Tom Ingram took his second win of the season and took the lead of the championship after a last lap pass on Tom Oliphant. Ash Sutton stole second from Oliphant in a battle to the finish line.
A six lap safety car period broke up the race after Stephen Jelley and Gordon Shedden collided at Paddock.
Oliphant had another good start off the line, with Dan Rowbottom atoning for his poor start in race one by rocketing up to second. Shedden is tapped at Paddock Hill bend but recovers. However on lap two he wasn’t as lucky.
Stephen Jelley saw a chance to dive down the inside and Shedden shut the door too late, with the pair going off into the gravel at Paddock. Shedden resumed but Jelley retired and this brought out the Safety Car.
After a six lap Safety Car period racing resumed. On lap ten Jake Hill passed Ingram into Paddock Hill in a brilliant move.
However Hill got a puncture heading into Clearways and lost two laps trying to fix it. Falling from third to the back of the pack.
Rowbottom challenged Oliphant for the lead and went around the outside of Druids. This left the door open for Ingram who took second by the end of lap 18.
There were interesting battles throughout the pack, with Jack Goff and Senna Proctor fighting for tenth place. It was the Yorkshireman who prevailed, finishing tenth ahead of Goff.
On lap 23 of 27 Ingram was on Oliphant’s tail, who was for the second race in a row, defending incredibly well in a much heavier BMW.
Ingram finally made his move on the last lap as he dove down the inside at Paddock and slightly tapped Olihpant’s rear. He managed to get through at Druids and steal away for his second win of the season.
Ash Sutton is a driver who can never be ruled out, as he took third from Rowbottom on the penultimate lap before sneaking past Oliphant in a drag race to the finish line.
Ingram took the win from Sutton and Oliphant on the podium, with Rowbottom, Josh Cook, Dan Lloyd, Chris Smiley, Jason Plato, Aiden Moffat and Senna Proctor rounded off the top ten, with Adam Morgan taking the reverse grid pole position.
Tom Oliphant took his second career win in round seven at Brands Hatch in the British Touring Car Championship.
He fended off a ruthless Gordon Shedden chase in his Honda Civic with pole sitter Dan Rowbottom recovering from a poor start to finish third.
The Team Dynamics driver took his first pole position yesterday, but had a poor start off the line and was engulfed by cars passing him. Oliphant took the lead and it was a lead he never surrendered.
Aiden Moffat had a good start and flew up to second, with Tom Ingram third but his lap wasn’t without drama as he got sideways coming out of Clearways but recovered without losing too much time.
Oliphant started pulling away from the chasing pack, with Shedden moving up to second and his hunt of Oliphant began. Behind them Ash Sutton had a great exit out of Paddock Hill bend to almost overtake Shedden and Moffat who were fighting for second.
By lap eight Oliphant had a 3.5 second lead over Shedden but the Scotsman set the fastest lap as he was attacking to chase down the leader.
Rowbottom made his way back up to third with Moffat and Jake Hill fightinf for fourth place.
While Oliphant was leading, his team mates were less fortunate, Stephen Jelley was given a five second penalty for a false start, dropping him to 15th at the checkered flag. Colin Turkington started 14th and had a spin on lap 15, dropping him down to 21st by the end of the race.
Shedden was really pushing to catch Oliphant, shaving plenty of time off his lead and was only 1.3 seconds behind by lap 19.
RIck Parfitt and Nicholas Hamilton had a collision at Druids on lap 22 and this put Parfitt into the crosshairs of the leading duo. On the final lap Oliphant was almost held up by Parfitt but it didn’t factor in as Shedden’s valiant chase came up just short, finishing two tenths behind him.
An impressive win for Oliphant with Shedden and Rowbottom taking a double podium for Team Dynamics.
Hill, Sutton and Ingram were next with Chris Smiley, Moffat, Josh Cook and Jack Goff rounded off the top ten once Jelley’s penalty was applied.
Pos
Driver
Car
Team
Gap
1
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
19:50:305
2
Gordon Shedden
Honda Civic Type R
Team Dynamics
+0.188
3
Dan Rowbottom
Honda Civic Type R
Team Dynamics
+4.603
4
Jake Hill
Ford Focus
MB Motorsport
+9.811
5
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
+10.007
6
Tom Ingram
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+11.289
7
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+11.633
8
Aiden Moffat
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
+11.938
9
Josh Cook
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+15.398
10
Jack Goff
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+15.720
11
Dan Lloyd
Vuaxhall Astra
Power Maxed
+15.982
12
Senna Proctor
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+16.339
13
Jason Plato
Vauxhall Astra
Power Maxed
+17.510
14
Stephen Jelley
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
+18.771*
15
Rory Butcher
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Gazoo
+19.025
16
Carl Boardley
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
+19.257
17
Adam Morgan
BMW 330i M Sport
Ciceley
+22.713
18
Aron Taylor-Smith
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+23.051
19
Tom Chilton
BMW 330i M Sport
Ciceley
+23.443
20
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
+24.816
21
Sam Osborne
Ford Focus
Motorbase
+24.883**
22
Jade Edwards
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+25.081
23
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus
MB Motorsport
+27.159
24
Sam Smelt
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Gazoo
+28.500
25
Jack Buutel
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+28.720
26
Andy Neate
Ford Focus
Motorbase
+33.172
27
Glyn Geddie
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+36.402
28
Nicholas Hamilton
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+37.808
29
Rick Parfitt Jr
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+1 Lap
* – Stephen Jelley received a five second penalty for a false start.
**-Sam Osborne received a 6.2 second penalty for gaining an advantage
Dan Rowbottom secured his first pole position as Team Dynamics locked out the front row in qualifying at Brands Hatch in the British Touring Car Championship.
He lapped the Kent circuit in 48 seconds with team mate Gordon Shedden just five thousandths behind in his Honda Civic Type R in what was an odd session at the famous circuit.
28 of the 29 cars were separated by under a second with only Nicholas Hamilton outside of the second.
Tom Ingram and Jake Hill set the early pace, with Tom Oliphant in close tow. After the early exchanges not many drivers were improving or setting faster times.
With Brands Hatch’s Indy layout being used, the biggest issue the drivers face is traffic, with 29 cars trying to find space on what is an incredibly short circuit. The other issue drivers faced was track limits, with drivers such as Ollie Jackson falling foul of them and having lap times removed.
Ingram and Hill both went wide at Paddock Hill bend when pushing to the limit, thankfully both continued and didn’t get stuck in the gravel.
With six minutes left in the session Rowbottom went fastest with a 48.0, a tenth faster than Hill’s benchmark before Shedden went second, just five thousandths of a second behind his team mate.
Rowbottom held on for his first ever BTCC pole, with Shedden behind and Hill third. Title challengers Ash Sutton (7th) and Colin Turkington (14th) have a lot of work to do in the first of three races tomorrow.
Well, this is going to be very special. The long-awaited return of the World Rally Championship to Kenya and the African continent is here! After nineteen long years we will get to see the most spectacular cars and crews at speed in the wilds of Africa.
The event last played a part in the championship from the 12th to the 14th of July 2002 and fan favourite Colin Mcrae took victory for Ford with Harri Rovanperä and Thomas Radstrom taking second and third for Peugeot and Citroen respectively. Richard Burns was the world champion driving a Peugeot 206 WRC, having won the championship in a Subaru Impreza the year before.
Well, moving onto this year’s rally, which has a total of 320 km’s of stages over eighteen stages. Let’s take a look at those now.
Safari Rally Kenya itinerary:
Wednesday June 23
Shakedown Loldia 5.40km (3.35 miles) 1301
Thursday June 24
SS1 Super Special Kasarani 4.84km (3.0 miles) 1408
“I am always excited to discover a new challenge in my career, and I believe this rally will be very different from anything I have done before. We’ve heard a lot that we are going to have to set our targets a little differently: The way we drive nowadays in the WRC is by really pushing the limits all of the time, but when we go to Kenya it will be much more about trying to survive the rally without trouble. I think it can be interesting to have a challenge like this during the year. It has been hard to know what is the right way to prepare, so I think the drivers will probably have to adapt a bit during the rally, but the recce will certainly be important to understand what is ahead of us.”
Elfyn Evans
“Obviously, Kenya is a big unknown as none of the current drivers have been there to do an event before. Of course, I’ve seen a lot of the classic footage from the past and it all looks very spectacular. It’s not going to be exactly the same this time, as we’ll have a more controlled loop of stages, but I am nonetheless excited to go there and rally in a completely different environment. I suspect it’s not going to be the smoothest event on the calendar, and it could be a big test for the car and maybe for the crew as well. From what we’ve seen it’s quite an open landscape, so reading the road could be quite difficult, but until we get out there and have a look for ourselves on the recce, it’s very hard to judge what the biggest challenges will be.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“Kenya is going to be really interesting. It’s a new event for everybody and at the same time it’s also a really classic event from the past. The WRC was last there in the early 2000s when my father was competing, and I’ve seen all the old videos from then and he has been telling a lot of stories. Rallying as a sport is quite different now, so it’s going to be interesting to see how we will do those stages with the cars that we have these days. We know that it’s not exactly the same concept – we won’t drive such long stages, for instance – but it will still be nice to see if the conditions will be just as rough and as tricky in some places. Everything is going to be different but I’m excited for it.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“I think everyone is excited to have Safari Rally Kenya on the calendar. I have heard stories from drivers who have had the chance to go there in the past, who have described the adventure they lived at the time. It will be a different experience for us, as the rallying has evolved over time. I don’t know what is waiting for us, but I hope to come back with a big trophy. We’ll be seeing zebras, elephants and giraffes; it is going to be fun!”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally Italia Sardegna 03-06 june 2021 Day 1, Action, Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Ott Tänak
“Safari Rally Kenya is a new event for me, and Africa is a place where I’ve never been. I am looking forward to it, although I expect it to a bit of an adventure. I have seen some footage from previous rallies; it is one of those events where to finish first, first you have to finish. It seems to be a wild, wild place – and it will definitely be different to anything else on the calendar, something special. Hopefully everything will work out in our favour.”
Dani Sordo
“We left Sardinia feeling unfulfilled with our weekend because we knew we were capable of much more. The car was fast and showed its potential on tough gravel roads. Kenya will be another challenge, but it is going to be an incredible experience. Safari Rally is like nothing else, it’s an event that we have never contested, with really unique stage profiles. I like to drive in these sorts of conditions; it’s going to be a hard rally like in the past, so let’s see how we get on. We’re hoping to score a good result for the team, who have been working non-stop to prepare for these events.”
Oliver Solberg
“I think you can believe me when I say I am excited about every rally I start. But this one is different. This is Safari Rally Kenya. I was eight months old last time the World Rally Championship was in Africa, so it’s pretty safe to say I don’t remember much about it – but I have grown up listening to my papa talking about the stories from this incredible place.
The Safari is really one of the total special ones. It might be different, I guess it’s going to be rough and tough and quite hard work, but isn’t it just fantastic to be going back to this place and this landscape. This is really what a world championship is about – going to these amazing places which provide some real adventure to the sport. Not that I want to be so adventurous… I already told Aaron [Johnston, co-driver] that he can do all of the tyre pressures this time. Somebody asked me if I was afraid of the lions? Of course, I am!
Seriously though, this rally is so different to Arctic and Alba, the two events I have done in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. I don’t have any experience of the car on gravel; OK it will be a little bit, sort of similar to the snow in Lapland, but the roads are so different. The recce is going to be incredibly important on this one. From the onboards we’ve already seen there are going to be some very, very high-speed sections slowing down into tight junctions. It can be easy to miss these places, so we have to be super-careful on the recce. Once we get into the event, I will be sensible. There’s some danger in every stage, this isn’t one to try to be a hero. I want the experience of this incredible rally.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Adrien Fourmaux
“It’s really good that the WRC is going back to Kenya. It will be a really big challenge and we know from the past how difficult this rally was. Okay, it’s a shorter event this time compared to the old WRC event, but it will still be hard and completely different to what we know.
“I’m a bit too young to remember watching the Safari Rally when it used to be in the WRC, but I have seen some videos and it was amazing to see the Ford Focus with the extra bars at the front. We will not have this protection but I am sure we will find some giraffes and elephants on the stages so it will be really interesting and for sure we will have to be careful!
“I have watched the video of the organiser. In some places we will have to almost stop because it’s really rough, but this is when we have to be smart enough to say, ‘okay this section we have to be slow but this section we can be fast’.
“It’s really nice to know the last driver to win the Safari in the WRC was Colin McRae in the M-Sport Focus. It will be really difficult to do exactly the same result although you never know because a lot of things can happen. But I want to stay quite humble. It’s an honour for me to do this rally and I can only say thanks to M-Sport for this opportunity. To go to Kenya is really good but with the WRC car it’s a dream and I can’t wait discover not only the rally but the humanity and the landscape.”
Gus Greensmith
“I was five when Colin McRae won the Safari for M-Sport and didn’t know what rallying was. But it’s obviously a cool thing he did and we’ve got the Safari Rally Focus that Colin won in in the main hall at M-Sport so every time I’m at M-Sport I pass the car. Clearly, it’s a very fond memory for Malcolm and the team and it would be great to get another good result.
“I’ve asked Malcolm plenty of questions about the Safari, but it was obviously so different back then with open roads and very long stages. It’s a very different challenge now and kind of new for the people of who have done it before. It’s definitely a trip into the unknown for me – I’ve never even been to Africa – but I’ve been watching the organiser videos for quite a while. Usually, I watch them religiously to become more familiar with the stages because it helps me to write better pacenotes, but because the roads are so undefined it’s been a different preparation for me. But I’m sure we’ll find more definition when we get there.
“From what I’ve seen I don’t think I can compare the Safari Rally to anything else I’ve done. But I have shown I can drive to the conditions when I need to, like when I won WRC2 on Monte-Carlo and in Turkey.
“We’ve certainly made some very good steps forward since Croatia. Chris is back in car on this rally and it will be helpful to have his knowledge. My aim for the remainder of the year is to be consistently in the top five and keep my pace going forward. There’s no reason why that can’t be possible.”
Summary
New events are always interesting, as it levels the playing field. As you know, the crews will have to complete totally new stage notes throughout the recce days. Road position will be really key in this event. We just don’t know how the stages will change, and with Seb Ogier opening the road could we see him on the podium on Sunday? There are so many unknowns about this, which makes it a very interesting event.
Ott Tanak will want to take victory after missing out on almost certain victory in the last two rounds. Who else could challenge for victory? Well, Dani Sordo always goes well on these kinds of events and could be right at the front. What about Elfyn? Well again if he can get comfortable, then he will certainly also be near the front. What about Kalle? Can he repeat his dad’s podium from 19 years ago? That would be a story! It’s just too hard to call and it will be fascinating to see how things pan out.
Here’s Rich Millener’s thoughts from last year’s Autosport International Show, when I asked him about the returning event – “I think Safari realistically is going to be quite different from what people expect. I think a lot more of the European style event is likely. It won’t be horrendously rough, it won’t be huge great deep-water splashes, cars will look pretty much look as they are. If people are expecting snorkels and everything that goes with it, which is great but we have the reality of the costs of designing a one-off car and it’s not feasible for anybody.
However, having said that all new stages, very different from what we’ve seen, it’s quite sandy in places which is a different skill, fast and actually narrow in some places and if you go offline, there’s big rocks and everything. The temptation to cut will be there, but the reality of cutting might not be so ideal and there is the wildlife, you know that you can’t get away from wildlife, there’s still going to be that gone are the days of the star helicopters and everything that went along with that because going to that level again would be like doing two rallies for the price of one.
We can’t really afford it. It will be very interesting, we sent some people out to the candidate rally to try and understand what it’s about, we know a little bit more, but all these new rallies are good for the drivers, because everyone’s in the same boat, new stages and new pace notes. I don’t think any of the drivers this year have been to any of these places, so that will be interesting. We’ll just prepare in the normal way, testing is most difficult because we don’t know the exact conditions you’re going to get in Safari, so you don’t know where you’re going to test. We’ve got a few options in mind, and I think that will be a key part of doing well.”
Enjoy the rally and pop back next week for my full stage by stage report!
Tom Ingram took Excelr8’s first win in the British Touring Car Championship in a thrilling race three at Snetterton.
After taking the lead on lap five, Ingram strolled to the win to secure the Hyundai i30N’s first win too.
Stephen Jelley was on pole thanks to the reverse grid draw, and lead from the start. Carl Boardley was tapped coming out of Agostini and retired from the race.
Ingram managed to pass Jelley but he went back through to keep his lead. Tom Oliphant spun at Agostini and fell down the order with Ash Sutton fighting for another win as he was third by the end of lap two.
Ollie Jackson was next to retire as Gordon Shedden squeezed up the inside and tapped him. This caused damage to Jackson’s Ford Focus and he struggled to the pits.
Lap five saw Ingram take the lead as Jelley then had to fend off the trio of Sutton, Shedden, and Rory Butcher for second. Josh Cook was storming up from 14th with no ballast in his BTC Honda Civic and was fifth by the end of lap seven.
Sutton managed to pass Jelley on lap eight with Shedden getting past at Agostini after a clumsy tap from the Scotsman on Jelley. It was three places lost in as many corners as Cook passed him too.
Ingram strolled to the win as Shedden was fighting for second with Sutton, but he couldn’t quite pass with Sutton taking second and as a result moving into the championship lead leaving Snetterton.
Cook, Jelley and Butcher were next with Colin Turkington finishing seventh, Adam Morgan, Jack Goff and Dan Rowbottom rounded off the top ten.
Ash Sutton took his second win of the season after a blistering drive through the field in round five of the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.
He passed car after car on the quicker soft tyre, and hunted down race one winner Colin Turkington to take another win and bolster his championship defence.
Ollie Jackson had the best start flying into second place from fifth on the grid. Turkington led from the line. Glyn Geddie and Rick Parfitt collided coming onto the straight and Geddie retired with damage. Tom Chilton also retired with damage to the front of his Ciceley BMW.
By the end of lap two Sutton was sixth, passing Adam Morgan. Meanwhile Sutton’s team mate Aiden Moffat was given a five second penalty for a jump start.
Lap four and Sutton was fifth, squeezing down the inside of Stephen Jelley at the Wilson hairpin.
Next on his list was Hyundai’s Tom Ingram. The Excelr8 Hyundai was heavier than Sutton’s Infiniti and after a fierce battle Sutton boxed clever and passed Ingram.
The Wilson hairpin was again the scene of a Sutton overtake as he passed Jackson for second place.
Turkington was clear of the pack but had Sutton on the quicker tyre reeling him in.
Championship leader Jake Hill had a horror show, falling down the grid in the closing stages.
Lap nine saw Sutton finally pass Turkington into the Agostini hairpin, having been 1.3 seconds faster on the previous lap.
The battle for the final podium place was heating up in the final three laps. Ingram and Jackson fought hard, going side by side into Agostini as Ingram snuck past before losing it to Jackson again at the next corner.
Sutton took the win after a fantastic drive, with Turkington only half a second back. Jackson secured third with Ingram fourth and Rory Butcher fifth. Tom Oliphant and Stephen Jelley came home sixth and seventh respectively for Team WSR. Adam Morgan, Jack Goff and Aiden Moffat rounded off the top ten once Moffat’s penalty was applied.
Pos
Driver
Car
Team
1
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
23:49:604
2
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
+0.451
3
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus ST
MB Motorsport
+8.603
4
Tom Ingram
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+8.769
5
Rory Butcher
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Gazoo
+10.524
6
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
+10.859
7
Stephen Jelley
BMW 330i M Sport
Team WSR
+12.065
8
Adam Morgan
BMW 330i M Sport
Ciceley
+13.364
9
Jack Goff
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+13.662
10
Aiden Moffat*
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
+16.204
11
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+16.228
12
Gordon Shedden
Honda Civic Type R
Team Dynamics
+16.577
13
Dan Lloyd
Vauxhall Astra
Power Maxed
+16.925
14
Senna Proctor
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+17.295
15
Josh Cook
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+18.605
16
Dan Rowbottom
Honda Civic Type R
Team Dynamics
+21.190
17
Carl Boardley
Infiniti Q50
Laser Tools
+22.534
18
Aron Taylor-Smith
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+26.536
19
Sam Osborne
Ford Focus ST
Motorbase
+26.720
20
Jason Plato
Vauxhall Astra
Power Maxed
+39.770
21
Jessica Hawkins
Ford Focus ST
Motorbase
+42.017
22
Jack Butel
Hyundai i30N
Excelr8
+42.534
23
Jade Edwards
Honda Civic Type R
BTC Racing
+42.734
24
Jake Hill
Ford Focus ST
MB Motorsport
+44.681
25
Nicholas Hamilton
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
+47.417
26
Sam Smelt
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Gazoo
+48.429
27
Rick Parfitt Jr
Hyundai i30N
Excler8
+56.019
Retirements
RET
Tom Chilton
BMW 330i M Sport
Ciceley
Damage
RET
Glyn Geddie
Cupra Leon
Team HARD
Damage
*Aiden Moffat received a five second penalty for jumping the start.
Colin Turkington led from start to finish to take his 57th career win at Snetterton in round four of the British Touring Car Championship.
He took his eighth win at the Norfolk circuit, with Tom Ingram finishing second and Rory Butcher third.
Turkington led from the start, with the front wheel drive Hyundai of Ingram hot on his tail. The rear wheel drive BMW of Turkington took longer to heat up, giving Ingram chance to capitalise. At the Agostini hairpin Ingram made a move but couldn’t make it stick.
As Turkington got his car up to speed and pulled away his team mate Stephen Jelley made a good start, taking fourth before losing it to Ollie Jackson.
Gordon Shedden had pole position taken away from him after a rear wing infringement saw him disqualified from qualifying yesterday. He made a cracking start and was fighting Aiden Moffat with the pair tapping but no serious incident.
On lap seven Ingram set the fastest lap and appeared to be closing. Jake Hill started to lose ground due to him being championship leader he had maximum ballast onboard his Ford Focus ST. Tom Oliphant made his way through with Sutton trying the same. The reigning champion couldn’t get around the outside and lost a few places.
Jackson was the highest of the prime tyre runners, which was a slower tyre but longer lasting. Jelley retook his fourth place with Jackson then coming under pressure from Dan Lloyd.
On the penultimate lap Lloyd made a move on Jackson but it didn’t work and left him vulnerable to the BMW of Adam Morgan who swooped inside and took the place from him.
Jackson held on however in his slower Focus and held off the challenge of Morgan.
At the Wilson hairpin on the final lap Tom Chilton lost the backend and spun his BMW. He fell down the order and almost collected Jessica Hawkins in her Motorbase Ford.
Turkington took the win by nearly three seconds from Ingram and Butcher was seven seconds back in third. Jelley was fourth, with Jackson, Morgan, Lloyd and Oliphant coming next. Jake Hill finished ninth to retain his championship lead, with Chris Smiley finishing tenth.
Gordon Shedden took his first pole position since returning to the sport at Snetterton in an exciting qualifying session.
He stole pole position from Colin Turkington, who looked imperious throughout the two sessions, setting quick laps all the way through.
In the first of three special qualifying formats this season, there was a two-part aspect to it. A top ten shootout followed the first 20 minute session, with some notable names missing out on the final action. Ash Sutton, Josh Cook, Jason Plato, all missed out.
The track evolved over the original session and the times came down. Turkington went fastest originally with a 1:57.3. Sutton soon went quicker with a 1:56.7.
Plenty of drivers had times removed for track-limit infringements going wide on the exit of some corners.
Turkington regained top spot with a 1:55.2 and held on for the last ten minutes.
By the end of the session Dan Rowbottom missed out by just 88 thousandths of a second in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic.
In the final session, the ten fastest drivers go through into the shootout. Turkington reigned supreme for the majority of the session, his BMW setting fastest lap after fastest lap.
Power Maxed Racing’s Dan Lloyd fell a victim of track limits, losing two times, with one being the fastest of the session so far.
By the chequered flag, Shedden put in a 1:55:2 to steal pole position from the WSR driver, with Turkington having to settle for second, one and a half tenths down.
Tom Ingram was third, almost half a second down on Shedden, with Rory Butcher, Stephen Jelley, Adam Morgan, Ollie Jackson, Jake Hill, Dan Lloyd and Tom Oliphant rounding off the top ten.
There was more drama on the Island of Sardegna. Here’s the story of how Seb and Julien came through to take an impressive win.
Friday
The start list looked like this – Ogier, Evans, Neuville, Tänak, Rovanperä, Katsuta, Sordo, Greensmith, Suninen, Loubet.
Into the first stage then, SS1 Filigosu – Sa Conchedda 1 – 22.29 km and just like in Portugal Ott was fast out of the blocks, winning the stage from Kalle and Seb. Actually, the Frenchman’s pace considering he was first on the road was pretty impressive to be only 9.6 seconds from the lead. The day didn’t start as well however for Elfyn who was just not comfortable out there. The fight was on for the lead between Ott and Kalle. At M-Sport it didn’t go well for Teemu who went off the road and was stuck and out for the day.
Ott also took SS2 Terranova 1 – 14.36 km from Seb and Kalle. Further down the leaderboard, Elfyn was making some progress, moving ahead of Thierry and into sixth, but the Welshman definitely wanted more.
The Estonian continued his top pace at the front winning SS3 Filigosu – Sa Conchedda 2 – 22.29 km, winning the stage from Dani and Kalle. In fact, the double winner for the last two years found that his pace brought him into third overall as well, with Seb dropping to fourth, but certainly not out for the fight for a podium. Thierry was also on the move up the leaderboard, passing Elfyn for sixth.
The final stage of the morning and yes, you guessed it. Ott was fastest again in SS4 Terranova 2 – 14.36 km from Dani and Seb. Sadly, Kalle’s time at the top of the standings came to an end as he suffered a technical problem with his Yaris. Now everyone except for Thierry moved up one place but the Belgian managed to gain two positions, moving from sixth to fourth in one go.
After the service break, Ott continued his winning form setting the fastest time in SS5 Tempio Pausania 1 – 12.08 km from Seb and Thierry. Fourth fastest was Elfyn, who was finding some rhythm out there, and this moved him ahead of Takamoto who suffered a stall in the stage and the Welshman moved into fifth overall. With the departure of Teemu earlier, Gus was holding his own out there and sat in seventh overall.
The next stage, SS6 Erula – Tula 1 – 14.97 km saw Dani go fastest from Ott and Seb and this meant the Spaniard moved ahead of the world champion and into second overall. Meanwhile, Thierry and Elfyn continued their fight for fourth overall, with the Belgian holding a resurgent Elfyn at bay for now.
Dani also took SS7 Tempio Pausania 2 – 12.08 km, but his teammate was just three tenths off and the gap between them remained a large 25 seconds. Elfyn broke into the top three for the first time and with Thierry just seventh fastest after getting a puncture, the Welshman moved into fourth overall. Gus also had a great stage, going fifth fastest.
The final stage then, SS8 Erula – Tula 2 – 14.97 km, and Dani was equal quickest with Thierry and Ott third. The Belgian would have been quicker if he’s not stalled in the stage. The Hyundai drivers had won every stage of day one, putting the good road position to good use. The fact that two Toyota drivers held third and fourth though, meant that they were in a good position to benefit from problems. There was drama for Gus however, as just after the start of the stage for him, he suffered transmission failure and he couldn’t complete. A big shame as he had driven really well all day.
Classification after Day One
1
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:26:58.0
2
D. Sordo
B. Rozada
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+19.4
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+36.2
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:02.0
5
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:03.2
6
T. Katsuta
D. Barritt
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:26.1
Let’s hear from the drivers
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak (1st)
“Generally, it has not been a bad day for us. Things ran quite smoothly, and I had a nice feeling with the car since the beginning. I was able to maintain a good rhythm and to enjoy myself, pushing at the same time. Knowing the road order of our rivals, we knew it was definitely our opportunity to build up a gap. Apart from the final stage, when we had a bit of a tyre scare, I would say it’s been good, and we could achieve what we wanted. It also showed us that we always need to keep going, to grow the gap as much as possible, and so we will keep pushing tomorrow.”
Dani Sordo (2nd)
“I am pleased to end this opening day in second place. On the whole, we have had a positive Friday, with some small issues in the morning turning into a competitive afternoon. On the opening stages, I was not too happy with my pace notes. There were some places where I missed confidence and lost time as a result. There were some new profile stages, which made things more difficult and identified areas where we needed to improve. We had to manage our tyres well and couldn’t push like crazy. The car was moving around a lot on the softs, so with the hard compounds in the afternoon I felt more confident in myself, with improved grip and better pace notes; everything was a step forward. I also knew the stages from previous years, which really gave me the extra confidence I needed. A long way to go, but I’m satisfied with how we’ve started the rally.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship Round 05, Rally de Portugal 3-6 June 2021 Ott Tanak Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (5th)
“It was a difficult day for us. I struggled with confidence in the first stages. I didn’t get a good feeling, so we decided to go progressively throughout the day to get the speed. We changed a lot on the car, we went in the right direction with the settings. The car was a bit stiff this morning and we couldn’t get the traction, but things worked better this afternoon. Unfortunately, two punctures cost us a huge amount of time. I think we would have been able to close the gap to Sébastien without them. As a result, we lost a position on the road order for Saturday, but this rally is not over and maybe tomorrow is a positive turn and we might be free of issues.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (3rd)
“It’s been a very good day for us, I can be very happy with what we’ve done. The morning was especially strong. We were driving on two new stages and I think this helped us to make the difference. With Julien, we did a good job on the recce and had good pacenotes, and I felt confident and able to push. I was also very happy with the car, as we did some good setup changes after Portugal. This afternoon was a bit tougher, as I had expected, but most importantly we’re third overall and that will give us a better start position tomorrow. It’s a big gap to the leader, but it was a very strong performance for us today, so let’s see what we can do.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 3-6 May, 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: McKlein
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It was not a good start for us at all this morning. I struggled with the feeling in the car: We made a few changes after Portugal to try and improve things a bit, but it didn’t give me the confidence level that I had before, so it was difficult to settle down into a good rhythm. Things were definitely working better in the afternoon and I felt happier in the car. I was not so happy with the stage times still, but at least things are moving in the right direction and we’ll try to build on that tomorrow.”
Kalle Rovanperä (DNF SuperRally)
“It was a really nice start this morning. I had a good feeling in the car again and we could be back on a good pace. It felt really good; I didn’t even need to push so much, so it was really enjoyable. Then on SS4 we had an issue and had to stop. It’s sad that the day ended in this way because it was going well before that. But the team will be able to fix the car so we can restart tomorrow and try to find a similar feeling again for the rest of the rally.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith (DNF, SuperRally)
“To be honest, I’ve been quite happy with what I’m doing. We lacked a bit of pace in the first couple of stages because we didn’t have any opportunity to test here before the event and so we went with the same setup that we used in Portugal 10 days ago.
“At the start of the day, our suspension was too soft for the road conditions, which meant that I was lacking a bit of precision in the corners and didn’t want to push too hard. We were able to make a few adjustments on the road and you can see from the times that everything felt a lot better and we got a lot closer to the pace of the leaders, so overall it was a big positive.
“The stages are incredibly rough. At one point we actually had the jack break loose over some of the roughest ground, it broke the mount and the loose jack then caused an oil spillage near the exhaust but we got that cleaned up before there was a fire.
Other than that, the Fiesta was flawless until the final stage start, when the transmission unfortunately just took too much of a beating. I’m devastated as a top-five finish was absolutely within the car, and we will be going all-out when we restart tomorrow to show that same pace.”
Teemu Suninen (DNF, SuperRally)
“I pulled the handbrake and stalled the engine and then I really had no power to pull through the corner so just slid wide by two metres and we got stuck. The car started to get quite hot and we lost one sensor, after which it wasn’t running anymore. It should be quite an easy fix, basically from the outside of the car there’s just one mirror missing, but sadly we weren’t able to carry on today.
“The Ford Fiesta WRC felt so good, the difference between Rally1 and Rally2 is something really special, I was sure that a top five finish was possible.
“Fortunately, we will be able to restart tomorrow and although the prospect of good points has gone, I believe we can show the true potential pace that we have throughout the next two days and show how fast the car is through these stages. “
Adrien Fourmaux (DNF, SuperRally)
“It was a small mistake this morning, which was in part inexperience on gravel. Unfortunately, there was a big stone in the verge on the inside of the bend where I tried too tight a line, which meant that our battle for victory in WRC2 ended on the second stage of the rally.
“We will restart under SuperRally tomorrow and I hope to show some good stage times as we make a recovery.
I’m really sorry to the team and all our partners that we won’t be in the fight for victory this weekend but I am confident that with the repairs made by the team today we will be able to show the performance of the Ford Fiesta Rally2 is on all surfaces.”
Saturday
Start list looked like this – Suninen, Rovanperä, Greensmith, Loubet, Katsuta, Neuville, Evans, Ogier, Sordo, Tänak.
Ott picked up at the same pace that we saw from the Estonian in SS9 Coiluna – Loelle 1 – 15.00 km and he won the stage from Elfyn with Seb third fastest. The champions pace brought them closer to Dani who was holding second place. In fact, Elfyn, Seb and Thierry who were behind Dani, were all quicker than the Spaniard.
At last, we had a different car and driver winning a stage with Seb winning SS10 Lerno – Monti di Alà 1 – 22.08 km from Ott and Elfyn. Seb’s pace brought him into second overall with Dani falling to third. Elfyn also closed the gap a little to Dani, but the gap remained large at over 20 seconds. Takamoto had a huge moment, whacking a huge rock that was in the middle on the road with the middle of the front of his Yaris! The whole front of the car lifted up, but amazingly they got away with it not causing any big damage.
Elfyn won SS11 Coiluna – Loelle 2 – 15.00 km from Seb and Ott. The Welshman was building a lead over Thierry who was holding fourth place, the gap between them now over ten seconds, whilst also closing on Dani. At M-Sport Gus was going well after his restart, setting the seventh best time, quicker than Takamoto who had a better road position.
There was drama for Ott on the next stage, SS12 Lerno – Monti di Alà 2 – 22.08 km as the Estonian hit a rock on the line! This broke the rear suspension, and that was that. All the hard work had been undone again for the former champions. Top three in the stage was Seb, Thierry and Elfyn and the Belgian closed the gap a little to the third placed Welshman. Another driver to fall from a good position was Gus who stopped in the stage with a mechanical problem.
After the service break the next stage, SS13 Bortigiadas – Aggius – Viddalba 1 – 14.70 km saw Seb take another stage win from Dani and Elfyn and the gap opened up a little between them all. Further down the standings, Jari and Mads battle for the lead in the WRC2 category saw the Finn pass the Norwegian and they held sixth and seventh overall as well.
Top three on SS14 Sedini – Castelsardo 1 – 13.03 km was Seb, Thierry and Elfyn, with Dani fourth, meaning that they both closed a little on the Spaniard who still held second overall. Mads and Jari continued their fight for the WRC2 lead and Mads closed the gap to Jari to just 12.6 seconds.
Into SS15 Bortigiadas – Aggius – Viddalba 2 – 14.70 km saw more drama for Hyundai, with Dani sliding wide and dropping his right wheel into a culvert at the edge of the road, the resulting impact wreaking the tyre and suspension. In fact, it was such a huge impact, that the car was pitched into a roll of sorts and ended up on its side. It was unusual to see the Spaniard to make such a mistake, but it’s worth noting that this stage had not been used since the early 2000’s. Top three in the stage was Seb, Elfyn and Thierry and they also held the top three overall positions.
Now to the final stage of the day, SS16 Sedini – Castelsardo 2 – 13.03 km and Elfyn topped the times from Seb and Thierry. Mads closed the gap even further to Jari to just 2.7 seconds as well, after the Norwegian set a time good enough to place seventh in the stage.
“So far it’s been a perfect weekend for us. We were really strong yesterday and then today we did everything we had to do. We had good consistent pace this morning and a bit of a different tyre choice, which I think paid off. The chance to take the lead was not solely in my hands, but we took it, and then we had a strong afternoon where we could increase the gap. Now we can try to drive even more safely tomorrow. We have some more new stages tomorrow, so we’ll have to stay focused until the end and finish the job.”
Elfyn Evans (2nd)
“Today has been a good step forward from where we were yesterday. We really had to work hard to overcome the difficulties that we had, and now we’ve managed to find a place where I’m very, very happy in the car. The stages have been difficult and our rivals have had some incidents, and our better pace has meant we’ve moved up to second place. Tomorrow we will still need to be on our best: It will be challenging with the new stages but I’m looking forward to it.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 3-6 May, 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä (30th)
“It’s always good to get straight back into the car like we did this morning, and it was good learning for us to experience the conditions as the second car on the road. The morning was actually quite nice: It was a bit damp, so there was not so much road cleaning and I really enjoyed it. The afternoon was more difficult, with tricky stages and a lot of cleaning. Tomorrow we will be aiming for the Power Stage and trying to score some points there. It’s a new stage and a tricky stage, but let’s see what we can do.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“The gap to Elfyn Evans in second place is quite big. I tried to get closer to him on some stages, but I just didn’t have the speed I needed. We tried some settings, changing the dampers among other things, but we couldn’t get everything working together as we needed. I struggled to find the performance despite having the feeling of being on the edge. I haven’t been able to do much more, but tomorrow we will try our hardest and see what we can save from this weekend.”
Dani Sordo (DNF, SuperRally)
“The second day of Rally Italia Sardegna did not go to plan for us. We were involved in a battle for second place but were forced to retire on the penultimate stage. We hit a stone outside the road, something we didn’t see during the recce. We are really disappointed, not only for ourselves, but for the whole team, but sometimes these things happen in rally, and it’s like that. We will now concentrate on what we can achieve tomorrow to try and score some points in the Power Stage.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 3-6 June 2021 Dani Sordo, Borja Rozada, WRC, Action during Day 2 of Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 Photographer: Romain Thuillier Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith (31st)
“The morning started well. We continued to make good progress with the setup of the car and I was feeling a lot more comfortable this morning. I feel like from my side of things we’ve had a very good day whilst we’ve been out there it seems we’ve been a lot more competitive with our rivals so I’m happy and we can move forward tomorrow to build on that.
“Obviously it’s very frustrating to have had another issue interrupt that progress but from where we started this event to where we are now in terms of pace, I am looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow and getting some more good mileage.”
Adrien Fourmaux (34th)
“It was important that we should put the disappointment of yesterday behind us, and to be able to run at the front and win two stages in WRC2 was really fantastic for us. I’m really happy.
“Of course, it is bittersweet because our pace is strong enough to potentially challenge for the win, were it not for yesterday’s incident, but we have to take pride in what we are achieving and to make sure that we learn from every kilometre to the finish.
“The Ford Fiesta Rally2 has been faultless all day, I was able to feel a really good rhythm in the car and together with the team I think that we have done all that we can to show how strong our performance collectively.”
Teemu Suninen (35th)
“It’s been quite tricky. Actually, some stages were not so slippery, not too much loose gravel, but then some other stages have been a bit harder. Even when we have been through stages for the second time and you hope that a lot of gravel has been swept away, the quick line is very narrow and the penalty for going off that line means that it is hard to commit and risk damaging the car.
“I’ve been playing about with my driving style at times, trying a few things just to get my performance back up to the level that I know I can produce. Getting the Ford Fiesta back on to the podium in the WRC this season is my target and so the mileage that we are able to get can only contribute towards our performance later in the season. “
Sunday
The start list looked like this for the final day, with just four stages to run– Suninen, Greensmith, Rovanperä, Tänak, Sordo, Katsuta, Neuville, Evans, Ogier, Huttunen (WRC2).
Into SS17 Arzachena – Braniatogghiu 1 – 15.25 km then and Elfyn picked up from where he ended Saturday, going fastest from Ott who was returning under super rally rules, whilst Seb was third. The top three remained unchanged however. There was a change in the lead for the WRC2 category though, with Mads setting the sixth fastest time and passing Jari and also moving into fifth place overall!
Thierry won SS18 Aglientu – Santa Teresa 1 – 7.79 km, whilst Elfyn remained quick with the second fastest time, just three tenths slower, and Seb third. Disaster hit for a very angry Mads though. Somehow, he picked up a puncture, and once again fell behind Jari. He and Torstein let rip after the flying finish, both verbally and physically, and Jari was now 17.4 ahead with two stages left.
Elfyn took SS19 Arzachena – Braniatogghiu 2 – 15.25 km from Seb and Thierry. The Welshman had now taken his lead over the Belgian to more than 30 seconds. Meanwhile, Mads found some big pace again, setting the fifth best time, faster even than Teemu in a full WRC Fiesta, and Mads was now just 2.1 seconds behind the WRC2 category leader.
Final stage then, SS20 Aglientu – Santa Teresa 2 [Power Stage] – 7.79 km and Thierry took the stage win from Ott, with Kalle third, Seb fourth and Dani fifth. Going through the water splash, Elfyn’s engine cut out, and it took almost 20 seconds to get the engine running again. He crossed the line 18 seconds slower than the Belgian. He still secured second place behind Seb, whilst Thierry was third. The battle for the win in the WRC2 category between Jari and Mads went down to the wire, and the Finn in his i20 Rally2 was the victorious driver and with it an overall fifth position as well!
Final Overall Classification – Rally Italia Sardegna
1
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
3:19:26.4
2
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+46.0
3
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:05.2
4
T. Katsuta
D. Barritt
Toyota Yaris WRC
+6:11.2
5
J. Huttunen
M. Lukka
Hyundai i20 R5
+9:31.7
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 R5
+9:39.2
7
Y. Rossel
A. Coria
Citroën C3 R5
+10:37.7
8
P. López
D. Vallejo
Škoda Fabia Evo
+11:03.7
9
J. Solans
R. Sanjuan
Citroën C3 R5
+11:26.3
10
M. Bulacia
M. Ohannesian
Škoda Fabia Evo
+11.34.6
Let’s hear from the drivers then.
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Sébastien Ogier (1st)
“This has been an incredible weekend for us: We could not have expected to come away from Sardinia a result like this. To have one-two for the team, starting first and second on the road, is a fantastic achievement. I’m also very happy that we managed to find a better feeling with the car and react after Portugal, where maybe the speed was not as great as we wanted. Unfortunately, in the Power Stage we had a misfire briefly after a watersplash which was very aggressive, but we still took two bonus points which is good for the championship. If we can keep this rhythm up, we can be confident, but of course it’s never that easy.”
Elfyn Evans (2nd)
“Second place is a great result that we definitely would have taken after our struggles on Friday morning. This morning we didn’t have such a huge gap behind us so it was good to be able to extend that advantage further, and it’s probably just as well given what happened later on in the final stage. We seemed to take in some water and I wasn’t sure it was going to clear, but thankfully it did and it quickly went back to full power after that. It’s a slight disappointment not to take any extra points from the Power Stage because of that, but at the same time I’m relieved to hang on to second place.”
Takamoto Katsuta (4th)
“I am pretty happy with what I have done during this rally. I learned a lot and there were a lot of positives also. On Saturday especially there were so many things happening and I had a lot of moments; I almost went off when we hit a big rock that was right on the line. But we were able to finish the rally and that was the main thing. It was good experience for me and good learning that I can take onto the next event.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 3-6 May, 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä (25th)
“Our aim today was to get as many points as we could from the Power Stage. Our starting position still made it a bit tricky, as there was some cleaning to do with only two World Rally Cars in front of us. So, I had to make my own lines in many places and lost a bit of time with that, but I tried to push a lot and we came away with the third fastest time. Overall, it was a really disappointing weekend from our side, but we just have to move forward. The positive thing is that the feeling in the car is good again after Portugal, and hopefully we can continue like this.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 05 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 3-6 May, 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“There were a few things that came together that didn’t work properly for us this weekend. I’d like to extend my thanks to the team, including everyone in the workshop, because after Portugal they had one-and-a-half days to repair the car; they made everything like new. I am sorry to them that I wasn’t able to deliver a better result, but we bring home a podium at the end of a disappointing weekend for everyone. There are better times to come.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 3-6 June 2021 Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, WRC, Action during Day 3 of Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 Photographer: Romain Thuillier Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Jari Huttunen (5thOverall, 1st WRC2)
“It is an unbelievable feeling to win here in Sardinia after a long break. We have had some issues this weekend and the pace is not really what we wanted, but we’ve made it through and done enough to take the WRC 2 win – my first in the Hyundai i20 R5. It’s been a good rally and a tough battle for the victory with Mads, who had shown to be a bit faster than us this weekend. We have focused on keeping the car on the road and not taking any risks. A great result for us and Hyundai Motorsport N.”
Dani Sordo (17th)
“The only positive at the end of this tough weekend is that we have been able to take some points for the manufacturer’ championship. In some stages, our speed was OK but there’s not much more we can say. We go home a bit disappointed but sometimes rallying is like this.”
Ott Tänak (24th)
“We know what happened on Saturday and it needs no extra explanation. It has not been a happy weekend, for sure, but the Hyundai Motorsport team has done a great job to get me up to this level. The car is really fast, it’s improved a lot, so there is nothing stopping us.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith (7th)
“I think I was pretty happy with my driving this weekend, one or two stages were particularly good, it’s obviously a shame to then have technical issues that prevent that progress coming through in the overall results.
“I think that we can take heart from the reliability that the other two cars have shown this weekend. Clearly mine have been isolated incidents and in review and planning for the next event we will be able to move forward and keep aiming to get in amongst the top five.”
Teemu Suninen (8th)
“We could be happier, obviously, the first day wasn’t very good for us and that was a big shame but we have been able to build a good rhythm through Saturday and Sunday and to learn more about the performance of the Pirelli tyres on gravel.
“It was also a good learning to run first on the road as well, because you can really make up time when you know how to approach the stages with no markers and no line. You always want to take away more than what you learn from an event but on an event like this just reaching the finish can feel like an achievement. “
Adrien Fourmaux (6th, WRC2)
“Our goal is to push in all the stages and to keep the pressure on throughout the rally, and the incident on Friday was a combination of things related to readjusting back from the WRC car to the Rally2 and a little bit my experience. The difference in the aerodynamics on the cars is huge and I learned a big lesson as a result.
“We decided to push a bit more with the setup on Saturday, we tried a few different things to get to the point where I felt comfortable to really push and the result was two stage wins, which I think the team deserved for all their efforts this weekend. “
Citroen Racing
Mads Østberg (2nd WRC2)
“We have to be happy with coming away with a second place after this weekend. This rally was extremely rough. We fought really hard to even get to the end and luckily, we were able to repair the different issues we ran into. We are unlucky not to win the rally but considering the time penalty of one minute, two stages with rear issues and a puncture is not so bad. It has been a hard weekend and I am exhausted. Estonia next is not as rough so I hope we can build on the good pace and speed that we have and have a clean rally.”
Warren’s Thoughts
Well, what a rally with so many talking points! Let’s start first with Toyota. Seb and Julien showed again why they are so fast. Five stage wins throughout the weekend, and the pace that they had on day one won them this event when Ott and Martin’s challenge came to an end. Elsewhere in the team, Elfyn struggled on the soft tyres, but when he went onto the hard tyres, he found his form and took four stage wins. This earnt him his second place and he was able to hold off and gap Thierry as well. Kalle was also fast, and without his technical problems may well have challenged for a podium. Takamoto matched his best result to date, and survived a huge moment with a rock! The Japanese driver is definitely improving, and will continue to improve throughout his first full season.
What can I say about Hyundai? Well, it was a disaster for them. Thierry secured a podium, but was beaten by Elfyn. He could not keep up with the Welshman. For Ott though, it was tough to take a retirement for the second event in a row whilst in a place of absolute domination. Six stage wins, but only took 4 championship points ultimately. Dani came into the event as a two-time winner and held a good second place, plus three stage wins as well. It was a surprise to see him make the mistake that he did, but that is the way motorsport goes sometimes. The Hyundai is clearly very fast, but lacks some inherent strength, particularly in the rear suspension. Kris Meeke said that to give away so many points to their rivals, was not good for their hopes for either world titles. We shall see how things go in the next few events and see if they can close the points gap that has developed.
Finally at M-Sport, their weekend didn’t start well with Teemu beaching the car on his return to the Fiesta WRC. It was a big shame for the Finn who has scored his best result on this event in 2019, and is only competing in the full WRC category occasionally this year. For Gus, it was a case of what might have been. He showed good pace out there, but was let down with mechanical and electrical problems. The young Brit will be hoping that at the next few rounds allow him to score some good results.
2021 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After Round Five
1
S. Ogier
106
2
E. Evans
95
3
T. Neuville
77
4
O. Tänak
49
5
T. Katsuta
48
6
K. Rovanperä
44
7
D. Sordo
30
8
C. Breen
24
9
G. Greensmith
22
10
A. Fourmaux
20
2021 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After Round Five
1
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
231
2
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
182
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
82
4
Hyundai 2C Competition
28
Next round sees the championship return to Kenya for the Safari Rally! Over the final weekend of June from the 24th to 27th! Pop back the week before for the preview for this very special return!
The championship returns to the stunning island of Sardegna less than two weeks after the end of Rally de Portugal. It’s a very quick turnaround for the teams, and pretty unusual for the World Rally Championship.
This event was run very late last year, with Dani Sordo taking victory from Thierry and Seb. Hyundai will hope that they can fight back after a disappointing Rally de Portugal, which saw their three drivers all lead at different points but ultimately only take a second place after troubles for Ott with broken suspension and Thierry who broke his suspension after a crash on Friday. Oliver Solberg was set to make a second start in an i20 WRC but with his dad having caught covid 19, he’s had to withdraw from the rally. A big shame for the youngster.
Of course, Toyota and Elfyn were there to pick up a very good win in Portugal and the team now hold the top two positions in the drivers’ championship and a big lead in the teams’ championship. Will they be able to challenge for victory this time? Not sure on this, given Seb and Elfyn will be first and second on the road, and will not have the cleanest of roads, but they will target the top five. The Welshman finished fourth last year after opening the road on Friday, courtesy of his championship lead at the time.
M-Sport will hope for a good start like last year where they held the top positions early in the rally, and Teemu who returns to a top car finished in second place last year, and will hope for a similar result. Certainly, would be great to see M-Sport’s drivers take a top result on the island. Gus will have another different co-driver in the car, with Stuart Loudon stepping in, as Chris Patterson is not available for this event.
A look at the stages
After a shakedown on Thursday morning in Loiri, the 2021 Rally Italia Sardegna will begin with a ceremonial start in Alghero.
The schedule on Friday consists of two loops of Sa Conchedda (22.29km) and Terranova (14.36km) in the morning, followed by a service point, and then two loops of Tempio Pausania (12.08km) and Tula (14.97km) in the afternoon.
On Saturday, the crews will first complete two passes of Loelle (15.00km) and Monti di Ala’ (22.08km), before twice tackling Viddalba (14.70km) and Castelsardo (13.03km), again with a service point between the morning and afternoon sections.
The final day comprises of two stages, both of which will be run twice: Braniatogghiu (15.25km) and Santa Teresa (7.79km). The second pass of Santa Teresa will be the rally’s Power Stage, offering bonus points to the drivers and manufacturers.
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“I’m sure that Sardinia will be another demanding rally for us, opening the road again like in Portugal. But honestly, I am happy to be leading the championship: I always try to take as many points as I can, and this will be the aim in Sardinia too. The result in Portugal was positive, even though I was not so satisfied with our pace. But it was the first time driving with the new tyres on gravel, and hopefully as we gain a bit more understanding with them, we can see how to extract some more performance already in this next event.”
Elfyn Evans
“Portugal was obviously a great result for us. We made good progress with the car setup and our understanding of the tyres throughout the weekend, but even though it’s quite a tight turnaround, I think we probably all have a few ideas as to how we can improve the package for Sardinia. It’s not going to be an easy weekend given our road position, and that might be more of a disadvantage than it was in October last year if we have warm and dry conditions like expected, but we’re going to give it our best shot as always.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“After Portugal I really hope that we can have a better rally in Sardinia. The stages there are quite demanding and I’m not sure whether suit my style so well, even though I did win there in WRC2 in 2019. Last year it was quite a tricky event for us, but I really want to improve there and show some better pace and I have already been studying the stages quite a lot in preparation. In Portugal I struggled a lot on the first pass when the grip was lower, but we used the Sunday to test some different setups ready for Sardinia and hopefully we can use what we learned there.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Rally Italia Sardegna is a brilliant event at which the whole team has always been very strong. A few of us have won there before, and we’ll be hoping to get back on the top step again. This year will be a bit of a change as we are going back to Olbia, where we have been in the past, but the stages will be more or less the same. It will certainly be a challenging event, but hopefully we can bounce back and deliver a strong team result in some beautiful weather.”
Ott Tänak
“Rally Italia Sardegna is definitely one of the toughest events of the season. The stages can get very rough there with lots of bedrock coming through, so it certainly presents a lot of challenges. Especially with the new tyres this year there will be quite a lot to discover. However, we showed a lot of pace on the gravel in Portugal, so I hope we can take that across to Italy and battle for the win once again.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 8 – 11 October 2020 Dani Sordo Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Dani Sordo
“The last two years competing at Rally Italia Sardegna have delivered really good results for me. On both occasions, I have managed to win the rally, so it is an event that I really like. I feel very comfortable there, plus I will have an advantage with road position on the first day, so I am definitely looking forward to it. It was great to get on the podium at Rally de Portugal, but we will be going to Sardinia to fight for the win.”
Jari Huttunen
“I am very excited to return to the cockpit of the Hyundai i20 R5 at Rally Italia Sardegna. It has been a long break for me, and we only have limited opportunities to prepare for the rally with a one-day test on Monday. I have only competed in this event once before – last year – and I won in WRC 3, so I have very nice memories and high expectations of this year’s entry into WRC 2.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith
“Portugal was just about getting back to where I can be and I’m hoping for more of the same in Sardinia. Although it’s more technical, Sardinia is fairly similar to Portugal in that we’ll start the rally on the set-up I finished Portugal with, which worked well.
“The set-up is a very similar premise to Portugal. We want the car to be driving from the front, we don’t want to be losing time sliding because the stages are so narrow and twisty and technical that the more you are facing forward the faster you are going. We know the car can be fast here from previous years and both Teemu and I can count on good road positions for day one. I’ve not had much luck on this rally so I’m hoping for third time lucky.
“Chris can’t attend for personal reasons but I’ve competed with Stuart before in Germany. We did a few stage-winning times so clearly we’re pretty hand in a car together.”
Teemu Suninen
“I’ve always enjoyed driving in Sardinia. It’s on the rough side of a gravel rally but the car can take the roughness, although you need to manage your tyre wear and that will be a big point. Normally I have had good results in Sardinia. I won’t try the Pirelli tyre until shakedown, which is a challenge, but I will take the challenge and get the maximum out of the weekend.”
“It helps that we start in Sardinia straight after Portugal, but the others will have a one-week advantage over me because I did Portugal in the Rally2 car. They know the whole package and there’s not much I can do about that so I need to make a big difference out of my road position, which will be good for the first day if it stays dry.”
“I’m really excited to be back in the Ford Fiesta WRC. It’s enjoyable to drive and I would say it’s easier going from the Rally2 to the WRC rather than in the other direction. We have the aero and it’s easier to go with the paddleshift. But it’s easier to wear out the tyres because we have 100hp more and you can have too much wheelspin. That can make the rally more difficult but I’m here to learn the tyres and have a clean rally.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“I will discover again the Rally2 Fiesta after two rallies in the World Rally Car. But it’s my third time in Sardinia and I expect to be able to fight with the top drivers in WRC2 and why not fight for the win. I hope with the knowledge of the car that I have from before that I will be able to adapt quite quickly. Even if it’s a different car to the WRC, it’s still four-wheel drive. But the big difference is the speed in the very fast sections.”
“Without all the aero of the World Rally Car it can be a bit less stable but then we have less power so it’s not a problem. We use the paddle to change the gears with the WRC car but in the Rally2 we use the gear stick, so I have to remember to change my habits. I can be very proud of my performances in Croatia and Portugal, where I had to discover everything. Now I have a different job to do, but I am confident I can do it well so I get more chances in the World Rally Car in the future.”
Summary
Well, anyone could take victory on the island from the Hyundai team, and it’s certainly what they will what, given the lead that the Toyota drivers hold over them. I guess the question will be, can the M-Sport team get in the mix and challenge at the front? If all goes well, then I’m sure that they can. In the WRC2 category, there is some really good talent as well, with Mads, Adrien, Nicolay, Andreas and others in the mix. Finally, Chris and Ross continue their WRC3 challenge, and after scoring a very good third place finish in that category, they will be hoping for even better this time out.
