Ollie Jackson won his second race of the season in the third and final race at Snetterton.
Jackson pulled off an amazing first lap move and took the win from Adam Morgan and Colin Turkington profited from Ingram and Butcher colliding on the final corner on the final lap to take third.
Morgan had an incredible start as he flew into the lead. However he wasn’t in front for long as Ollie Jackson pulled off an incredible move around the outside to take the lead. There was slight drama as Josh Cook and Dan Cammish collided, neither seemed to lose out too much. Cook’s Honda suffered significant damage to the left front but was still running.
Lap two saw Sam Osborne retire in dramatic fashion as he went off onto the grass. His Honda Civic hit a dip and his splitter dug in and ripped the front of the car off.
Jackson’s team mate Rory Butcher was trying to take second from Morgan as it all sparked into action on lap five as Sutton dove down the inside of Chris Smiley, he couldn’t make the move stick and it opened the door to Tom Ingram, who snuck up the inside to take fourth.
There was a group of ten cars all fighting close and swapping positions. Turkington profited most from this battle as he managed to get to the front of the pack and take fifth place. Smiley the loser as he was hit by Cammish and spun off.
The trio up front were all racing close and charging hard. Jackson was soaking up plenty of pressure from Morgan while Butcher hung on his coattails.
Ingram caught up to the leading pack, trying to get onto the podium to keep his slim title hopes alive. He went to pass Butcher and looked to have had it done, but Butcher couldn’t stop as he was put onto the grass, and hit Ingram.
Colin Turkington survived a late safety car to take his second win of the day and move into the lead of the championship. Tom Ingram was second with Ash Sutton third.
Jake Hill was swamped at the start and lost places to Sutton, Butcher and Cammish on the start.
Ollie Jackson had an impressive start, making up ten places by the end of lap one to sit 11th.
While Turkington was pulling away as his tyres warmed up, the battle was between the other four title protagonists. Ingram, Butcher, Sutton and Cammish were all bumper to bumper for the majority of the race.
Turkington was pulling away, as he did in race one. Building up a three second lead. However his lead was extinguished as Jack Goff crashed on the exit of turn one and brought out the safety car with just one lap to go.
It was a one lap shootout once the safety car went in. Butcher mistimed his braking and collided with Ingram. This sent the Toyota wide and Sutton managed to sneak up the inside of Butcher. Ingram maintained second with Sutton taking third.
Turkington held on for the win as the others fought behind him. Ingram second with Sutton third and Butcher fourth. Jake Hill gazumped Cammish for fifth with a pass in the final few corners, with Josh Cook and Adam Morgan in seventh and eighth and Ollie Jackson’s remarkable drive rewarded him with ninth place. The top ten was rounded off by Chris Smiley in the Excelr8 Hyundai.
Colin Turkington drew level at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings with a win in the first race at Snetterton.
The Northern Irishman cruised to victory in his BMW while Tom Ingram and Jake Hill rounded off the podium after a terrific tussle between the pair.
Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant was in the wars at the start. A collision between him, Ash Sutton, and Ollie Jackson saw Oliphant and Jackson take to the grass. Olihpant recovered for 14th with Jackson finishing 21st.
The only threat to Turkington’s lead came when Ingram tried to dive down the inside at the hairpin before the backstraight. It didn’t work and Turkington managed to pull away.
Ingram had to contend with the Honda of Hill, who was hot on the heels of the Toyota driver.
The main title protagonists were all at the front of the grid, with Rory Butcher and Dan Cammish eager to keep their title hopes alive. They fought for fourth and fifth.
While Turkington pulled away Ingram and Hill collided on lap six. Hill dove down the inside of Ingram and tipped him into a half spin. Ingram recovered and Hill gave Ingram the place back, fearing a reprimand from the stewards.
Turkington won the race, with Ingram two and a half seconds behind in second. HIll took third with Butcher, Sutton and Cammish all close behind.
Adam Morgan finished an impressive seventh in his Mercedes A Class, with Josh Cook, Senna Proctor and Michael Crees rounding off the top ten.
There were two new drivers this weekend, with four time Clio Cup champion Paul Rivett finishing 19th. He’s deputising for the injured Bobby Thompson in the Audi. Power Maxed Racing’s latest driver was W Series racer and stunt driver Jessica Hawkins. She finished 22nd with 45kg of new driver ballast on her Astra.
Cast your mind back twelve months, plus a bit more to June 2019. Dani and Carlos took a popular win in the service park. Having not competed since Mexico 2020, the Hyundai crew showed their class to take a very good victory in the delayed Rally Italia Sardegna this season. Here’s the story how it happened.
Thursday as ever saw shakedown take place, and there were a few key moments. In the first run through, Kalle set the fastest time in his Yaris, and then promptly put the car on its roof after the flying finish!
Ultimately, Ott was fastest in shakedown, with Elfyn and Seb second and third. The Welshman set the same time as his former Estonian teammate. There was also a Citroen C3 WRC being driven by former Hyundai, Citroen and Volkswagen pilot Andreas Mikkelsen, running on the new Pirelli tyres in shakedown, the new tyre supplier running in shakedown and then also running in the power stage on Sunday, with 2003 world champion Petter Solberg driving and Andreas sitting alongside him on the pace notes.
Friday
With 95km’s over six stages on the first day, this was the start list for day one – Evans, Ogier, Tänak, Rovanperä, Neuville, Lappi, Suninen, Greensmith, Katsuta, Sordo, Loubet.
At the end of the opening test, SS1 Tempio Pausania 1 – 12.08 km the two M-Sport Fiesta’s were at the top of the field, with Teemu winning the stage by 12 seconds from his teammate! We all know what he said in the interview at stage end! Elfyn and Scott, the first car into the stage, were holding fourth overall, 13.4 seconds from the Finn, and last seasons winner Dani was third. Ott didn’t have a good start, losing 14 seconds in the stage. Oliver Solberg deserves a mention, after setting the seventh fastest time in his Fabia R5, quicker than Thierry, and only 16 seconds from the leader!
Dani moved closer to the front in SS2 Erula – Tula 1 – 21.78 km with a time seven seconds faster than Teemu, and now the gap between them was just five seconds. First to finish the stage was Elfyn who reported that it was a bit slipperier than expected, ending up fifth fastest and holding fourth overall at this point. Sadly, we lost Esapekka Lappi after his car overheated. Seb was now in third overall.
Elfyn took his first stage win of the weekend, winning SS3 Tempio Pausania 2 – 12.08 km from Seb and Dani. A good drive from the Welshman, despite being the first car through! Suninen remained in the lead as he and Dani were very closely matched in the stage and the gap just five seconds between the top two.
Into SS4 Erula – Tula 2 – 21.78 km and Dani won the stage, from Thierry, who was nine seconds slower in the stage, but second fastest and Kalle who was third. Dani was now in the lead, having passed Teemu who was 12 seconds slower than the i20 driver and only fifth fastest. It was going very badly for Ott, who was only ninth fastest in the stage and now almost two minutes from the lead.
After the lunchtime break, we had two stages to complete the day. The break gave the Hyundai team the opportunity to find out what the suspension problem was with Ott’s car.
Into SS5 Sedini – Castelsardo 1 – 14.72 km and it was another stage win for Dani, with a fired-up Ott only nine tenths slower and second fastest. Teemu was third in the stage and remained in second overall. Thierry moved past Elfyn in the stage with the Welshman going only eighth in the stage.
SS6 Tergu – Osilo 1 – 12.81 km ended the day and it was another stage win for Dani, with Thierry second fastest. The Belgians pace lifted them ahead of Seb and into third overall. Ott was third fastest in the stage, making it a Hyundai 1-2-3, and this brought the reigning champion up into eighth overall.
Classification after Day One
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:12:40.9
2
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+17.4
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+35.2
4
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+36.0
5
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+51.9
6
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:07.1
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:33.5
8
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:53.7
9
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:32.3
Let’s hear from the drivers
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“I am happy to be back in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC and pleased to return to this rally which has so many special memories from last year. I have been feeling really competitive all day and some of the stages have been really nice. We made a good tyre choice and we are in an encouraging position. It is only the first day, so we have to keep our feet on the ground. We want to continue like this for the rest of the rally; everyone is pushing hard but we’re here to fight.”
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“Honestly speaking I was expecting better from our day. We didn’t have a great start to the rally on this morning loops. We weren’t comfortable with the settings of the car. We did the maximum to improve our times by trying some different things. I was able to push a bit – actually I pushed quite hard in SS4 and that showed as we set the second fastest time. We made the necessary changes to the car for the afternoon and I felt immediately more comfortable. Unfortunately, and bizarrely, we stalled twice today. It never happened to me before, but the second time the car wouldn’t restart. We lost about 12 seconds in all, which is important time in such a close battle. Tomorrow, with the changes we’ve made, I am confident we will have better pace.”
Ott Tänak (8th)
“It has been a demanding day and we’re obviously disappointed. We were getting some suspension issues from the start of the day, and it proved to be something that we could not repair on the road sections with the tools and bits that we had. It is difficult to say what happened exactly, but we could do nothing about it. In the afternoon stages, everything was working fine from our side, just a big amount of cleaning but generally no drama and no surprises. We will try to keep going as we did this afternoon; our position is not great so let’s see. Hopefully the fight is now a bit more straightforward.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“We had a really good morning and I think we proved what we can do. On that first stage I knew it was going to be challenging for everyone and I tried to take as many seconds as I could – which worked out really well. We lost some aero after that which cost us some time, but it was still a good morning.
“Then in the afternoon the tyre choice didn’t really work out for us. We thought it was going to be a bit warmer, but the sun went down just as the last stage started and I wasn’t able to make the most of the hard tyres.
“Still it was a really good day for us, and tomorrow we just have to focus on our own driving and let the others do their own thing. The stages will be a bit faster tomorrow, but the main thing is to do my best – because that’s the way to get the best results.”
Gus Greensmith (6th)
“This has definitely been one of my better drives and I’m pretty happy with the way things have gone. There were a few little mistakes here and there, and I was a bit disappointed with myself on the first stage this afternoon (SS5) as I think we could have really taken a big chunk out of the people around us. But the time wasn’t too bad, and I can definitely see an improvement which was exactly what we wanted from this weekend.”
Esapekka Lappi (DNF)
“Our initial pace was really promising so it’s really disappointing that things had to end the way they did. It was all over pretty quickly to be honest. About 300 metres before I stopped, we got all the warnings on the screen and the steam from the bonnet and we knew then that it was over. We had a good look and couldn’t see any impacts, but there was no water left in the engine and unfortunately we won’t be back out again tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (4th)
“It was a good start this morning. We were all fearing this first stage a little bit, which was very challenging, very narrow and we were happy to make it through with a good time. Overall, the morning loop was good: We were in third and the two cars in front had a big advantage from their start position. The afternoon was more difficult for us like we had expected. We tried what we could but we lost a bit too much time. Tomorrow should be better with a better road position. I’m looking forward to having some better grip hopefully and to try to make some good times.”
Elfyn Evans (5th)
“The morning was quite good for us. The first stage was particularly slippery and I was surprised on the second pass how much grip we had, and we had a good run. There was a bit more loose gravel on the second stage but overall we came through it quite OK and managed to lose not too much time. The afternoon stages had dried quite a lot since the recce and there was a lot more loose than expected and we really suffered a lot. It’s not been an easy day, which we knew would be the case. But tomorrow our road position will be better and hopefully we can look to fight with those around us.”
Kalle Rovanperä (9th)
“This morning we took the wrong tyre choice, with three mediums and two hards. I don’t have the experience here to know how much the tyre will wear, and it was quite tricky to drive with one hard tyre on the car all the time and in the end, we didn’t need them. I was preparing to have a better feeling in the afternoon, with some small changes to the car, but we got a steering-related issue at the start of SS5, so we had to drive slowly through both stages to bring the car back to service. Tomorrow we will have to now open the road so it’s going to be a difficult day.”
Saturday
With 101km’s over six stages in day two, the running order would be key once again, with the leader from day one being the last car through. The running order looked like this – Katsuta, Rovanperä, Tänak, Loubet, Greensmith, Evans, Ogier, Neuville, Suninen, Sordo.
The first stage of the day, SS7 Monte Lerno 1 – 22.08 km features Mickey’s Jump and this year was just 500 metres into the stage. The top three was Seb, Elfyn and Thierry with just 3.6 seconds between them. The two leaders, Dani and Teemu were fourth and fifth fastest, Seb’s pace lifted him up into third overall, and was now just 8.4 seconds behind Teemu.
Dani was back to his best in SS8 Coiluna – Loelle 1 – 15.00 km, winning the stage from Elfyn and Thierry. Unfortunately, Teemu’s run near the front came to an end as he set the sixth fastest time and ultimately dropped two positions into fourth with Seb moving into second and Thierry into third. Ott was also moving up the order, now into seventh.
The rerun of SS9 Monte Lerno 2 – 22.08 km was won by Seb from Thierry and Dani who continued to lead the rally from the Frenchman by a huge 31 seconds. Elfyn was closing on Teemu as well in their battle for fourth overall, the gap now just two seconds between the former teammates.
SS10 Coiluna – Loelle 2 – 15.00 km, and Thierry was fastest from Dani and Elfyn, once again just three seconds covering the top three. Both the Belgian and the Welshman moved up the order, with Thierry moving into second place and Elfyn passing Teemu. The top four cars were Hyundai, Hyundai, Toyota, Toyota. Ott continued to climb up the leaderboard and was now into sixth overall.
Seb won SS11 Sedini – Castelsardo 2 from Thierry and Ott. Elfyn was sixth fastest, and holding onto fourth overall behind Dani, Thierry and Seb. Going well was Oliver again, setting the seventh fastest time in his Skoda Fabia, and he moved ahead of Jari Huttunen into eighth overall.
The final stage of the day SS12 Tergu – Osilo 2 – 12.81 km was won by Seb as well, and this pace lifted him ahead of Thierry who was third in the stage behind the leader who was still Dani Sordo. Elfyn doubled the gap to Teemu, going 4.6 seconds faster then the Finn and securing fourth at the end of day two.
Classification after Day Two
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
2:14:35.5
2
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+27.4
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+28.9
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+58.4
5
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:06.9
6
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:25.3
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+3:37.0
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“We end today in the same way we finished on Friday, feeling very positive and pleased with our performance. We have had to be careful to manage our tyres today, making the right selection for each loop and pushing when we could, while also conserving when needed. At the end of the final stage of the day, our tyres were finished so we had to take it a bit more cautiously. In rally, we know from experience that there is no such thing as a comfortable advantage. We have to maintain this pace and rhythm on Sunday morning if we want to get the job done.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 8 – 11 October 2020 Dani Sordo Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“I was happy with our morning, even if I feel that carrying an extra spare was not the best option. Our target was to get P2 and to try and increase our gap. We ended the loop with a stage win and were ready to resume the fight in the afternoon. There were different tyre strategies at play and the times were really close. I tried very hard but Ogier seemed to have a bit more speed. Unfortunately, we lost 1.5-2-seconds on the bridge in the final stage, when I was late on the brakes. When you’re pushing to the max, these things can happen. We go again tomorrow.”
Ott Tänak (6th)
“Today was a clean day with no drama. More or less everything was working well and we did what we could. I guess we achieved all that was planned, so there was nothing more we could have done ourselves. The feeling with the car was all good. Tomorrow, we can expect more of the same typically Sardinian stages – narrow and twisty. Our first priority is to get to the Power Stage and then try to push. Every point is critical at the moment.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (2nd)
“I feel pretty happy with my day today, winning four stages out of six. Unfortunately, the two other stages were not so good and were a bit costly in terms of time: On the first pass I was not on the limit enough and on the second one I really tried harder but I stalled the engine in a hairpin and lost some seconds. But overall, it’s still a positive day. Tomorrow we’re going to fight for second place and put the pressure on the leader until the end. You never know what can happen on these tricky stages.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“Overall, the morning loop wasn’t bad. For the most part I was driving pretty well. I just gave away too much time in SS9, being a bit too careful and too focused on being smooth and not pushing hard enough. Then in the first stage of the afternoon I tried to push a bit more and ended up going slower, so in the final stage I just kept it clean. Now we need to keep hold of fourth tomorrow, that will be key. It’s not going to be possible to catch the guys in front on pace alone on such short stages, but we have to keep going until the end.”
Kalle Rovanperä (DNF)
“On the second stage of the day, we went a bit wide in the final part of the stage: It was a narrow section where we had some things to avoid on the inside. We hit a tree on the outside and then the impact sent us into a second tree, and the damage was too much for us to restart tomorrow. It was clearly not our weekend, starting already from the shakedown. We had a bit of bad luck also yesterday which was not our fault, but today was my mistake. It’s been a tricky weekend.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“It’s been a challenging day for us. It started okay this morning – we lost a few seconds to the guys at the front but we were on good pace with Elfyn. Then we had some issues with the handbrake and lost a lot of time in the slower sections.
“But we came back again in the afternoon – taking time out of Elfyn on the first stage [SS11] and then losing a bit to him on the second [SS12]. It’s going to be a tight fight tomorrow, and I will give it my best. It’s only two seconds per stage, and we will keep the pressure on.”
Gus Greensmith (29th)
“It was one of the best days of my career yesterday. I was really pleased with the way I was driving and really pleased with the car – everything was working well. It started okay again this morning – maybe my pacenotes were a little bit slow and the second spare wasn’t the best choice, but we seemed to make it work.
“Unfortunately, we then had a low voltage warning on SS9 and as soon as we left the stop line the whole car died – right in the bottom of a dip! So even though we managed to change the alternator belt, we could never get enough momentum to bump start it. After about 45 minutes of trying we had to call it a day, and tomorrow we’ll just focus on continuing the improvements we have made so far.”
Sunday
With 42km’s over four stages, the question was could either Seb or Thierry do anything about Dani? The start list looked like this – Katsuta, Greensmith, Loubet, Tänak, Suninen, Evans, Neuville, Ogier, Sordo.
Seb flew through SS13 Cala Flumini 1 – 14.06 km and with Dani Sordo only fourth fastest behind Thierry and Elfyn, the gap was now just fifteen seconds between the top two. Thierry was right with Seb, just 1.7 seconds between them in their fight over second overall.
The short blast of SS14 Sassari – Argentiera 1 – 6.89 km was taken by Thierry with Dani and Seb second and third fastest. Now the gap between second and third was just one tenth of a second! Dani’s lead was actually increased a little to just over sixteen seconds now. Elfyn was a comfortable fourth both in the stage and overall, as well.
SS15 Cala Flumini 2 – 14.06 km, the penultimate stage was won by Seb, and the gap opened up a little to 1.7 seconds to Thierry in third. What would we see from the Belgian in the final stage? Dani was just bringing the car home for a very good victory, his lead now 9.2 seconds over Seb.
The final stage then, SS16 Sassari – Argentiera 2 [Power Stage] – 6.89 km. The top five fastest were Ott, Thierry, Seb, Elfyn and Dani. Thierry was 2.7 seconds faster than Seb, and passed him for second overall as well. Seb missed out on second position by just one second in the end.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Italia Sardegna
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
2:41:37.5
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+5.1
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+6.1
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:02.3
5
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:33.9
6
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:27.5
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+4:43.8
8
J. Huttunen
M. Lukka
Hyundai i20 R5
+8:41.7
9
K. Kajetanowicz
M. Szczepaniak
Škoda Fabia R5
+10:02.9
10
P. Tidemand
P. Barth
Škoda Fabia R5
+10:20.9
Let’s hear from the drivers
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“This is an amazing result and I am really happy to have taken my second victory for Hyundai Motorsport, at the scene of my first one last year. This place is really special, and we have seen a strong performance across the whole team. I am not particularly pleased with my pace today; we had a big lead coming into Sunday morning, but I wasn’t able to set the same times as Thierry and Ogier, so things were a bit too close by the end of the Power Stage. Still, we were able to get the job done and to help the team move into the lead of the manufacturers’ standings. Mission accomplished. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to send – on behalf of myself and Carlos – our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Laura Salvo. We will always remember her.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 08-11 October 2020 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (2nd)
“I am so happy to finish in second place and to collect four points from the Power Stage. The result moves us to third in the drivers’ standings after a fantastic battle with Sébastien. I really enjoyed it. We did the best we could all weekend after a few issues which lost us some valuable time. Huge congratulations to Dani and Carlos for a beautiful victory, and to the team for this incredible 1-2, which has really helped our position in the manufacturers’ championship.”
Ott Tänak (6th)
“It has been a difficult and disappointing weekend for us. From the suspension problems on Friday, we knew we wouldn’t be able to mount a serious challenge. We still kept pushing and supporting the team as best we could. Aside from the issues on Friday, the car has been OK, but we know we could have done so much more this weekend. We managed to complete the rally on a more positive note with five points in the Power Stage. The team is working really hard, as it has all season long, and they are doing a great job. We haven’t had things go our way, but we’ll push through and surely improvements will come.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (3rd)
“It’s been very intense for more or less the whole weekend. Of course, at the end, third place maybe doesn’t show the performance that we had here, but that’s how it is. We had to be second on the road for a big part of the rally and a lot of time was lost there. After that it was always going to be difficult. But I think we tried our best and I cannot be disappointed with my performance, I gave everything I had and it’s still solid points for the championship. I’m getting more and more settled in the Yaris WRC and the performance is there. I just need to continue with that and I’m confident about the future.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“Today the main objective was to stay ahead of the driver behind and make sure that position was secure. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many points on the Power Stage as I would have liked, but all in all at least we secured the result and came away with solid points at the end of the weekend. Of course, you always want more than fourth place but we knew coming here starting first on the road was going to be tough, and we were almost out of the fight for the podium by the end of the first day. We continued to push but the times were close and, in the end, I think fourth was realistically the most we could achieve. Going onto asphalt, being first on the road should normally be an advantage and we’ll be hoping that will be the case.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“We started this rally really strongly and had great speed in the slower sections – proving that we can be competitive when the conditions are right. But we also had some small issues and were struggling a bit in the faster sections – meaning that fifth was the best we could do this weekend. Still there are a lot of positives that we can take away, and we’ll focus now on the Tarmac rallies where the Fiesta has always been strong.”
Gus Greensmith (25th)
“I think we made some really good steps forward this weekend, and a lot of that was due to the time I spent at M-Sport before the rally. Going through all of the data with my engineer we were able to find a lot of ways to improve and also tried something new with the set-up which gave me a lot more confidence. For me it was definitely one of my better performances. It was pretty disappointing about some of the issues we had, but that’s rallying and we’ve shown that we can fight a lot closer to the top.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round six
1
E. Evans
111
2
S. Ogier
97
3
T. Neuville
87
4
O. Tänak
83
5
K. Rovanperä
70
6
T. Suninen
44
7
E. Lappi
38
8
D. Sordo
26
9
C. Breen
25
10
S.Loeb
24
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round six
1
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
208
2
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
201
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
117
4
Hyundai 2C Competition
8
Warren’s Thoughts
At Hyundai it was a good drive by Dani Sordo. Five stage wins gave him the lead, and he was able to keep his pace high enough so that when others hit the pace that they needed to challenge, he had enough in reserve to hold on the lead and therefore take the victory. Unfortunately, the issue with the subframe being underweight by 24kg’s has slightly taken the shine off the result. The significant fine that the team picked up because of this will set some minds at rest, but others may think more should have been done. Ott Tänak was really held back with his woes on Friday, but once the problems were resolved, he was on the pace. Sadly, it makes it even harder for him to retain his title. Thierry kept his title hopes alive with a strong drive, and nearly took the win from his teammate. He is now Hyundai’s best hope for the driver’s championship.
At Toyota the championship leader, Elfyn Evans did what he could given that he was opening the road on Friday, including a stage win and finished in fourth. His teammate, Seb, did what he could to finish higher up, but third overall could have been second, and a smaller gap to close come the end of the year. Kalle showed well, but retirement beckoned for the young Finn.
Finally, at M-Sport they started really well, holding a 1-2 after the first stage, with Teemu ‘Sending It’! As the rally went on throughout Saturday, the pace was too much for the Finn to hold the faster cars behind and ultimately ended the event in fifth. We didn’t get to see what Esapekka could do, after his engine overheated and he retired. Gus Greensmith went well, setting eleven top ten times. Reliability cost him a decent result, but we shall see what he and Elliot his co-driver can do in the last couple of events.
One more thing to mention is that Petter Solberg and Andreas Mikkelsen teamed up in a Citroen C3 WRC running on next year’s Pirelli tyres, with the younger Norwegian on the stage notes as they completed the final stage. We don’t know what time they set, but nevertheless it is a significant moment for the tyre manufacturer.
Petter Solberg (NOR) and Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) of team Citroen C3 WRC. Photo credit Red Bull Content Pool
Looking ahead, we now have two events left to complete this season. Ypres in Belgium at the beginning of November, and now in December, Rally Monza. This event was announced on Friday afternoon!
Tom Ingram boosted his title credentials with a win in round 21 of the British Touring Car Championship at Croft. He held off Honda’s Dan Cammish as title contender Colin Turkington had another nightmare race.
Dubbed the ‘King of Croft’, Turkington’s retirement in race two was compounded with a driveshaft issue on lap one. He pitted and rejoined five laps down on the leaders. Scoring no points and falling to third in the title race.
Ingram rocketed from third on the grid past Cammish at turn one, and past Tom Chilton by the end of lap one. Stephen Jelley had a spin in his BMW 125i at turn two.
On lap three the safety car was out as Bobby Thompson’s impressive weekend ended in a horror smash as he got put onto the grass and his car dug in and rolled over multiple times. Thankfully he was unhurt.
On the restart Cammish was fighting Chilton, with both Honda Civic FK8’s struggling with brake temperature issues. The discs were glowing as they were pushing hard. Cammish finally got past him on lap 13 and set about hounding down Ingram.
Ash Sutton, who started 20th after suffering a puncture in race two, was up to sixth, with Tom Oliphant in his way. He got past him and was fighting Matt Neal for fourth.
Cammish was on the tail of Ingram coming into the final lap. Ingram did all he could to keep the Honda behind and held on to take the win. Cammish finished three tenths behind. Chilton rounded off the podium with Neal and Sutton having a drag race over the line. Neal took fourth by 17 thousandths of a second.
Ash Sutton has the championship lead by seven points from Cammish with Turkington in third as the title race hots up going into the final six races of the season at Snetterton and Brands Hatch.
Josh Cook took his second win of the weekend as Matt Neal was given a 0.7 second penalty for hitting Cook on the final lap.
Cook had led all race but Neal had more pace, and his move three corners from the end was judged to have been gaining an advantage by the stewards, and so the places were reversed.
Meanwhile the two title contenders had a race to forget. Colin Turkington locked up at the start going into turn one and put it in the wall. Ash Sutton had a golden chance to capitalize but made a rash move on Jake Hill on lap seven and suffered a puncture, finishing 20th and out the points.
Hill was holding Sutton off, and the Infiniti driver dove down the inside at the final hairpin. Sutton made contact and punctured his tyre, but he’d gone past the pits before realising his tyre had punctured.
With the two title protagonists stricken, Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish both picked up good points to close the gap.
Towards the end of the race Neal had bags of pace. He passed Hill into second and was soon on the back of Cook. He closed the three second gap in a matter of laps and by the end of lap 14 he was on the back of his fellow Honda Civic driver.
On lap 16, Cook was holding Neal off, with an extra 60kg of ballast on his car, but Neal dove down the inside into the final section of the lap. He tapped Cook on the inside and nearly tipped him into a spin. He passed Cook and finished first on the road but the stewards swapped the positions.
Pos
Driver
Car
Interval
1
Josh Cook
Honda CIvic Type R FK8
2
Matt Neal
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+0.700*
3
Jake Hill
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+1.164
4
Tom Ingram
Toyota Corolla
+1.616
5
Dan Cammish
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+5.202
6
Tom Chilton
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+8.693
7
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
+8.875
8
Bobby Thompson
Audi S3 Saloon
+9.489
9
Senna Proctor
Hyundai i30N
+14.573
10
Stephen Jelley
BMW 125i M Sport
+15.473
11
Aiden Moffat
Infiniti Q50
+17.396
12
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
+19.052
13
Adam Morgan
Mercedes Benz A Class
+22.835
14
Sam Osborne
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+22.976
15
Mike Bushell
VW CC
+23.269
16
Andy Neate
Ford Focus ST
+27.980
17
Jack Butel
Mercedes Benz A Class
+28.900
18
Jack Goff
VW CC
+31.145
19
Rory Butcher
Ford Focus ST
+46.635
20
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
+1 Lap
21
Michael Crees
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+4 Laps
Retirements
DNF
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus ST
Crash
DNF
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
Crash
DNS
Carl Boardley
BMW 125i M Sport
DNS
Nicolas Hamilton
VW CC
*Matt Neal received a 0.7 second penalty for causing a collision.
Josh Cook took his second win of the season at Croft in the British Touring Car Championship with Jake Hill second and title contender Colin Turkington third.
Power Maxed Racing’s entry Jac Constable was set to make his first ever BTCC appearance but had to pull out before the race as he felt unwell.
Cook led from lights to flag despite pressure from Hill. Ash Sutton recovered from a first lap spin to finish fifth. He was promoted to fourth as Butcher received a penalty for the spin.
Coming into the final complex, Sutton was tapped by Rory Butcher and spun, falling to 11th. Hill got close to Cook on the end of lap one, but didn’t get another chance to take the lead.
Bobby Thompson, who qualified an impressive fifth, had some slight damage concerns as his wheel was rubbing on some bodywork, but it fixed itself and he powered on.
Tom Ingram and Senna Proctor were both disqualified from qualifying yesterday for ride height issues, and both started to fly through the field. Ingram fought back to 13th with Proctor finishing 18th.
Sutton’s favoured move throughout the race was to dummy into the final hairpin and dive down the inside. He did it to three drivers before finding veteran Tom Chilton a little harder to pass. He finally did it on lap 13 and finished fifth.
Jack Butel retired from the race for his first DNF of his BTCC career. Nic Hamilton and Sam Osborne also failed to finish.
Cook took the win but as is a common theme this season Sutton takes the plaudits for his surge through the field. Sutton and Turkington are now tied at the top of the standings.
Pos
Driver
Car
Interval
1
Josh Cook
Honda Civic Type R FK8
2
Jake Hill
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+0.653
3
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
+3.573
4
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
+10.348
5
Rory Butcher
Ford Focus ST
+10.592*
6
Tom Chilton
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+13.245
7
Matt Neal
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+13.436
8
Bobby Thompson
Audi S3 Saloon
+16.909
9
Adam Morgan
Mercedes Benz A Class
+17.248
10
Dan Cammish
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+17.663
11
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
+17.890
12
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
+21.148
13
Tom Ingram
Toyota Corolla
+21.553
14
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus ST
+23.441
15
Stephen Jelley
BMW 125i M Sport
+23.748
16
Aiden Moffat
Infiniti Q50
+25.347
17
Jack Goff
VW CC
+27.187
18
Senna Proctor
Hyundai i30N
+27.663
19
Mike Bushell
VW CC
+28.220
20
Carl Boardley
BMW 125i M Sport
+40.219
21
Andy Neate
Ford Focus ST
+55.454
22
Michael Crees
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+1 Lap
Retirements
DNF
Jack Butel
Mercedes Benz A Class
Crash
DNF
Nicolas Hamilton
VW CC
Mechanical
DNF
Sam Osborne
Honda Civic Type R FK2
Mechanical
*Rory Butcher received 2 second penalty for causing a collision.
We come to this event much later in the year than normal. It will be interesting what the weather does, as it is normally a dry and hot rally. As I write this, the weather reports suggest that there will be rain at the start of the week, but that it will warm up and the rain will stop.
Of course, as championship leaders, Elfyn Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin will be opening the road on Friday. The last time they did that in Mexico, they finished in fourth place. What kind of a result will they be able to get in this rally? They hold an 18-point lead over their teammates and former champions.
Seb and Julien, and will be working hard to get a good result for their championship challenge. The former champions will want a strong result, and at least a podium finish to set up a title decider in the Ypres Rally. I suspect they will target winning on the island of Sardinia.
Third on the road, Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja lie 27 points from the championship leader. The Hyundai team know how to win here, with Thierry taking victories in 2016 and 2018. The Estonians hopes of getting a top result and successfully defending their world title, make this event very important. They have to outscore both former teammates, and ideally win.
Dani Sordo and Carlos del Barrio and, who won this event last year will start for Hyundai as well, their first competitive start in the car since Rally Mexico.
2019 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Italia Sardegna 13 – 16 June 2019 Dani Sordo Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
At Toyota, Kalle Rovanpera, who has just turned 20 will have much to learn about getting to grips with this event, but will have the best teammates alongside him. He also competed last year in a Skoda Fabia R5, and finished in ninth place. This season he has taken some very good results in this first season at the top, sitting fourth in the championship.
At M-Sport, Teemu is the only driver to have stood on the podium this season, taking third in Mexico and took second place last year in this event behind Dani. It gives all three drivers hope that they can secure a good result in this event, and to finish the season strongly.
Petter Solberg and Andreas Mikkelsen will be driving the final stage of the rally in a Citroen C3 WRC on Pirelli tyres. The Norwegian pairing have been helping Pirelli test their tyres, in their preparations for next season when they become the tyre supplier for the championship.
Here’s the stage information for you. Sixteen stages and 238km of action in total.
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“Sardinia is a rally that I like, but we’re going to be competing there at a different time of the year compared to usual, so the challenge might not be the same as what we are used to. For this reason, the test that we did there last week was important preparation. At this time of year, the weather can be more uncertain than normal, and on an island like Sardinia it can change very quickly anyway. In the test we had some heavy rain showers and the conditions on the stage changed completely in just a few minutes. Everything is still open in the championship, so we have to keep doing our best and target the maximum points in Sardinia.”
Elfyn Evans
“Whenever you finish one rally on a high like we did in Turkey then it’s always a good boost for the following round. Leading the championship is certainly a good position to be in, even though it does come with an added challenge in that we will need to sweep the road in Sardinia. It is how it is but it’s not going to make it an easy event for us – providing it stays dry, of course. Going to Sardinia in October could change the weather forecasts somewhat. It might make it a little bit less demanding for the tyres, but we will still have some difficult choices: We face some loops of stages where we have to choose the tyres for the first and second passes of stages without returning to service, so it’s still going be a big challenge.”
FIA World Rally Championship 2019 / Round 08 / Rally dÕItalia Sardegna / 13-16 June, 2019 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Kalle Rovanperä
“In my pre-event test for Sardinia I had a good feeling straight away in the car, and it got even better once we made some changes, so I’m happy going into the rally. In Sardinia there’s usually a lot of road cleaning on the first pass, so it will be important to have good grip there. It can also be quite rough in some places and on the second pass there will be big ruts, so you need to have a good setup to deal with that also. It seems we can expect to have some rain showers and that they can be quite local – so it will only be wet in some parts of the stages. The information from our weather crews is going to be really important to know if there will be rain or not and what tyres we need to take, especially as I’ve heard that the stages can be really slippery when it rains.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“There are nice beautiful roads at Rally Italia Sardegna, with flowing, narrow stages. The natural characteristic of the stages suits my pace notes system and my driving style. It’s a rally where we have always demonstrated good speed, and we’ve also won there twice in the past. The weather could be different to what we’re used to during the usual summer slot, so that could be challenging on that side, particularly if it rains. Most of the stages are well known to us from previous years, so we are looking forward to the event.”
Ott Tänak
“Rally Italia Sardegna is normally a hot and tough event; this year the rally is taking place a bit later in the season so we might face some difficult weather conditions. Wet weather can change the full concept of the rally, so we have to expect a range of situations. The stages are made up of high grip roads typically, which can be tough on the tyres, so tyre management is generally important. We hope to show the performance of the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC on this different type of gravel roads and be in the fight for victory.”
Dani Sordo
“This is a very special rally for me, with some incredible memories from last year’s event. I will never forget the feeling of taking that victory with Hyundai Motorsport and I hope we can repeat it this year! The stages are normally quite slippery on the first pass because there is a lot of loose gravel on the surface; this can benefit those crews starting further back on the order. The second pass is much more aggressive on the tyres, offering greater grip levels. I tested the car recently and had a good feeling, so the objective is victory.”
2019 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08 Rally Italia Sardegna 13 – 16 June 2019 Day 3, Podium, Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Anders Jaeger, Photographer: Fabien Dufour Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
M-Sport WRT
Esapekka Lappi
“We’re heading to Sardinia a bit later than usual so things could be a little different this year. The temperatures might not be as high, and the weather could be a bit more unpredictable. This has never been an event where you can push flat-out all the time, and that could be even truer this year. We’ll have to complete two loops of stages without service so there’ll be a compromise to consider when deciding set-ups and tyre strategies that will work over both passes. It’s going to be a challenging weekend, but we’re determined to produce a good result and I think this is an event where we have a good chance of doing that.”
Teemu Suninen
“I’ve always performed well in Sardinia and it’s an event I look forward to every year. It’s the first event I did with Jarmo, and where I secured my best ever result last year. Of course, we’ll be competing in the autumn this time which will make things a bit different, but I hope we’ll be able to show the same good pace. As always in Sardinia, we’ll need to be really focused and careful to mark every stone on the recce. We’ll also have to think carefully about the set-up and strategy as we’ll have to drive two loops without service – meaning that myself and Jarmo will have to make any changes remotely with what we carry in the car.”
Teemu Suninen and Jarmo Lehtinen took three stage victories last year on their way to second overall. Photo credit M-Sport WRT
Gus Greensmith
“I’ve only competed in Sardinia once before, but I really like the island and the stages. They’re not quite as rough as those in Turkey, but they’re certainly not smooth and we will need to deliver another good performance if we want to secure another good result this week. That’s our aim and I see no reason why we can’t achieve it. We know from Teemu’s performance last year that the car is suited to Sardinia’s stages, and I also feel as though I am developing better consistency every time I get behind the wheel.”
Summary
We are really set for an incredible finish to the end of the championship. There are only three crews who can realistically win the title, two at Toyota and one at Hyundai. Kalle at Toyota and Thierry at Hyundai still have a mathematical chance, but it’s unlikely to be their year.
In terms of who will be fighting for victory, I think that Seb and Ott will fight it out for victory, with either Thierry, Dani or Teemu getting the final podium position. Ott will hope that Thierry or Dani can finish ahead of Seb and Elfyn, taking points away from his championship rivals, as he bids to win his second title. Elfyn will want to get a good result, as he bids for his first world championship title.
In the manufacturers’ battle, Toyota lead the way, but Hyundai who are the reigning champions will want to score well. With three winners at Hyundai, they have a good chance of doing just that.
Ollie Jackson took his maiden BTCC win in a shortened race three at Silverstone following a horror smash from Jackson’s team mate Rory Butcher.
The Ford Focus crashed on lap six of the original race and brought out the red flag. Jackson held his nerve despite pressure from Tom Oliphant and a resurgent Ash Sutton to take the win.
Jackson took the lead into Copse. Butcher had the best start and flew up to ninth by the end of lap one.
Andy Neate and Jade Edwards continued their on track scrap as Neate didn’t give Edwards enough room. Neate was put into the wall as Edwards drove away.
Tom Ingram also went off as he was squeezed at Luffield and span off.
On lap six the red flag was brought out as Butcher was spun and hit the wall in a massive shunt. His car was destroyed and thankfully Rory was okay and walked away.
On the restart Jackson led again, with Oliphant fighting hard, with the pair colliding into Brooklands, but thankfully no damage was done.
Sutton was flying, starting 14th on the restarted grid, he was up into sixth by lap six, fighting the top five in what was a frenetic race.
Oliphant made a move into Copse and briefly held the lead but Jackson maintained his composure and took it back again.
Senna Proctor had another solid race, and made an impressive triple pass into Becketts. He passed former team mates Tom Chilton and Josh Cook, as well as Aiden Moffat.
On the penultimate lap Sutton was on the tail of Jackson and Oliphant. He managed to pass the BMW but Jackson was just beyond his reach.
But Sutton now leads the championship again as the teams leave Silverstone. Another three brilliant races, and the championship battle is wide open.
Colin Turkington profited from the misfortune of others to take the win in the second race at Silverstone to retake the British Touring Car Championship lead.
Punctures to title rivals Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton late in the race saw Turkington take the win and open up a six point lead at the top.
Race one winner Dan Cammish was fastest off the line but lost the lead to Ingram at Luffield. Sutton passed Turkington at Copse but fell down the order after a small collision with Rory Butcher, who spun to the back of the grid.
Sutton was tenth and seemed to be struggling, but his Infiniti team mate Aiden Moffat was storming through the field in his 200th BTCC race. He was stuck behind Sutton but finally made a move.
The top three of Ingram, Turkington and Cammish were all close, fighting hard for the win. Turkington’s team mate Tom Oliphant retired from race one with a suspension issue, but he made up for it by flying through the field to finish ninth.
On lap 17 Sutton suffered a puncture, ruining his race and putting him at the back for race three. Ingram then suffered a puncture a lap later, with Turkington the big winner, inheriting the lead and seeing his two title rivals fall to the back of the grid.
He guided his BMW home to take the win and his 150th BTCC podium, with Cammish and Adam Morgan rounding off the podium.
Matt Neal was fourth, with Moffat’s storming drive being rewarded with fifth. Josh Cook, Jake Hill and Ollie Jackson all had strong finishes, with Tom Oliphant going from 25th to ninth at the chequered flag, with Hyundai’s Senna Proctor rounding out the top ten.
Let’s hear from the drivers!
