The third and final day of Rally Italia Sardegna has come to a close. Ott Tänak took home the event win barely beating out Ogier.

SS13, Cala Flumini 1

Thierry Neuville kicked off the final day with a stage win. As the Belgian set a time 4.6 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to top the stage and take an early lead in the Sunday standings. Elfyn Evans was third fastest on the stage, 6.1 seconds slower than Neuville and 1.5 seconds slower than Tänak. Sebastien Ogier finished fourth fastest on the stage, 2.5 seconds slower than Evans. Dani Sordo rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 5.6 seconds slower than Ogier. No drivers reported any issues on the stage.

SS14, Sassari-Argentiera 1

Thierry Neuville also took home the stage win on the fourteenth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. With a time 0.8 seconds faster than Ott Tänak. Takamoto Katsuta finished third fastest on the stage, 2.6 seconds slower than Neuville and 1.8 seconds slower than Tänak. Dani Sordo set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 1.8 seconds slower than Katsuta. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.1 seconds slower than Sordo.

SS14, Cala Flumini 2

Ott Tänak took home the stage win on the events penultimate stage. As the Estonian set a time 0.4 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to win the stage. Elfyn Evans finished third fastest on the stage, 2.3 seconds slower than Tänak, and 1.9 seconds slower than Ogier. Thierry Neuville was fourth fastest on the stage, 2.9 seconds slower than Evans. Dani Sordo rounded out the top five times on the stage, finishing 4.3 seconds slower than Neuville.

SS16, Sassari-Argentiera 2

Thierry Neuville took home the final stage win of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. With a time 2.3 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to top the Powerstage and Sunday standings. Elfyn Evans was third fastest on the stage, 6.4 seconds slower than Neuville and 4.1 seconds slower than Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux tied for fourth fastest on the stage, with both finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Evans.

Championship Rundown

Thierry Neuville still holds onto the championship lead after a less-than-desirable Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 for the Belgian. Neuville managed to take home 12 points from the event. Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans sit tied for second overall. With both sitting just 18 points behind Neuville. Sébastien Ogier moves up to fourth in the championship, 12 points behind Tänak and Evans. Adrien Fourmaux drops to fifth and rounds out the top five in the championship sitting 18 points behind Ogier.

Team Quotes

Hyundai Shell Mobis

Cyril Abiteboul – Team Principal

“It is obviously a very emotional finish here today. It looked like the win would once again escape from our grasp after Ott wisely decided to play it safe yesterday. However, today’s result showed that you can also combine a smart approach to a rally with strong skills and the right momentum at the perfect time, resulting in a great win. It is a fantastic moment for him in his return to the team. This is a strong step in the championship, and an excellent team result with Dani on the podium. He did exactly what we expected of him for the team this weekend and it’s great to see them both from on that podium, underscoring our competitiveness. Finally, Thierry has once again demonstrated his very commanding speed in any road position, including today when the motivation level was very high to make up for the loss and disappointment of yesterday. Obviously, we need to make sure that mistakes are as limited as possible as we expect this championship to continue to be incredibly competitive until the very end. There is even more to celebrate today, with our cars locking out the TCR class podium at the Nürburgring 24 Hours – we send our congratulations to our colleagues there for a phenomenal result.”

Ott Tänak – 1st Overall

“I’m feeling so many emotions right now. I’m very sorry for Seb to lose a win like this, it is cruel. I have been in the exactly the same position having a ‘safe’ victory taken away from me a couple of years ago. It’s been a tough weekend but it is great to finish with such a strong result. Let’s see what the next rallies will bring; we’re moving into the second half of the season and we’re definitely in the game. Now we have some fast rallies which I normally looking forward to, but I was supposed to enjoy yesterday afternoon as well but it was just not going to plan. Hopefully, we can find a good feeling in the car in our next events.”

Dani Sordo – 3rd Overall

“It wasn’t the easiest of days; Elfyn was having a good run and making good progress, so he was pushing us to the very end. In the final stage, I just tried to survive, it was completely destroyed and very hard on the car. We finish on the podium, which makes me very happy. It has been a joy to be back in the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid for these two events, which I enjoy so much, and I am pleased to be able to bring home a great result for the team. It was important for us to have a good finish and help the team in such a close battle for the manufacturers’ championship.”

Thierry Neuville – 41st Overall [SR]

“We did the job we needed to do today, but we are obviously frustrated with what happened yesterday. We were clearly managing the conditions, the speed was good and we felt comfortable – and fast. I just lost focus for a fraction of a second, and there was no way to continue. I’m not very proud of the weekend as a whole but I take pride in our performance on Friday and today, as well as in the team for a great result today. Now we turn to Poland, where I have won before – we have shown great improvements last year in Estonia and Finland, so I am looking forward to it.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Akio Toyoda – TGR-WRT Chairman

“The surface in Sardinia is very demanding, and it always gives challenges to our team and cars. TGR has won Sardinia only once so far when Seb got the victory in 2021. Seb and Vincent were doing really well on this harsh and demanding event, but they missed out at the very last moment on the Power Stage. The gap of 0.2 seconds is so small and disappointing, but this is sport. Our team all hate to lose. We will turn this frustration into strength and aim for the next victory.

P.S. to Ott

I was on-site in Rally Sardinia 2019 and following your performance. You made up for the disappointment of that Power Stage this time. Congratulations!”

Jari-Matti Latvala – Team Principal

“We are of course very disappointed to miss out on the victory in this way. This final stage in Sardinia has been very dramatic in the past and unfortunately, it’s not the first time that we have experienced late drama here, because it reminds us of what happened back in 2019 when we were leading with Ott until the last stage. This event has not always been kind to us, but it was looking very good for Seb and we thought we could take another victory together here. The only positive is that it didn’t affect the points so much for us. A moment like this can be difficult to digest, and we hate to lose, but we also never lose our fighting spirit and we will come back to fight again on the next event in Poland.”

Sébastien Ogier – 2nd Overall

“We knew it could be tough today with some stages that are very rough and maybe not the most suited to us. Still, I think we were doing a good enough job to secure the win, but unfortunately, we started to lose tyre pressure three kilometres from the end. The conditions were very extreme in this Power Stage, even worse than we have seen there before, and I don’t think there was much that I could have done differently. It’s something that’s never easy to take, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really change anything in terms of the overall points for the team. I think I can still be happy with the weekend I’ve done, and sometimes motorsport just doesn’t go your way. We will come back and try to keep up this level of performance we’ve had.”

Elfyn Evans – 4th Overall

“It’s been a very difficult weekend for us but today was a bit better. I would say the feeling was definitely improved and I think the times and the points that we got from the day showed that. Still, it’s clear looking at the weekend overall that we still have a lot of work to do to improve in rallies with conditions like this one. The good news is that the characteristics now change to something quite different for the next three rallies. We know the car can be strong on fast rallies like those and it will be important to prepare as best we can and try to find confidence early.”

Takamoto Katsuta – 35th Overall

“Today my target was to get some points. We knew it would be difficult with our starting position, and the first stage was not good because we had a lot of dust from the car in front and could not see so much. We took some points but of course, I wanted more. Things were working well earlier in the rally, everything was under control and then unfortunately we had the technical issue. But it was a demanding rally for the cars and sometimes things like this can happen: I just need to accept it and move forward to the next rally.”

M-Sport Ford

Richard Millener – Team Principal

“We knew it was always going to be hard to continue our good run here in Sardinia, one of the toughest events of the European part of the WRC, but dispute not getting the result we wanted, we can still be happy with the speed Adrien and Alex showed on many of the event stages. I also want to congratulate Gregoire and Louis on their best result to date in the WRC – a really great achievement for them both and secures them eight championship points. We now look towards three fast rallies in a row where we are determined to get back to chasing the podium places.”

Grégoire Munster – 5th Overall

“I’m just happy we had a trouble free event, and at the end, we reached our best result in the WRC, so we’re very happy with this. There’s still plenty of work to do and pace to find but we’re always going in the right direction. Especially seeing us get our fourth fastest time in SS3, we now need to build on that and keep the momentum going into the next few events.”

Adrien Fourmuax – 15th Overall

“I think we can be quite positive with the pace we showed this weekend, on Friday and Saturday especially. It’s a shame what happened with the electronic issue on Friday, but we are working on these things for the future. On Sunday, it was good to get some extra points for the Power Stage, even if we wanted more from the daily standings on Super Sunday. We need to focus a bit on the slower corners, to get the car more agile, but this is very specific to Sardinia. Overall I have been happy with the car and now we need to focus on the upcoming smooth gravel rallies.”

The second day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 has come to a close. Sebastien Ogier retained the event lead after the day.

SS5, Tempio Pausania 1

Ott Tänak kicked off the day with his second stage win of the weekend. As the Estonian set a time 3.3 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to top the stage. Sebastien Ogier finished third fastest on the stage, 4.6 seconds slower than Tänak and 1.3 seconds slower than Neuville. WRC2 driver Yohan Rossel was fourth fastest on the stage, 5.3 seconds slower than Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.4 seconds slower than Rossel. Ott Tänak took over the event lead on the stage. Tänak took a 0.1-second lead over Ogier into SS6. Ogier suffered a puncture on the stage.

SS6, Tula-Erula 1

Sebastien Ogier took home the stage win on the sixth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. With a time 2.3 seconds faster than Ott Tänak. Thierry Neuville finished third fastest on the stage, 3.2 seconds slower than Ogier and 0.9 seconds slower than Tänak. Takamoto Katsuta set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 18.1 seconds slower than Neuville. WRC2 driver Yohan Rossel rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.7 seconds slower than Katsuta. Sebastien Ogier was able to reacquire the event lead on SS6. With Ogier now holding a 2.2-second lead over Tänak. No drivers had any reported issues on the stage.

SS7, Tempio Pausania 2

Thierry Neuville took his first stage win on the day on SS7. Setting a time 0.1 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to win his second stage of the weekend. Sebastien Ogier was third fastest on the stage, 4.5 seconds slower than Neuville and 4.4 seconds slower than Tänak, making Tänak the new rally leader. Elfyn Evans finished fourth fastest on the stage, 4.5 seconds slower than Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 1.3 seconds slower than Evans.

SS8, Tula-Erula 2

Ott Tänak took home the stage win on the final stage of the morning loop. As the Estonian posted a time 1.3 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to expand his event lead to 3.5 seconds over Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta finished third fastest on the stage, 8 seconds slower than Tänak and 6.7 seconds slower than Ogier. Dani Sordo had the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.8 seconds slower than Katsuta. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the eighth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024, finishing 4.8 seconds slower than Sordo. Reigning event winner Thierry Neuville crashed out on the stage. Forcing him to retire from the day.

SS9, Monte Lerno 1

Sebastien Ogier kicked off the afternoon loop with his second stage win of the day. Finishing with a time 6.8 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to take back the event lead. Ogier now leads by 3.3 seconds over Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux set the third fastest time on the stage, 11.5 seconds slower than Ogier and 4.7 seconds slower than Tänak. Dani Sordo was fourth fastest on the stage, 9.4 seconds slower than Fourmaux. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 5.5 seconds slower than Sordo. Takamoto Katsuta was forced to retire early into the stage with what’s believed to be a transmission issue.

SS10, Coiluna-Loelle 1

Sebastien Ogier also took home the stage win on the tenth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. As Ogier set a time 6.4 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to extend the event lead to 9.7 seconds. Adrien Fourmaux was once again third fastest on the stage, finishing 7.4 seconds slower than Ogier and 1 second slower than Tänak. Elfyn Evans finished fourth fastest on the stage, 1.2 seconds slower than Fourmaux. Dani Sordo rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.9 seconds slower than Evans. No drivers reported any issues on the stage.

SS11, Monte Lerno 2

Sebastien Ogier also took home the stage win on the eleventh stage of Rally Italian Sardegna 2024. With a time 6.5 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to further extend the event lead to 16.2 seconds. Dani Sordo finished third fastest on the stage, 7.7 seconds slower than Ogier and 1.2 seconds slower than Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 6.2 seconds slower than Sordo. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.7 seconds slower than Fourmaux. No drivers reported any issues on the stage.

SS12, Coiluna-Loelle 2

Elfyn Evans took his first stage win of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 on the final stage of day two. As the Welshmen set a time 0.4 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier. Ott Tänak was third fastest on the stage, 1.3 seconds slower than Evans and 0.9 seconds slower than Ogier. Dani Sordo finished fourth fastest on the stage, 0.7 seconds slower than Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.3 seconds slower than Sordo.

What To Expect From Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 Day Three

The third and final day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 will see drivers contest 39.30 km across four stages. Thierry Neuville will be first on the road, followed by Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux. Neuville will likely look to make a huge push on Super Sunday due to his retirement today. If he doesn’t he’s at risk of losing the championship lead for the first time this season.

Driver Quotes

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Jari-Matti Latvala – Team Principal

“To be leading at the end of another Saturday definitely gives us a great feeling. Seb has been driving superbly once again. Even with no spare tyres left, he was able to keep up his speed this morning and then attack in the afternoon. Taka was driving well and keeping Dani Sordo behind, so it was a pity that he had to stop with the transmission-related issue, but the last stage of the morning was very rough and it seems something had broken as a consequence. Elfyn hasn’t had the best feeling in this rally but he’s been driving consistently and, with Thierry making a mistake, he has moved into a better position and if everything goes well tomorrow, this can help him in the championship. It’s a relatively short final day tomorrow but I’m sure everybody will be pushing hard and we can expect more tense competition.”

Sebastien Ogier – 1st Overall

“It’s been an incredible day overall. Very rough and very tough. The morning stages were not so fun to drive with some of the roughest conditions we’ve ever seen. That was really about surviving and I’m glad we were able to do that, especially after we lost one tyre after the first stage of the day. The afternoon was completely different: it was much more enjoyable to drive. The pleasure was back so I really enjoyed it and I managed to create a gap, so tonight it’s very positive. Tomorrow we still expect some rough conditions, but we will still need to have some speed and just carry on with the same approach.”

Elfyn Evans – 4th Overall

“It’s been a long and tough day out there. I think our speed has been better in certain stages than in others. When there’s a bit more room and the surface is sandier, it suits us better. When it’s tight and twisty we’re still struggling a bit. The good thing is that we got the car to the end of the day when others weren’t able to do so and that’s helped us move up the leaderboard. Of course, we still have tomorrow to get through to secure those points, and hopefully, we can push to take a few more.”

Takamoto Katsuta – 40th Overall [SR]

“Everything was going quite well this morning. It was a very rough loop – the last stage especially was very extreme and tough for the cars. We managed to get up to third overall so we were in a good position. But I started to hear a noise in the last stage of the morning and we found that we had an issue with the transmission. With a normal service, we could have fixed it, but with just the tyre-fitting zone we could not do so much. We tried, but it got worse on the first stage of the afternoon and we had to stop. It’s tough, but this is rallying and we just need to look forward.”

Hyundai Shell Mobis

Cyril Abiteboul – Team Principal

“Definitely a day of mixed feelings.  We have had some great moments in very good position, including Ott in the lead, but also some disappointments when Thierry made a mistake and went off, meaning he could not complete the day. It is unfortunate as he was looking to build his advantage, but he will be back on Sunday with renewed focus. Ott kept the fight alive against Ogier but eventually elected to take a cautious approach, especially as he still occasionally lacks confidence in certain conditions with the car. Today was one of those days, but tomorrow he will be back on a massive attack. Dani did a great job keeping Evans behind, which is a crucial contribution to the team’s objective and our final result in a very contested championship season.”

Ott Tänak – 2nd Overall

“Generally, I was expecting a very tough first half of the day, which it was, and it was a big job to keep the pace on these roads – it took a lot of energy. I was hoping for a better afternoon on stages that I really enjoy, but I couldn’t make it work. I couldn’t find a good rhythm in the car and when you don’t have full confidence, it’s hard to keep pushing to the maximum. I also had to be safe and not take any risks. Every day has been very different and tomorrow we have two unique stages – the Power Stage on the beach cannot be compared to anything else. It is very cool if you have nothing to lose, but we can’t lose what we have achieved already.”

Dani Sordo – 3rd Overall

“I was performing better this afternoon when I had better grip on the surface of the roads, but it was a tough day and I did struggle. The problems of Katsuta and Thierry gave us a little bit of a boost, but in the end, I started to push and managed to build a gap of thirty seconds. Tomorrow is another really demanding day, with narrow and difficult stages, so we need to keep pushing forwards. Our goal is to keep Evans behind and finish on the podium at a minimum, and try to keep up with the guys in front.”

Thierry Neuville – 44th Overall [SR]

“We were in the middle of a very tricky twisty section when I momentarily lost my concentration on a corner and didn’t realise we would have a slow one right after. I was too late on the brakes and I knew immediately it was going to be tricky to get out of the situation. There were no spectators around to help push us back on, which meant that despite having no damage on the car, we were unable to continue.  Tomorrow we have a clear target: to push as hard as we can to take the full 12 points from the day. It’s the best we can do in this situation.”

The first day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 has come to an end. Sebastien Ogier leads the event after the days four stages.

SS1, Osilo-Tergu 1

Sebastien Ogier picked up where he left off in Portugal. As the Frenchman took home the stage win on the weekend’s first stage. With a time 7.7 seconds faster than Ott Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux and Dani Sordo tied for third fastest on the stage. With both drivers finishing 14.5 seconds slower than Ogier and 6.8 seconds slower than Tänak. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five times on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Fourmaux and Sordo. Elfyn Evans suffered a slow puncture on the stage. The Welshman managed to finish eighth fastest on the opening stage.

SS2, Sedini-Castelsardo 1

Ott Tänak took home the stage win on the second stage of Rally Italia Sardegna. As the Estonian posted a time 1.2 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to top the stage. Adrien Fourmaux finished third fastest on the stage, 1.9 seconds slower than Tänak and 0.7 seconds slower than Neuville. Takamoto Katsuta set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.7 seconds slower than Fourmaux. Sebastien Ogier rounded out the top five on the stage, 1.3 seconds slower than Katsuta. No drivers reported any issues on the stage. Sebastien Ogier remains in the event lead after the stage only 1.8 seconds ahead of Tänak.

SS3, Osilo-Tergu 2

Sebastien Ogier also took home the stage win on the second running of the Osilo-Tergu stage. With a time 2.9 seconds faster than Ott Tänak this time around. Dani Sordo had his first top-three time this weekend on the stage, finishing 8.8 seconds slower than Ogier and 5.9 seconds slower than Tänak. Grégoire Munster was fourth fastest on the stage, 4.9 seconds slower than Sordo. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.4 seconds slower than Munster. Adrien Fourmaux suffered a puncture on the stage. Much like Evans, he was still able to have a decent finishing time on the stage, finishing 9th, 39.4 seconds slower than Ogier. Sebastien Ogier was able to expand his lead to 4.7 seconds ahead of Tänak heading into the fays final stage.

SS4, Sedini-Castelsardo 2

Thierry Neuville capped off the first day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 with his first stage win of the weekend. As the championship leader set a time 3.7 seconds faster than Ott Tänak on the stage. Sebastien Ogier finished third fastest on the stage, 3.9 seconds slower than Neuville and 0.2 seconds slower than Tänak. Takamoto Katsuta was fourth fastest on the stage, 6.9 seconds slower than Ogier. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.2 seconds slower than Katsuta. Fourmaux retired in the stage due to an electrical issue.

What To Expect From Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 Day Two

The second day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 will see drivers contest 149 km across eight stages. The day will feature no midday service. Adrien Fourmaux will be first on the road followed by Grégoire Munster and Elfyn Evans. Sebastien Ogier takes a 4.5-second lead over Ott Tänak into the day. Ogier will be looking to expand on that lead to take home his third consecutive win this season and 61st career win.

Driver And Team Quotes

Toyota Gazoo Racing

Jari-Matti Latvala – Team Principal

“Generally I’m very happy tonight with how our rally has started. I could see already in shakedown that Seb’s confidence levels were high and he started the rally very strongly. He showed a great performance and to be leading the rally after the first day is really nice. Taka started with a careful approach but he was improving his pace all the time so it’s been generally a good start for him as well. Unfortunately, Elfyn already got damage to one of his tyres very early on and then had to be more careful in order to get through the loop. But overall I’m pleased with our performance at the start of the rally, as this hasn’t been the easiest event for us in the past, and hopefully, we can continue this progress, but tomorrow will be a long and tough day for everybody.”

Sebastien Ogier – 1st Overall

“We’re in the lead tonight so it’s been a positive start. It’s been tough: we expected a difficult loop with some abrasive sections that would be tough for the tyres, especially this first stage, Osilu-Tergu. It was also my first time driving this stage in that direction. Still, we went with an aggressive choice of five tyres for the afternoon and I did have to take care a little bit in some sections to manage it, but it’s nice to be in the lead. We made a positive step today that now gives us the optimum start position for tomorrow, but the gap to second place is close so it’s going to be an intense fight.”

Elfyn Evans – 6th overall

“It’s been a tough start for us. Picking up a puncture near the end of the first stage was not ideal, and then both times through the second stage of the loop was difficult for us. We struggled with the feeling in there and we were having to be careful with no spare tyre left to use. It was just a pity that happened so early on because that made it hard to manage the wear across the rubber we had left. It’s a long and difficult rally to go still and we’ll keep going and see what comes. We need to keep learning on this type of surface, try to find improvements and keep working towards where we want to be.”

Takamoto Katsuta- 4th Overall

“We are not in a bad position tonight. I’m not fully happy with myself, I was struggling a bit through most of the stages and it was a bit of a pity that I could not finish one place higher to get the better road position for tomorrow. But still, there’s a long way to go. I just need to find what I can improve in my driving to be better tomorrow and to push with a bit more confidence. With no mid-day service, there’s not much we can change on the car during tomorrow so as drivers we will need to adapt, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Hyundai Shell Mobis

Cyril Abiteboul – Team Principal

“It has been a good opening day here in Sardinia. It was our first experience of this new sprint format and it unfolded as we both expected and hoped it would. Ott had very strong pace, which has put him in a good position for a push tomorrow. He will be supported by Dani, who managed to keep Katsuta and Evans behind him today. Thierry had dealt with his road position very well, and we end the first day in pretty much the best situation possible. However, we have to stay focused on the job at hand, as tomorrow is going to be a long and unpredictable day.”

Ott Tänak – 2nd Overall

“We can be happy after our day, and we have a good road position for tomorrow. It would have been nice to have been one better but we can be content with what we have. It was a bit challenging in that last stage on both runs – the loss of the hybrid boost wasn’t as important on the first, as there was not much grip on the loose gravel, but the second was very grippy and it would have helped a lot. Thankfully, the strong Hyundai engine pulled us through and ensured we didn’t lose too much time. Tomorrow is going to be very demanding, particularly the first four stages; they are very slow, narrow and twisty – there’s no flow at all, but you have to push.”

Thierry Neuville – 5th Overall

“Today was worse than I expected if I am honest. We hoped that we could take some softs to try and minimise the disadvantage of our road position, but ultimately it was very warm and we had to go with full hard tyres on the abrasive stages. In hindsight, we should have taken one more with us to allow us to properly attack in every single corner, but I’m still happy with my day. I would love to have been third overnight rather than fifth, but we are constantly adapting and there is still an opportunity for a podium. Tomorrow we need to make sure we don’t lose too much time and score the maximum points as we push for the top three.”

Dani Sordo – 3rd Overall

“I’m happy to finish the day in third, especially as it wasn’t certain in those last two stages that we would have a good road position for tomorrow. We had to manage the tyres because we were really on the limit at the end, but it has been a nice day. I expected to be closer to the battle at the front, but Ogier and Ott were on a different level. Although I lost time on the first and last stage, it was important to finish today where we did, as tomorrow is going to be tough.”