also a rally where the roads tended to deteriorate quite a lot, so the second pass can pose a challenge. There will be sections that we’ve driven in the past, but the pacenotes we have been quite old, so in that way it’s more like a new rally and probably quite a busy recce making fresh notes.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m excited to go to Rally Poland for the first time. My pre-event test last week was my first taste of Polish gravel roads, but everything went well. The stages look to be a bit similar to Estonia: very high speed and with a bit of a soft surface in sections. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I like this kind of fast rally, so I’m really looking forward to it. I obviously don’t have old pacenotes, but I can watch some onboards from previous years to prepare. Drivers who were there when Poland was last in the calendar will maybe have an advantage, but I just need to try to do my best. I hope to get a good feeling and solid result, ready to push in Latvia and Finland where my targets will be higher.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“It will be my first time competing in Poland next week, but it will be the first fast gravel event of three, so I want to build on this one to improve our pace for the next two. We plan to get a good result, and to forget what happened in Sardinia. We’ve been working with the team so we can start to meet expectations again and hopefully get back on the podium soon. We’re going to do our best; the only thing I know from this rally is that its quite fast and quite sandy! So there will be a lot of learning, but we can use our experience to support us and see what we can achieve.”

Grégoire Munster

“I’m looking forward to taking on the next three fast gravel events coming up. We had a good pre-event test in Estonia last week, being able to drive the Puma at such high speeds is just unbelievable. It’s really the best way to experience the car, so I can’t wait to start! Poland is going to be important because the set-up we establish there is going to be the base for the next two rallies. The surface in Poland can be a bit softer and there can be some rutting, which we didn’t see on the test, so that will be an interesting discovery.

“I’m happy to be experiencing a new event, this time we will be a bit more on the same level with the other crews in terms of stage knowledge, so it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out!”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“I’m really excited to be back competing in Poland! We have some great memories here, especially after winning the ERC round last year! For sure this year is a completely different game, this will be our first event in a Rally1 car. The testing we did last week was something incredible, and a completely different experience to anything I’ve done before! The car reacts so quickly, and how fast it goes round corners is just so unique and indescribable to anyone who hasn’t driven the car.

“It will be a big challenge to get up to speed, but this is the goal for Poland. We will be driving non-hybrid to get use to the aerodynamics of the car, get to know the team and to get more and more ready to be in good shape for Latvia. The goal is to get the mileage, finish the rally and learn as much as we can.”

WRC2

Oliver Solberg

“Competing at home is always something really nice and winning Royal Rally was very cool, but there was another part to this plan – and that was to get the head into the right place for the fast gravel. It’s quite a different rhythm, car set-up and, of course, feeling in the car when you come to events like Poland from rallies like Portugal or Sardinia.

“I feel like we’re really in a good shape now after the win. The feeling, especially on the second day in Sweden, was really strong with the car. We know the roads are a little bit different in Poland, they can be softer, sandier and with more ruts on the second pass, but still to be going through the forests and the countryside flat-out is the same.

“I never drove this rally before, but I think everybody knows how incredible the stages can be, Thursday night’s super special is really well known and will be very cool to drive for the first time. I’m also looking forward to the fans and the atmosphere – this is another big aspect of this rally.

“For a result, I think you know me well enough now to know the approach for this season is to push for the wins, but to also have a big eye on the title. Going off the road in Portugal was tough and then not starting in Sardinia – even though we weren’t scoring points – was not so ideal. Winning Royal Rally of Scandinavia was a good reset and it’s given me and Elliott [Edmondson] good confidence going into the second half of this year’s WRC2 series.”

Let’s take a look at the stages.

Rally Poland commences on Thursday morning with Shakedown, followed by SSS1 Mikołajki Arena (2.50km) in the evening.

Friday’s itinerary features two loops of Stańczyki (SS2/5, 29.40km), Wieliczki (SS3/6, 12.90km) and Olecko (SS4/7, 13.20km) before closing with another run of Mikołajki Arena (SSS8, 2.50km).

Saturday has the longest competitive distance of 124.10km across seven stages: Świętajno (SS9/13, 18.50km), Gołdap (SS10/14, 19.90km), Czarne (SS11/15, 22.40km) and SSS12 Mikołajki Arena 3 (2.50km).

Sunday concludes the weekend with four stages, including the Power Stage: SS19 Mikołajki 2 (10.73km).

Summary

It is great to have this round back on the calendar and it will be very interesting to how the weekend’s stages deliver the standings at the end of each day and how each crew deal with the challenge of each stage.

Any of the top regular crews could stand on the podium and it will be the crew that is the fastest that keeps out of trouble who wins.

Enjoy!

We’re really getting into the mid-part of this season’s championship and the top two crews will continue to fight for the points which they hope will take them to their first drivers and co-drivers’ championship’s.

The crews will face 266km’s over sixteen stages with the longest day being Saturday with 149km’s over eight stages. In another unusual move is that Friday’s action does not start till the afternoon with the first stage at UK time due to get underway at around half past two. Shakedown starts at just after 8am UK time on Friday as well, giving the event quite a different feel along with no service on any of the days.

Let’s hear from the crews.

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Italia Sardegna is a very technical rally, so we need to have a faultless drive across the weekend. We need really accurate pacenotes and a good setup; the difference in stages between the first and second pass can be huge, so we need to be able to adapt the car to those changes as well. The heat, tyre wear and length of the days are some of the biggest challenges we face throughout the event. This paired with the little amount of sleep we get due to long road sections makes it a unique challenge. Our approach to the weekend is the same as usual: we will be pushing for the best possible result considering the conditions, car and other important factors that can influence a rally. There’s no pre-event test and shakedown is not representative at all of the remainder of the rally, so that will be the biggest obstacle for us. However, we will work to overcome this and bring home the best result possible.”

Ott Tänak

“I would say we had a good and solid weekend in Portugal, so we want to build on that and it’s a bit easier now that we have more pace. Sardinia has some big challenges; it can be very slippery and hard to get the necessary amount of grip. That paired with the very hot temperatures makes everything much more of a challenge. Running the same tyres over the first and second loop makes it harder to put a strong package together, so we need a lot of traction from the setup, especially when we start early on the road. It’s an event where rallying is a lot more interesting, and I always prefer that. We were very close to the win in Portugal before the puncture ruined it, so our plan is to do better this time in Sardinia.”

Dani Sordo

“Sardinia is a very similar surface to Portugal, but a bit more slippery in places. Portugal gave me good preparation for the event; I completed some good gravel kilometres at the last round. This year’s event is a lot more condensed, so we need a really fast start to get us the best possible road position for Saturday onwards. It’s an event where road position is really important, so we will see what we can do to optimise that. We need a lot of precision in the car because some passes are really narrow, meaning even more grip is needed to get the car through each pass safely. The target is definitely to finish on the podium, but it would be really nice to go one step further and fight for the victory.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“For us, Portugal was a difficult weekend, but it’s still quite early in the season and we just have to aim for some stronger rallies ahead. Every rally is important, and we need to try and make the most of the opportunity in Sardinia. We definitely made some progress with the feeling in the car in Portugal and we’re working with the team to try and come up with some further improvements for Sardinia, even though it’s difficult with the limited testing we have. It’s quite a similar rally to Portugal in some ways and maybe trickier in others, but I’m sure we can turn things around and make it a better weekend.”

Sébastien Ogier

“We have been on a good run recently with our wins in Croatia and Portugal and we would of course like to try and carry on like this – so the target for Sardinia has to be to continue the sequence if we can. I think we are in a good position: we had a good test there recently, and in Portugal when the surface was sandier and more like Sardinia the car was working well, so hopefully that can be the case there as well. It’s always a difficult challenge with long stages and the need for tyre management, but it’s a rally that I learned to love and to master over my career and I hope we can have another successful trip there.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“My result in Portugal was not what I wanted but I had a good feeling with the car during the weekend and I hope we can take that feeling into the next rally in Sardinia. The gravel and the surface on this rally are a bit different, so there are some things that we need to adjust, but we had a good test in Sardinia recently and I know that the engineers and the whole team are working hard to be stronger there. Usually, I don’t feel as confident on this event with the more slippery surface, but our starting position should be good for Friday, and I will try to find confidence from the beginning.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“Sardinia is one of the rallies I have the most experience; we know it’s a rough event, a bit smaller in mileage than previous years, but we know the competition will be very high. It’s going to be like a sprint rally, and we will do our best to get the best result as possible. We are now fourth in the championship, and we want to be back in the podium places.

“Sardinia is a small island, it’s really rough and normally a really warm event. There’s a lot of rocks when you’re going through the second pass of the stages, so it’s going to be quite tough on the car, the mechanics, and the crews so its going to be an interesting rally to follow. There are some beautiful landscapes to enjoy, so let’s have some fun!”

Grégoire Munster

“We’re really looking forward to Rally Sardegna. We know from previous years that the weather can be tricky; we went from extreme rainy conditions to sunny and hot weather last year, so we will have to see what it is like this time. For this year, the itinerary is similar to 2022 with the rally based in Alghero, so we’re lacking a bit of experience there but we’re hoping to carry some momentum and lessons from Portugal to Sardinia. We’re looking forward to continuing our learning curve!”

 

WRC2

Oliver Solberg

“Sardinia is a tough rally,” said Oliver. “We were leading [WRC2] last year when we had our suspension problem. I have to say, it’s one I don’t have so much experience of, so it’s good to go there without quite the same stress of driving for the points.

“All around, this is a hard rally. The weather is usually hot which gives the car and Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and I quite a big work out.

“It’s important for us to get back out and competing again. Like you can imagine, Portugal was disappointing. It’s always so frustrating to crash, but it’s even worse when your opposition hits trouble too. We know that could have been a good score for us, but OK. That’s done. We only look forward and we look to make a good, positive story from Italy.

“It’s always really nice to go to Italy. We did events like Monza, Sanremo, Alba before and it’s always the same – there’s so much passion for the sport in Italy. I love it!”

William Creighton

“Sardinia has got a lot of similarities to Rally Portugal, it’s more technical but it has got the same challenge of rough stages and trying to manage the tyres. There are things that I want to improve on after Portugal so it’s nice to be heading to a similar rally to continue building experience in WRC2 category and the Fiesta Rally2.”

Summary

We are set then for a really quick rally, but how much jeopardy will the lack of any service on any of the days throughout the weekend play into the round and ultimately decide the final standings.

Elfyn and Scott will want to outscore Thierry and Martijn after the Belgian paring increased their championship lead last time out.

Who could win this weekend then? Well, it’s hard to look past two parings with Ott and Martin and Seb and Vincent both benefitting from good road positions.

Enjoy the rally!

The final day of round five for this season’s championship. Two Toyota’s returned to the startlist with Kalle and Takamoto rejoining following their problems on Saturday. The double world champion would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS19 Cabeceiras de Basto 1 – 19.91 km and the fog had descended overnight causing a huge lack of visibility on the stage. Seb was fastest from Thierry and Ott, meaning that the Frenchman was opening up his lead a little bit more. There was a change further back in the positions with Adrien passing Dani for fourth position. In WRC2, Sami was fastest from Josh and Jan and the Irishman supported by Motorsport Ireland had reduced the gap to the category leader to just three seconds.

Into SS20 Fafe 1 – 11.18 km the stage which had a huge amount of fog throughout the stage and would be the power stage later and Ott was fastest from Thierry and Seb. Kalle was saving tyres for the power stage later and would set the 11^th best time in amongst the WRC2 leaders. In WRC2, Sami was fastest from Josh and Jan who dropped behind Josh, the gap just one tenth of a second between first and second place.

Time then for the penultimate stage, SS21 Cabeceiras de Basto 2 – 19.91 km and Ott set the pace from Thierry and Adrien. The Estonian took a few seconds out of Seb, but it was clear that the Frenchman was managing the gap by keeping a good, controlled pace. In WRC2 Jan was fastest from Yohan whilst Josh who was having problems with understeer in his Skoda fell behind the Spaniard into second position.

Time then for the final stage, SS22 Fafe 2[Power Stage] – 11.18 km and although Kalle was first into the stage a number of crews could not beat his time, until Thierry and then Ott came through pushing hard with the result that Thierry won the stage from Ott, Kalle third, Seb fourth and Takamoto fifth.

Seb won the rally from Ott in second and Thierry came in third. In WRC2, Jan Solans took victory with Josh taking second position and Lauri was third. Each crew in WRC2 took their best ever result in the category and this was also the first win in the category for the Yaris Rally2.

Let’s take a look at the finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally de Portugal

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 3:41.32.3 2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +7.9 3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +1:09.8 4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +1:47.8 5 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +2:48.9 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +6:36.0 7 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Citroën C3 +11:48.4 8 J. Solans R. Sanjuan Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +11:52.9 9 J. McErlean J. Fulton Škoda Fabia RS +11:56.1 10 L. Joona J. Hussi Škoda Fabia RS +13:40.3

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“To take another win feels great. It’s nice to achieve some more cool numbers and I have to enjoy and cherish these moments. I had nothing against being tied on five wins for a few years with Markku Alén because for me he’s a legend and I have huge respect for him, but I’ve been asked many times when I was going to take the record and now finally it happened. It was another intense fight for everyone to follow and for us in the car there was no moment to relax. I think the way we managed everything was close to perfect: we could always stay in contention for the win without taking maximum risk when it didn’t feel 100 per cent.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“A big thank you to the team for fixing the car after the disappointment of yesterday, and sorry to them for losing such important points. It was nice to be back out today, but it was not easy, cleaning the road was even tougher than we expected. On the Power Stage we really tried our best, I thought it was a good drive and a clean run, but the road was cleaning so much that the guys behind came a bit faster. Still, we got a few points so we did what we could to help the team. It was not the weekend we wanted but we will come back stronger.”

Elfyn Evans

“This morning things were going a bit better than yesterday, but in the third stage we had a rock impact on the underside of the car that damaged the radiator. After that we had to get the car through in EV mode, and we managed to make a repair to get to the finish but unfortunately, we didn’t get any extra points from the day. We definitely found a better feeling in the car but there are still a couple of areas to work on. At least we have some answers from the weekend. We’ll try to turn things around and have a stronger rally in Sardinia.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Of course, it’s quite disappointing still that we retired yesterday because we could have had a much better result. But I had a very good feeling with the car here, it felt really good until that moment yesterday. Today was not so easy because we were without hybrid for some stages and the road position wasn’t good for us, but it was nice to at least get some points. I tried to keep pushing every stage as much as I can and learned a lot. There are some positives to take and now I focus on Sardinia, try to prepare well and keep pushing.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“The outcome is not too bad, it was just very unfortunate to pick up the slow puncture, but otherwise I would say very positive. Without the puncture, I think I could have gone for the win. On Friday I was struggling the most, but after I was slowly getting used to the car and that let me find a good rhythm. On Saturday the stages were very different, and overnight I was able to understand what I needed to do differently from Friday to make the most of the car. We are not far away from being in a place where I feel confident controlling the car, but it’s still a bit difficult to make the car match my driving style. I am looking forward to Sardinia, it’s a rally I usually enjoy and I’m hoping to take my performance one step further.”

Thierry Neuville

“It’s been a great Super Sunday for us once again after another positive day on Friday. A very challenging and difficult weekend but we finished with the result we needed, plus another five points in the Power Stage. We’ve increased the lead in the championship for us by 24 points, which is a strong lead to have before Sardinia where another challenging weekend is waiting for us. We want to continue to push and be consistent in the car; it wasn’t the greatest Saturday, but Friday and Sunday were really good, and the pace was right in the Power Stage, so that was promising. We will come back and fight for important points in Sardinia.”

Dani Sordo

“Today was a little bit difficult with the conditions we had in the morning, but the first two days were really promising. Of course, I’m happy to get to the end of the day with some really good points, and for my first weekend back with the team I think we have still managed to help them get back to the top of the manufacturers’ championship. It was a good gravel rally to start with, one that I know well, and it’s a good one to enter before Sardinia. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do back in the car at the next event, and I want to thank the team again for helping me finish the weekend in the top five.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“I think we can be really happy, because it wasn’t so easy to be third on the road on the opening days! I think we have shown really good pace considering that, keeping close to the leaders and fighting today [Sunday] with the top guys who are fighting for the victory. It’s been a fantastic rally, a really good atmosphere with all the fans watching, it’s really nice. The car has been perfect, no issues at all and we’re pleased with our performance. It gives us confidence for the next rally in Sardinia.”

William Creighton

“It’s always a tricky weekend, we’ll have to come back again to get a full, clean Portugal rally. If you do that here, it gets you a good result. The stages weren’t as rough this year as previously, and that made Friday really enjoyable. After Friday, I think the stages were quite different, a lot more sand, and we struggled to get a nice feeling.

“But we’ve made good steps today [Sunday], we’re always learning, and we’ve got to keep working to improve. Sardinia is very like Portugal, so it’s a good practice for that. Thank you to everyone at M-Sport and the MI Rally Academy for keeping me and Liam right.”

Grégoire Munster

“Rally Portugal didn’t end well for us, we got hooked up in a cut and landed stuck on a ditch by the sump guard, and unfortunately, we couldn’t continue. All in all, we learned plenty during this rally. By opening the road on Saturday, we had to do a lot of cleaning; it wasn’t easy, but it was good learning for us. We also saw our times improve throughout the weekend on the second passes, on a rally that was basically new for us, we felt this was good practice and we had a good feeling in the car. We will carry the experience on to Sardinia in a couple of weeks.”

 

Summary

Well, what an amazing rally and what a victory for Seb, their second of the year and also in a row. It was also a record breaking sixth win for the Frenchman, moving him ahead of Markku Alén who won this rally five times.

It was a good rally for Ott who showed good pace, fighting for victory and taking a good points haul. It bodes well for the upcoming rallies.

Thierry made mistakes, but came through and took third place, increasing his championship lead over Elfyn.

 

Next rally is Rally Italia Sardinia, taking place from the 31^st of May to the 2^nd of June.

 

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round five

1 T. Neuville 110 2 E. Evans 86 3 O. Tänak 79 4 A. Fourmaux 71 5 S. Ogier 70 6 T. Katsuta 49 7 K. Rovanpera 36 8 E. Lappi 23 9 A. Mikkelsen 14 10 O. Solberg 12

 

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round five

1 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 219 2 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 215 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 110

The second full day of this event would see the crews tackle 145km’s over nine stages. Gregoire Munster would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS10 Felgueiras 1 – 8.81 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Thierry. The Estonian’s pace moved him into third place with Takamoto dropping behind from the podium. In WRC2, Sami found some good pace, winning the stage from Josh and Oliver. The Swede continued to lead the category from Yohan and Gus whilst Josh climbed the leaderboard into fourth place pushing Jan down to fifth in the category.

The was a twist in the tail in the following stage, SS11 Montim 1 – 8.69 km, a tricky stage for some. Elfyn, Thierry and Takamoto all had spins in the stage showing how tricky it was. Seb set the pace from Ott and Adrien, but it was happened after the Frenchman had finished the stage. Coming last on the road before the WRC2 crews, Kalle lost the rear of his Yaris and although he caught it the car hit the side of the road spinning and ending up on its side and with the underside against a tree. Next car through was Oliver and incredibly he also lost control of his car at the next corner, spinning and rolling his Fabia. In the space of just a few minutes both category leaders were out for the rest of the day. Kris Meeke set the pace in the WRC2 category from Sami and Jan.

Next up was the longest stage of the rally, SS12 Amarante 1 – 37.24 km, a really amazing stage with different road surfaces, some tarmac and cobbled road sections between the gravel sections. Ott was fastest from Seb and Dani and the Estonians time took him past Seb and into the lead, but just two tenths of a second separated them. In WRC2 Yohan was quickest from Gus and Sami and the Frenchman continued to lead the category.

Into SS13 Paredes 1 – 16.09 km and there was yet another stage win for Seb, from Adrien and Thierry. The Frenchman moved back into the lead as Ott was only sixth fastest in the stage. In WRC2 Josh was fastest from Jan and Georg and Yohan who had been leading suffered a puncture and fell from the lead to fourth place, now a minute and a quarter from the new category leader Gus with Josh up to second overall and Jan holding third.

Following service, the second run of SS14 Felgueiras 2 – 8.81 km saw Ott set the fastest time from Thierry and Dani. Seb was fourth in the stage and saw his lead trimmed by 3.2 seconds. However, the drama happened in WRC2 with Gus going wide and getting beached on the edge of the road. He was out sadly even though the car was not damaged. They could not get the car to move. Sami was fastest from Yohan and Georg. Meanwhile we had a new leader again in the category as Josh moved into the lead from Jan and Yohan.

Onwards to SS15 Montim 2 – 8.69 km and Ott was fastest from Adrien and Thierry. Seb continued to lead, showing the right level of pace to manage the gap to Ott, especially after what happened to Kalle earlier. It was another stage win in WRC2 for Sami from Yohan and Josh. The Irishman whose co-driver is James Fulton was still leading the category by 9.3 seconds with a charging Yohan now 22.5 back from the leader.

Just three stages remained and first of these was the run of SS16 Amarante 2 – 37.24 km. Ott as usual set the pace before Seb came through and went 4.1 seconds faster and Adrien was third. The Frenchman in his Puma was having an excellent rally. Meanwhile in the Hyundai camp, Dani was actually faster than Thierry and now just 1.5 seconds separated the pair and a possible third position for the Spaniard. In WRC2 Josh saw his lead trimmed to just 1.3 seconds as he saw Jan go a full eight seconds faster. Top three fastest times in the category were set by Sami, Jan and Kris.

The final proper stage of the day then, SS17 Paredes 2 – 16.09 km and the top three times were set by Seb, Thierry and Adrien. There was drama for Kris in WRC2, as he rolled his Hyundai out of the rally. Such a shame for the former winner of this event. There was a change in the lead again in WRC2, as Jan passed Josh. They were both being closed down by a charging Yohan though in his Citroen.

The short run of SS18 SSS Lousada – 3.36 km, the spectator special was taken by Adrien, with Ott and Thierry going second and third. There were no changes in either category for position.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid 3:01.55.8 2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +11.9 3 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +1:11.4 4 D. Sordo C. Carrera Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid +1:25.6 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid +1:32.9 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid +3:23.8 7 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Citroën C3 +9:25.5 8 J. Solans R. Sanjuan Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 +9:35.2 9 J. McErlean J. Fulton Škoda Fabia RS +9:43.2 10 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Citroën C3 +9:46.8

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a good day for us. It was a tricky one: we didn’t expect so many things to happen this morning, and unfortunately for our team we lost two cars. But I was happy with my consistency and I was able to push in some key moments to make a bit of a difference. This afternoon was very demanding. In the first two stages I lost a bit of ground but I planned to push on Amarante and luckily it worked well for us and we managed to create a bit more of a gap again. Now we have to finish the job tomorrow: the gap is not enough for us to relax. There are still a lot of kilometres and some new sections.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today was always going to be difficult with our road position. It was tricky to make up any places on pace alone, so we were mainly trying to learn and find a better feeling with the car, playing with a few things in the setup and trying to put something better together for tomorrow. Some things were improved, some things not so much and we were still struggling with the balance. Our road position should at least be a bit better tomorrow so there’s an opportunity there and we need to try our best.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“This morning started well. We definitely had a better feeling today with the car setup and could do a good time in the first stage. But then in the second one I just missed my braking point in a fairly straightforward place, and we went off. There was a bit of confusion with the pacenote in the previous corner and I was maybe still thinking about that and missed the braking, point. But it was my mistake in the end and it’s a big disappointment – especially when we started strongly, and I think it could have been a good day for us. Now we’ll try to do our best for the team tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today’s stages were a bit more sandy like we expected. Still, the car was working well, and it was very nice to drive. I tried to manage the pace in the first two stages but was not really in a good rhythm. Then in the third stage I pushed from the beginning, I felt very good and like everything was under control. But in one place I slightly lost the line and went a bit wide and hit the bank on the outside. Right now, it’s very disappointing because I had the pace, it was looking good, and I still had room to push more. It’s hard to accept but this is rallying, so I just need to understand what I did wrong and then move on. We still have tomorrow, and we will keep pushing.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Altogether it was a solid day. The car in the afternoon was working quite well for us, not too bad in the ruts, but the long stage didn’t quite work out and it was difficult to go smoothly so we couldn’t build as good of a run as we wanted. Aside from that, it was quite a good day. Tomorrow’s new stage will make our job a bit trickier; because it’s narrow and slow, the characteristics are very unusual for Portugal. It’s a different game tomorrow but it’s still going to be super tight. We need to gain as many points as possible, so let’s see how the conditions and road position help us as well.”

Thierry Neuville

“We are happy being in third place overnight – if someone had told us we would be here yesterday we wouldn’t have believed them. Today was both challenging and long, and not necessarily the best day for us, but nonetheless we are happy to be taking this many points home. Tomorrow we need to be to be on top of our game; we will push over all four stages and see what happens. We have the advantage of a good road position and there are still good points on offer, but we know the competition is still strong so we will work hard to make the most of it.”

Dani Sordo

“It was up and down today; in some stages I was feeling confident, in others less so. The first few stages in the morning were great for me, so it was a clear opportunity to take home some good points. At the end of the day, we are in fourth place, and I want to say a big thanks to the team for helping us get there. Making sure I could help get them as many points as possible was an important part of my Saturday. I will get back together with the team to work out tomorrow’s plans, we want to maximise our takings from the new points system but overall, I am feeling confident for a good final day.”

 

WRC2

Oliver Solberg

“We had a very good feeling in the car on the opening stage of the day, setting a third fastest time after the team did a fantastic job resolving the issues from yesterday.

“During SS11, we came across Kalle [Rovanperä] and Jonne [Halttunen] off the road and I became distracted, missing the next note. We ran off [the] line and clipped the bank on the outside of the next corner, where we rolled the car.

 

“Elliott and I are completely fine, but due to the condition of the car we have decided that we will not continue tomorrow (Sunday).”

 

Summary

One final day beckons for the crews and with 62km’s over just four stages, will there be one final twist in the rally?

The championship moves onto the fifth round and there are just six points separating the top two crews from Hyundai and Toyota.

Interestingly Toyota have four cars entered for this round with their two world champion crews joining Elfyn and Takamoto in the entry list. At Hyundai, Dani and his co-driver Candido join the two regular crews for their first round this year. M-Sport have their usual crews and Adrien will hope that he can continue to target good results and will be third on the road throughout Friday.

The crews have 337km’s over 22 stages with the longest day being Saturday at 145km’s. Let’s hear from the drivers.

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Success in Portugal comes down to the same factors as always. We need consistency, a good setup and confidence in the car. Road conditions and position will also make a huge difference to how we perform: whenever it’s raining we will be fast, when it’s dry we will struggle more because everyone knows the stages well. I was happy with the car in the pre-event test, and we focussed on a setup that would bring me the necessary confidence to push in very slippery conditions. This more precise car is needed for all the corner combinations, but I still need some of the traction we focussed on in Kenya. My goals are to optimise our performance on Friday and Saturday before pushing on Sunday for maximum points, I would love to finish on the top step of the podium.”

Ott Tänak

“After Croatia, it’s great to go back to a rougher surface. Portugal is really enjoyable – it’s an event I am looking forward to. It’s a fast rally with high speeds and usually smooth on the first run and very rough on the second. During this part of the season, it starts to get warmer, and Portugal is one of the first rallies where it can get quite challenging for the car and the tyres. The contrast from the first to the second loop is noticeable because of how the soft roads can become so rutted. We have already done the pre-event test and there is definitely still work to do, but I am really looking forward to pushing hard.”

Dani Sordo

“I’m really excited to be back in the car, especially in Portugal. It’s always a special rally for everyone – both drivers and spectators. It is a unique challenge for the car because of the temperatures and profile of the stages, so getting the right setup is key to doing well in Portugal. We worked a lot on the pre-event test to try and perfect this so we can push hard next weekend. It will be interesting with a lot of the part-time field being so competitive this season, and with road position being another important factor in going well on this kind of gravel, there will be a huge push across a cleaner line at the back of the order. The ultimate goal in my mind is to win, but I am hoping to claim as many points as possible from the weekend for the team.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“We’re into a busy part of the season now with rallies coming thick and fast, and our focus moves back to gravel for the next events. Portugal can be quite a nice rally with some fast and flowing sections, but recently it’s also become more of a challenge in terms of how rough the roads can get, especially in some of the classic stages further south that we drive on Friday. Like always on gravel, road position could be a factor but it’s also a rally that can really depend on the weather. We just have to focus on doing the best job we can with the conditions we have and try to take the maximum from the weekend.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m looking forward to these next rallies on gravel and I’m confident that they can be good events for me. Portugal especially is a rally that I like, and I know the stages pretty well, and our car should work well there. There are some famous stages like Fafe with many jumps, and some stages that are very rough with a lot of rocks, especially on Friday. But if it’s going well, I will try to push as much as I can. As I’m not registered to score points for the team on this event, I have no pressure on that side, and I can just focus on driving fast and trying to do my best.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m excited to be returning to Portugal after a year away. It’s a country that I have a lot of good memories of, maybe a bit more from when the rally was in the south rather than the north. Still, the atmosphere is always great there and I look forward to that. It’s a rally where normally we should not be at a disadvantage with our road position, and maybe it can even benefit us a bit – but it’s too early to say for certain because there can also be heavy rain there sometimes. It will be my first time competing on gravel for a while, but we had a good test last week and I’m looking forward to the rally.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“I’m really looking forward to Portugal. It’s a rally that I really like. There’s a lot of fans and a great atmosphere, and the stages have very nice characteristics. They seem to suit me quite well: we’ve had some really nice success there in the last two years. Of course, our aim will be to try and win again this year, but it’s never easy. All of the top drivers know the stages quite well, so the pace is usually pretty high, and it can be quite a close fight there. Maybe our road position could help us, but we will have to see what the weather does, because rain can really change things quite a bit.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Portugal is a really famous and spectacular rally! The roads are all in the middle of the mountains, so they’re really technical and we normally have very tough conditions where the temperatures are quite high. It’s really demanding for the cars and the crew.

“It’s going to be my fourth time in Portugal, I really like it as a rally, especially when you finish the Power Stage at Fafe and there are so many fans there watching. I’m looking forward to enjoying the atmosphere and hopefully achieving another good result.”

Grégoire Munster

“We had a good pre-event test, with two days of testing last week. Portugal will be a lot like Sardinia, a bit of a tricky one for us because we don’t have a lot of experience compared to our fellow competitors. Thanks to my great idea to roll the car on the first stage of the rally last year, it means we lack the knowledge of the stages, so we will try to grab a lot of experience in both Portugal and Sardinia to move forward into the second part of the season’s gravel rallies with confidence.”

William Creighton (WRC2)

“This will be my first gravel rally in the WRC with the Fiesta rally2, and I’m looking forward to it after our podium on BRC’s Severn Valley stages. Rally Portugal is always enjoyable with a good atmosphere but it’s a big challenge; Friday will be difficult with extremely rough stages and no service. It looks like it’s going to be a warm rally too, so it’ll be a proper challenge for the me, Liam and the car!”

Oliver Solberg (WRC2)

“Honestly, this event is one of the best. Everything about Portugal is special. The history, the people, the stages, they’re all so cool. It’s a fantastic place to come and drive a rally car.

“It’s been a while since I was in the car for Safari (March 28-31), but I’ve been doing plenty of training out in the buggies and flat out on the quadbikes since then. We will have a test before the rally, but I think we have a fairly good idea of what to expect from this one. The weather can sometimes be quite interesting – we’re a long way to the west in Europe and near to the coast, so rain can come quickly.

“I would like the rain! Especially on the first day. We’re going to be running further up on the road and if it stays dry, the grip is going to get better and better for our competitors running behind us on the road. If it’s wet, we have a small advantage – or certainly no disadvantage!

“The competition will be strong this year, maybe even the strongest across the whole season. There will be a lot of very, very good drivers out there and some of them in new cars. It’s going to be interesting to see how this one goes. I think we have the speed we need to win and I think we have a good chance – we’re joint leaders of the championship, so we know a win would be good enough to give us a bigger lead. That’s what we’re aiming for.

“And this year, no donuts…”

Summary

We are set for a great rally and possibly a new championship leader at the end of the event. With Thierry opening the road, it is hard to see him finishing on the podium. With that in mind as long as Elfyn can finish more than six points ahead, we could see the change at the top. The variable however comes with the points system and its effect on the championship standings so far.

Who can win this rally then? Well, either Kalle or Seb could take victory for Toyota, but if their teammate Elfyn can stay close to the top three by the end of Friday, perhaps he could figure in the fight as well? Ott and Dani though will want to spoil the hopes of Toyota and with a good road position for both of them, they could be in the mix as well. Finally, Adrien, who is third still in the championship standings could also be in the mix for the podium.

In WRC2 I suspect there will be an almighty battle between Gus, Oliver, Nikolay, Yohan, Sami and Teemu for the podium positions and the top step. William will be making his debut on gravel in the Fiesta Rally2 and will hope that he can learn a lot to take to future events for M-Sport.

The action gets underway with shakedown on Thursday morning at 8am UK time, before the first stage at 7pm the same evening.

Enjoy!

The final day then and with 54.78km’s over four stages would we see a straightforward drive to the finish, or perhaps we would have some drama instead!? Gregoire would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS17 Trakošćan – Vrbno 1 – 13.15 km and Takamoto started really well, winning the stage from Adrien and Elfyn. Thierry was fifth fastest and this meant that Elfyn had closed the gap to the Belgian to just 2.6 seconds. It was game on for the win. In WRC2, the top three remained Nikolay, Yohan and Pepe both in the stage and on course for the WRC2 podium.

The following stage, SS18 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 1 – 14.24 km, though had huge drama though and being the first run of what would be the power stage this would be significant! First of all, Adrien clipped a anti-cut device and broke his steering arm. He drove across the bridge and pulled off at the side of the road. Once the steering arm was replaced he completed the stage. There was fifteen minutes lost which is quite amazing really. Then Elfyn also had a spin, collecting a tree branch on the way and lost 19.6 seconds. Then Thierry came through and also went off the road, quite badly damaging his car. He lost 23.3 seconds and fell to third behind Seb and Elfyn. Ott won the stage though from Takamoto and Seb. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest from Nikolay and Nicolas.

Time then for the penultimate stage and Takamoto was fastest from Elfyn and Ott. Seemed the drama was not over as Seb understeered off the road and went up a bank. The Frenchman completed the stage with the fourth fastest time, his lead now from Elfyn just 6.4 seconds.

Onto the final stage then SS20 Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec 2[Power Stage] – 14.24 km and Adrien was super committed through the stage and his time was not overcome. The closest driver was Ott, who was 3.8 behind the Frenchman, Seb was third fastest, Takamoto fourth and Elfyn fifth.

Seb had won the rally from Elfyn and Thierry was third. In WRC2, Nikolay won the category from Yohan and Pepe.

Let’s take a look at the final standings and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Croatia Rally

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	2:40:23.6
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+9.7
3	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+45.8
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+58.6
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+1:55.5
6	A. Mikkelsen	T. Eriksen	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+4:01.0
7	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+5:11.0
8	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Citroën C3	+9:21.3
9	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+9:59.5
10	S. Pajari	E. Mälkönen	Toyota GR Yaris	+10:22.7

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m very happy to take this victory. It’s been a tough weekend: we knew that coming here with our start position, but we pushed the whole weekend, we never gave up, and put the pressure on as much as we could. I think I never had so many moments in one rally, pushing the limits like this, but most importantly we brought it home with a win. One hundred podiums is a nice number and it’s great to reach it with a victory. I enjoy every opportunity I have to drive these cars and it’s nice to see we still have some speed. I’m super happy for the team, even if we can’t make so much difference in the points. It’s been a great team performance and let’s keep pushing like this.”

Elfyn Evans

“There’s a feeling of disappointment today. It started off pretty well in the first stage this morning, but we were too optimistic with our tyre choice and with the hard tyre it was a struggle in the second stage: this corner was quite full of mud and the rear came around. You’ve got to be in it to win it and it didn’t work out today. Still, the weekend was generally pretty good with a big fight the whole way through and second place at the end. It’s a great team result and nice to battle with Seb. It doesn’t feel like the team has been fully rewarded for that one-two in terms of points, but that’s how it is.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a good weekend for me as I was gaining more and more confidence throughout. Already on Saturday, some stages felt good, and I just tried to continue in the same way and I had an even better feeling in the car. I was a bit disappointed with the Power Stage where I was a bit too careful, but everything else went well today. We were fastest on Super Sunday and scored some good points for the team, which makes me very happy, and it was a good result for the team overall. Next time I want to be better from the start of the rally and then the result can be much better, but it’s been a good weekend overall.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“While we didn’t finish how we would have wanted; we have been well rewarded for our great drive on Friday and Saturday. Those are important points and despite not scoring many today, we were still the third-best performers – equal with Elfyn – and we only lost one point to Ott. SS18 was really tricky, and I tried my best to avoid an impact immediately hitting the brakes but there was nothing I could do. I am happy to still be in the lead and to retain the advantage, however Portugal is going to be tough for us from our road position.”

Ott Tänak

“It’s incredible to finish as the second highest-scoring crew. Our weekend was tough once again; we started from a very bad place, and I gave away some time in the beginning. We recovered a bit on Friday afternoon, and then on Saturday we tried to experiment a bit ahead of today to try and help us maximise our road position, which was also tricky. We were always just a bit too far behind to get enough dirty road, so it was a constant challenge, but we managed to collect some good points. I’m hoping to have a better feeling on gravel from Portugal and be more competitive, as the target will be to start taking back some points.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“I was expecting to be a bit closer to the front during this event, even though I knew I was going to struggle here. I haven’t done the rally in the last few years, so it was a struggle, especially as there is so much pace note information to take on. When I don’t know the stage by heart, it is hard to have the commitment you need to fight at the front, and the speed here is very high. I was missing confidence in the driving, but we were going in the right direction, but I was hoping for more.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“I’m just happy we had a trouble-free event! This can now launch our season, which didn’t start exactly how we wanted. It was a very demanding event, with difficult stages where you need full commitment. So, to finish the rally, we are really happy, and with the improvement in the gaps to the other crews from 1.5s/km on Friday to around 0.5s/km at the end of the weekend, it’s all heading in a good direction.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It’s been a good weekend for us. We’ve been fighting with Ott for the first two days, we were missing a bit of performance sometimes, and were trying things with the set-up. But we found something really good on Friday’s last stages. Then the rain was supposed to come so we had to change things, we had to make a guess based on the conditions, but once we went back to the set-up we had on Friday the car felt really good.

“We’ve been able to push a lot. We made one mistake, a small mistake with big consequences, which is a shame. But it’s like that, you have to be perfect everywhere here. We stayed on the road, but we hit a concrete pole [on SS18] so we just decided to fix it and push really hard on the Power Stage to score the points. We got the maximum points, which is great, my first Power Stage win, and this is really positive.”

William Creighton (WRC2)

“Overall, a tricky weekend with some drama on Friday night and today, but I guess that’s rally Croatia. The positive is that we showed good pace at points throughout the weekend and whilst we still have a lot of work to do, it’s promising with not so much experience in the Fiesta Rally2. A big thanks to everyone at M-Sport for looking after Liam and myself during a busy few weeks, and of course the support from the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy who have supported me all the way.”

Summary

Well, what an astonishing rally! Seb and Vincent came through the drama of the final day to take victory. His teammate came in second place and with Thierry third and the Belgian was not allowed to increase his championship lead over Elfyn.

 

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 4

1	T. Neuville	86
2	E. Evans	80
3	A. Fourmaux	59
4	O. Tänak	53
5	S. Ogier	45
6	T. Katsuta	45
7	K. Rovanpera	31
8	E. Lappi	23
9	A. Mikkelsen	14
10	O. Solberg	12

 

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 4

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	176
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	169
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	96

 

 

The championship moves onto Portugal next month to be held from the 9^th to the 12^th of May.

The second day of this event and the crews had 108km’s over eight stages to tackle. The start list would be reversed with Thierry last into the stages throughout the day. Opening the road would be Gregoire Munster. Of course, Thierry and Elfyn would start the day on the same overall time after Friday’s stages.

First up was SS9 Smerovišće – Grdanjci 1 – 15.72 km and Adrien took his position as starting fourth on the road to win the stage from Thierry and Seb. Elfyn was fifth fastest and just eight tenths of a second from Thierry. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest from Nikolay and Pepe, the trio picking up where they left off at the end on Friday.

Onto SS10 Stojdraga – Gornja Vas 1 – 20.77 km and it was the turn of Seb to go fastest from Thierry and Elfyn who had set the same time, just three tenths behind the eight-time champion. The gap between the top two remained the same of course. There was a moment for Ott in the stage when he went wide, although at the time he went fastest before ultimately taking fifth fastest in the stage. In WRC2 Yohan was fastest, taking 7.1 seconds from Nikolay’s lead, whilst Eyvind was third. The Norwegian was having a good rally after two years away.

Next up was SS11 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 1 – 8.78 km and Thierry returned to the top of the stage times, winning the stage from Elfyn and Seb, the gap was now 1.7 seconds between the top two. Yohan took another WRC2 category stage win from Nikolay and Nicolas was third in the category.

The final stage before service and lunch, SS12 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 1 – 9.11 km and Thierry was fastest from Seb and Ott. Meanwhile Elfyn found the stage very slippery and set the same time as Ott, three seconds behind Thierry’s stage winning time. The gap was now 4.1 seconds between the top two. There was some drama for Yohan in WRC2 as he suffered a puncture and lost 38.7 seconds to Nikolay. The Frenchman remained second in the category with a minute and 21 second lead over Pepe.

After the break the rain had arrived in places on SS13 Smerovišće – Grdanjci 2 – 15.72 km and Elfyn was fastest from Seb and Thierry. The Welshman took four soft tyres, and this gave him an advantage through the stage which was wet in places over the mix tyred Hyundai of Thierry. The Belgian was 6.7 seconds slower than Elfyn and fell from the lead, now two seconds from new leader Elfyn. Yohan returned to the top spot in WRC2 with the fastest time from Pepe and Nicolas. Nikolay continued to lead but after being almost 21 seconds slower than his French teammate, had a reduced lead of 39.1 seconds.

Next up was SS14 Stojdraga – Gornja Vas 2 – 20.77 km and Thierry was fastest again from Seb and Elfyn. This pace took Thierry back into the lead by 2.3 seconds as the tyre strategy by the Hyundai team gave them the advantage over the Toyota team’s. In WRC2 there was no change in the top three as Nikolay continued to lead the category from Yohan and Pepe was still third.

Just two stages remained then to decide the Saturday points for the top ten positions and first up was SS15 Vinski Vrh – Duga Resa 2 – 8.78 km. Thierry was fastest again from Seb and Elfyn and now the lead over the Welshman was four seconds. There was still no change in WRC2 as Nikolay remained in the lead from Yohan and Pepe.

The final stage then of the day, SS16 Pećurkovo Brdo – Mrežnički Novaki 2 – 9.11 km and Thierry was again from Seb and Elfyn, with the gap widening to 4.9 seconds at the end of Saturday’s stages. Quite amazing.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	2:09:46
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+4.9
3	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+11.6
4	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+1:15.5
5	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+1:35.4
6	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid	+2:14.2
7	A. Mikkelsen	T. Eriksen	Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid	+4:00.8
8	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid	+4:56.3
9	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+7:41.4
10	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+8:20.9

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“This afternoon was trickier due to very challenging weather. We feared that we made the wrong choice, but the rain didn’t continue, and we were able to set good times by mixing the tyre choice based on the stages we were tackling. It’s not easy to know what is the best mix, but I followed my gut feeling. Even if you know the stages here well, they are still really difficult. They are challenging and narrow, with lots of crests and blind corners. Anything can happen on tomorrow’s final run, so we need to keep focused. We want to bring home the victory, but more importantly some extra points.”

Ott Tänak

“I felt definitely less comfortable in the car this afternoon and we couldn’t find any good rhythm to finish the day. I think to maximise our potential tomorrow we will try to go back to where we were yesterday afternoon – something we know was working a lot better for us. If we start from there, we will then need to work hard tomorrow to bring back as many points as possible from Super Sunday and the Power Stage.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“I think we are taking small steps; we would like to be making bigger ones, of course, but we are still learning. For sure there’s the potential for more, but I’m still having some moments in the car. I think we are at a point where the car now is working fairly well for me, and it is more the features and my familiarity of the stages that I’m missing. I haven’t done this rally since 2021 and many stages are new, so where the other crews are fine-tuning their pace notes to be absolutely perfect, I am still digesting so much information.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a good day and good fun behind the wheel. The margins have been very tight here and we just couldn’t quite match Thierry, who was very fast all day. We had a good start to the afternoon to take the lead – we had the right tyre choice for that stage especially. After that, I think it’s hard to say what the best choice was, as the feeling was pretty good in the car. We just unfortunately fell short at the end of the day. There will be another difficult tyre choice to make to cover the whole final day, but we’ll try to make good decisions and give it our best.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Overall, it’s been a good day for me in the car. Everyone was expecting rain today and we made some changes to the car anticipating that, and I didn’t quite feel as comfortable as yesterday. We had a few drops of rain to start the afternoon and we had a tyre choice that suited these conditions, so we managed to get back a little bit of time. Unfortunately, it kind of balanced out over the rest of the loop. Still, it’s been a positive day, we were just missing something to make the difference in this close fight. It’s not over yet, and we will keep pushing until the end – also to help the team score the maximum points.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“For sure, today was much better than yesterday, so I’m feeling happier tonight. I felt good in the car and it’s getting better and better all the time. I was more competitive in some stages and just missing a bit of commitment in others. It’s easier to see now where I’m losing time compared to the top three and why, but I wasn’t taking huge risks. I think the team did a very good job with the tyre choices because it was difficult to get it right for every stage. Tomorrow I’ll try to push myself and to take some extra points for myself and the team.”

 

Sunday

We have 54.78km’s to decide this rally’s final standings and the points to be awarded for the top seven positions at the end of Sunday’s stages.