We move onto the fifth round of this year’s championship and the second all tarmac round in a row. Incredibly, Takamoto and Aaron took their second victory last time out and with their teammates, Elfyn and Scott, Oliver and Elliott both not taking big points in Croatia the crew in the number eighteen Yaris took the championship lead. They lead Elfyn and Scott by seven points with Oliver and Elliott a further thirteen points back.

 

Of course, as championship leaders for the first time Takamoto and Aaron will get to open the road for the first time on the first day of stages. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at the stages which make up this season’s round.

 

The action starts on Thursday morning with shakedown before a short evening stage. Friday will see the crews tackle just over 100 kilometres over seven stages, then Saturday has 112 kilometres over six stages and then the final day has just under 80 kilometres over four stages.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

“I enjoyed Rally Islas Canarias a lot last year and I’m really looking forward to being back. It’s very different to Croatia but it’s very nice to drive. At the same time, there is absolutely no room for error because everybody is driving absolutely on the limit, so a small mistake can cost you a lot, even if it’s only a few tenths or one second. It will be nice to be the first car on the road on Friday, even though it’s less of an advantage there because there is not much cutting, and the roads stay quite clean. I will try my best and maybe get some tips from my friend Kalle Rovanperä, who was very fast there last year.”

Elfyn Evans

“Even though the surface is similar, Rally Islas Canarias is a very different rally from Croatia. In Croatia, the roads were really polluted with gravel and dirt, whereas in the Canaries the stages are very clean and smooth, so the grip level is much higher. It’s the most racing-like rally that we have in the calendar and that requires something more like a racing car in terms of setup, running low and stiff. That makes it hard to carry much in the way of learning forward from Croatia, but we did have a test on Spanish roads this week to try and prepare as well as we can, and we’ll be aiming as high as we can for the rally.”

Oliver Solberg

“Rally Islas Canarias is a beautiful rally with great roads and an amazing atmosphere. This will be my first time doing it with a Rally1 car, but I’m really looking forward to it. Even if we didn’t get the overall result we should have done in Croatia, we had a fantastic feeling in the car and the speed was really good on the cleaner stages on the final day. We were also able to get more experience and feeling with the hard tyre, which will be the first choice for the hot and abrasive conditions in the Canaries. We know that we have the speed and performance, so I have a really good feeling going into this event.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m really looking forward to Rally Islas Canarias: it’s one of my favourite rallies. The character is totally different to Croatia, which is somewhere I would not have expected to do so well. Still, we managed to lead a lot of the rally and finish second there. On paper, I think the Canaries can suit us even better. I enjoyed the rally already last year: we had some good pace and, more generally, I think my performance on asphalt has been stronger when the roads are cleaner, even in Croatia. We have a lot of positives to take forward into the Canaries and I hope we can have an even better rally.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It was fun to do Rally Islas Canarias for the first-time last year and I’m looking forward to going back. It’s nice to have some circuit-style stages back on the calendar and reminds me a bit of the roads we used to drive in Catalunya. The road conditions remain pretty consistent and offer a more level playing field for everyone. You need to have a fast car which gives you confidence to drive on the limit, and we could work on that in our test on Spanish roads this week, which was a good chance to get back in the rhythm after a short break. Hopefully we can be in the fight for victory and go one better than our second-place last year.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

“I did Rally Islas Canarias for the first-time last year and it was a really nice, pure asphalt rally. Even though we didn’t finish, we gathered good experience of the stages, and our times were improving during the rally. This will be the first rally in which we are registered to score WRC2 points, so we want to aim to have a strong result. We gained a lot of helpful knowledge in Croatia, especially on the cleaner stages on the final day, and I think Canaries can be a really good event for us.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

Rally Islas Canarias will be very different from the tarmac rallies we have had so far this year. We don’t expect any dirt on the road – it will be very clean, very high grip – and that means it will demand a big push in terms of both car and driver performance. Every second will be difficult to optimise, and the pacenotes will be a major challenge too; we really need to be perfect to get the maximum out of the car. The weather is another factor that can make this rally quite tricky. Being close to the sea can offer nice weather conditions, but up in the mountains the rain can roll in and bring heavy fog with it. That can make it feel like a completely different rally depending on whether you are at sea level or in the mountains. Our focus will be on optimising everything to deliver the best possible result.

Thierry Neuville

Rally Islas Canarias is probably the most straightforward tarmac event of the season in terms of road conditions – it’s the cleanest event, with the highest grip conditions of any tarmac rally we do. The roads have a very circuit-like character set in the middle of a beautiful landscape, but they are very demanding and technical when it comes to pace notes. That is one of the main challenges here: making good pace notes that you can trust, because the corners are so long. We have worked hard on the car, trying to make it more precise while also improving the balance. We don’t know yet what we will be able to achieve in terms of results, but if everyone gives their absolute best and we bring the car home, we can be satisfied. Of course we want to deliver a strong result for the team after last weekend, and we will push hard to make everyone proud again.

Dani Sordo

I am really excited to be back in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car and especially looking forward to being in Canarias. My target is to have a good setup and fight for the victory or a podium — when I start a rally I always aim for the win, and being in Spain on tarmac makes that feel very achievable. I think we found a good setup and balance with the car at Rallye La Llana, and it was great to work in the Rally1 car with Cándido again. I think we are in a good place heading into the rally, and there is no substitute for the feeling you get in a Rally1 car. I don’t remember a great deal about Canarias, but it was a legendary rally from the Spanish Championship. I do remember is that finding a good feeling was difficult, because the island is quite complicated; you can have rain on one stage and completely dry conditions on the next.

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Rally Islas Canarias is another great opportunity for us to keep building our Tarmac pace. It’s a very high-grip, fast and flowing rally, so it’s all about commitment and precision. We’ve made some solid steps recently, and the focus is on continuing that progress – getting comfortable early and putting together a clean, consistent weekend.”

Jon Armstrong

“I’m really looking forward to the Canaries – I’ve been there a few times with ERC and it’s always a big challenge. The roads are a lot more like a racetrack, and the traffic during recce can be quite hectic with all the tourism in the area, so just keeping everything in line is a challenge in itself. Managing tyre and brake temperatures will be crucial. We had a good Sunday session in Croatia where we tried some things with the set-up, and we’re looking forward to putting that into practice here – hopefully we can keep fighting up with the Hyundais and fight for a top-five result.”

Romet Jürgenson

“The Canaries is a naturally very enjoyable event, but to be fast there you need the car in a very good set-up window – otherwise you’re going to be well off the pace. The driving also needs to be smooth; you have to think about saving the tyres on the longer stages and keeping temperatures in check, so there are a lot of extra factors to consider. Last year our speed wasn’t where we wanted it to be – we’ve generally struggled a little more on these wide, smooth Tarmac roads – so the aim this year is to close that gap, follow the faster drivers, and get a lot closer to the top. That’s important for the future.”

Summary

Who could win this weekend? Well, it’s hard to see past the crews in the Toyota’s to be honest. Having said that it would make the championship really interesting if the crews from Hyundai or even M-Sport could take victory or stand on the podium this weekend.

 

Let’s see what happens!