Warren Nel

The final day then and Ott brought a forty-three second lead over Seb to the final stages of which there was a total of 99km’s over the four remaining tests. Sami, Takamoto, Kalle and Martins all returned to the action with Sami and Marko opening the road. Greg and Louis would sadly not return to the action which was a huge shame and they’d driven a brilliant first two days to hold sixth overall.

First up was SS14 Smokovo 1 – 26.16 km a properly long stage for the final day and Ott picked up where he left off going 1.8 seconds faster than Seb and Thierry. Elfyn was just seven tenths behind with the fourth best time. Takamoto had a spin in the stage on a left hander which was going uphill. This stage featured two water splashes at around 11km’s and 21km’s.

Into the first run of what would be the power stage later, SS15 Tarzan 1 – 23.37 km and Ott again was fastest from Seb and this time Elfyn. Adrien who was eyeing up his and Alex’s first podium since Monte Carlo was taking things carefully setting the sixth best time.

After a service break came SS16 Smokovo 2 – 26.16 km and Seb was fastest from Ott and Adrien. The drama continued for Thierry whose car engine stopped in the stage. After a reset, the car did restart, and he finished the stage. The top positions remained unchanged and just one stage remained between Ott and Martin taking their first win of the year.

We came then to the final stage, SS17 Tarzan 2[Power Stage] – 23.37 km and Thierry set the early pace, before Kalle and Seb came through and set the fastest time. What of Ott though who was last to complete the stage. Well, the early splits showed that he and Martin was not far off the pace of Seb, but then the later splits showed they were losing time. They completed the stage and were sixteen seconds down on the best time with the fifth best time. They were suffering with a gearbox problem which caused the time loss. They were so concerned with the problem that they did not celebrate the win in the usual way and drove into the area beyond the time zone.

Nevertheless, they’d taken victory at last. It is a well-deserved victory for the crew, and unlikely to be the last this season.

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

Final Overall Classification – Acropolis Rally 

1	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	4:12:20.1
2	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+32.8
3	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+3:09.8
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+3:31.1
5	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+8:59.5
6	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris	+10:34.7
7	G. Greensmith	J. Andersson	Škoda Fabia RS	+11:28.5
8	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+11:43.7
9	K. Kajetanowicz	M. Szczepaniak	Toyota GR Yaris	+12:56.7
10	A. Cachón	B. Rozada	Toyota GR Yaris	+14:19.9

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“It was a great weekend, but it was also incredibly demanding. The temperatures and the length of the rally were massive obstacles, but we were very happy to put a winning package together, keep the tyres alive and demonstrate our performance. Since Saturday morning we were able to control the pace, I felt good in the car and it was working really well in these conditions. We avoided punctures all weekend by pushing in the sections with minimal risk and holding back in the rougher places, and that was the key. Overall, we are very happy to claim our first win at Acropolis in these conditions.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“This was one of the toughest Acropolis Rallies I’ve ever competed in. Temperatures were really high, and the ground was super abrasive with a lot of loose rocks. We saw a lot of punctures during the rally, but we managed to stay away with minimal tyre damage. I’m pleased to finish on the podium, we were fighting for second but after the issue we had yesterday that fight was over. Securing third was really important to us and we managed to do it, so I’m pleased with the weekend overall.”

Thierry Neuville

“I’m leaving Greece with a solid points haul, but it’s not the weekend I wanted. I had three punctures, and from then on we faced other issues with the car that didn’t help our final efforts today. All in all, we had lots of trouble, but we were able to fix the car for the Power Stage and finish that third fastest. I want to target a podium finish and some big points in Estonia; it’s not my favourite surface, but we’ve performed well there in the past, so let’s see.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It has been another really strong weekend for us. There was not much we could do about Ott’s pace, also considering the difference in start position, so well done to him on a well-deserved win. Taking 27 points is the maximum I think we could get out of this weekend, so we can be very happy. We have reached the mid-point of the season, and we are still strongly ahead in the manufacturers’ championship. Thanks to the team for pushing very hard all the time and let’s keep going like this in the second half of the season.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a tough weekend with very difficult conditions, but we’ve managed to avoid trouble and finish fourth again – and we also got some Sunday points to top up the tally and soften the blow compared to our rivals. We definitely knew coming into these last three rough gravel rallies opening the road that it would be possible to lose our lead of the championship, so on that side I’m pleased. Now we move onto a different type of rally where we hope to show some more pace and performance.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was a tricky day restarting today. With our starting place we didn’t have much to play for but we had quite OK pace on the Power Stage and at least we could take four points from there, which was probably the maximum we could do. It hasn’t been the best weekend for me, not being on the pace and level where I should be. I know that there is room to improve, and we will work to come back stronger for Estonia.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was a pity that the Power Stage didn’t work out for us. We chose to focus on it and were pushing a lot, but not in a crazy way: looking at the split times we were fastest overall until we had to stop and change the tyre. It was a frustrating weekend, but we know that this rally can be very tough, and these things can happen; the important thing is to keep my head up and prepare for the next events in Estonia and Finland.”

Sami Pajari

“I had a nice feeling driving again today; thanks to the team for getting us back on the road. It was something really strange and unfamiliar for me to be first on the road and sweeping it clean, but it was also good experience. It’s safe to say it’s not been the weekend we were hoping for but the beginning on Friday was quite strong, so it is good to see the pace is getting there and I’m looking forward to the next events.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“I think it’s been a super demanding weekend for everyone, the team, the car, the crew. It’s nice to know you can get through these kinds of events – we hit a massive hurdle yesterday morning when we clipped the rock, but we managed to fix the car and keep it going.

“Today has been pretty ok, we’ve learnt a lot from a driving perspective and hopefully we can have a good test in Finland and prepare properly for the next two rallies.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“Of course, I think we can find some positives from certain stages, our Power Stage performance wasn’t bad and some of the other stages too. On our first time here we’ve had to be quick learners, and I would say at some points we were quite good. On the points where we weren’t so good, it’s just about having knowledge for future years and at least now we know more about how to prepare for this rally. It needs more detailed preparation compared to other rallies and the experience we’ve gained this week will help that in the future.”

Grégoire Munster

“A disappointing end to our experience in Greece, but generally we had some positives to take away. Especially on Friday when there were good conditions, we pushed and managed to get a third-fastest time which shows the potential of the car.

“In other places we managed to be cautious, we had a long-term strategy and finished Friday in fifth and then sixth on Saturday evening, so there were a lot of positives from the weekend. It wasn’t meant to be, but we will come back stronger.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“It’s such a nice feeling,” smiled Oliver, shortly after celebrating with his fiancé, Chloe Chambers.

“This has been the absolutely perfect weekend. You hear so much about this event and you’re kind of a little bit scared for some of the stories – this is the Acropolis Rally, where anything can happen!

“Me and Elliott made a plan and we stuck with it, we pushed where it was safe and sensible, and we backed off to look after the tyres and the car where it was really bad. I’m really proud for this win, the way we managed the race and the tyres, and everything was really nice – it was a strategic win.

“I want to say a big thanks to the team. I know I say this every time, but it’s so true: Toyota and Printsport made the perfect car for the perfect rally and the same with Elliott. It’s fair to say this has been a hot one, with the temperature in the car so high at times, but he’s been so, so good with the notes and everything.

“I don’t know what else to say! I came here without so much experience, I didn’t feel I’d ever done the Acropolis properly and I wanted to put that right. We’ve done that. There wasn’t a single thing, it was a flawless rally.

“The icing on the cake has to be the championship lead again. Everything is feeling super-nice right now. Everything is working just like we want. I’m very happy!”

 

Summary

Well, what a win for the 2019 world champions. It’s really brought them back into the fight for the championship now just twelve points from the leaders. Next up is their home event as well.

 

It was a consistent drive from Seb and Vincent to the podium, giving Toyota some excellent points for the championship. They continue to hold second in the driver championship as well.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex had a great drive and despite a slight error which damaged the suspension, they did well to score a second podium of the year.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings 
After round 7

1	E. Evans	150
2	S. Ogier	141
3	O. Tänak	138
4	K. Rovanperä	117
5	T. Neuville	96
6	T. Katsuta	63
7	A. Fourmaux	61
8	S. Pajari	32
9	O. Solberg	19
10	G. Munster	18

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 7

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	358
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	293
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	97
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	57

 

The second day then of this iconic rally and the crews had 123km’s over six stages to get through. Martins and Renaur returned to the action after their retirement with the technical problem yesterday. The Latvian crew in their Puma would open the road. Sami did not return to the action as the Yaris remained in the service park. This was because the car still had the problem which caused the retirement yesterday.

First up was SS8 Pavliani 1 – 24.58 km and Ott was fastest from Seb and Adrien as the top three overall continued to set the best times with their advantageous road position. There was some drama for Josh who damaged the suspension on the right rear of his Puma. Also in the wars was Thierry who had another puncture on the right rear.

Into SS9 Karoutes 1 – 19.48 km and Ott was fastest again from Adrien and Seb. Takamoto was finding some pace, going fourth fastest. Thierry came back well after his problem to set the sixth best time and moving ahead of Kalle and into seventh overall.

The final morning stage and the halfway point of the day, SS10 Inohori 1 – 17.66 km saw Seb take a stage win by just one tenth of a second from Ott and Thierry third fastest. Adrien broke his suspension on the rear after sliding into a rock on the edge of the road. The Frenchman dropped one position to third place. Gaining a position was Takamoto who passed Greg for fifth overall. The Puma driver was suffering with a technical problem as his handbrake had failed and this is a key part of the car, helping the driver turn the car on tight corners such as hairpins.

After the service break, SS11 Pavliani 2 – 24.58 km was next and Ott was back to the top, two and a half seconds faster than Seb and Thierry who really was on the kind of pace that would be expected from him. The pace took him up two positions to fifth place. There were two retirements in this stage though as first Kalle and then Takamoto went off the road. The Finn would return to the stage after some help from some spectators, but Takamoto’s car was completely beached. Kalle could not finish the stage though and stopped at the side of the road.

Next up was SS12 Karoutes 2 – 19.48 km and Ott again was fastest from Thierry and Seb. Ott’s lead was now almost forty-three seconds over Seb, with Adrien a further minute and fifteen seconds behind his fellow countryman. The Puma crews of Greg and Josh continued to have issues with their handbrakes but were doing what they could to complete the stages and the day. Greg remained in sixth overall.

Onto the final stage then, SS13 Inohori 2 – 17.66 km and once again Ott was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Elfyn was fourth fastest and maintained his fourth place overall, remaining a minute and thirteen seconds ahead of Thierry.

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

Classification after Day Two

1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 2:56:31.7 2 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +43.6 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:08.0 4 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +3:04.4 5 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +4:17.7 6 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +5:55.0 7 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +6:56.7 8 G. Greensmith J. Andersson Škoda Fabia RS +8:34.5 9 K. Kajetanowicz M. Szczepaniak Toyota GR Yaris +8:44.5 10 Y. Rossel A. Dunand Citroën C3 +8:59.6

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“We’ve generally had a very good day. Even in the afternoon, it’s true that some bedrock was threatening us sometimes, but generally it was smoother and more consistent – a bit better than expected. We had a good rhythm, and we maintained all day. While we are still in the lead, it’s important to remember that we haven’t scored any points yet and we still have some rough stages to go, including one that is new and very long, so this is always very demanding. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow to bring this home.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“This afternoon was just about surviving and avoiding any risk of puncture to maintain a good position for tomorrow. It was a challenge to manage the tyre wear, but I’m happy we managed it and saved a soft tyre for tomorrow. We had an issue on SS10, so we lost some time and one position, but after we fixed it we had no further time loss. We want to get some good points tomorrow but at the same time we don’t want to risk everything and throw away our hard work over two long days on Super Sunday.”

Thierry Neuville

“We were hoping for some rain this afternoon, hence why we went for the soft compound – in case there was any possibility for us to go for a good move and gain any more positions. We pushed a bit more today because we wanted to keep the pressure on Evans, and in case of any issues with him we wanted to be as close as possible. We have to look forward to see what’s possible tomorrow; it’s super rough in Tarzan, so both the first and second pass will be a big challenge for the cars and the tyres. We want to stay trouble free and have a good run.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It was a solid day for us, and we have to be happy to get through another challenging day in Greece. At least it was not as hot as yesterday, so it was a bit more enjoyable. The roughness was still there in places and managing the tyre wear was a big focus on the second pass this afternoon. Ott was flying today so there was not much we could do, and we realised this morning that road position was still playing a role. Tomorrow everything is still to play for; there are many kilometres to go, and very rough conditions expected on the second pass, but with Sunday points on offer, nobody can relax!”

Elfyn Evans

“The feeling in the car was better today with our position further back in the road order certainly helping us. We tried to keep a decent speed and rhythm while staying out of trouble and we managed to achieve that. We definitely have to give it a go tomorrow but also have to wait and see how the feeling is. It will be a rough and long day tomorrow, not a typical short Sunday, but those Sunday points are important, so we will have to try.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today started much better than yesterday. We changed a few things on the car overnight and felt more comfortable and confident. It felt even better in the afternoon after some changes during service and the split times were looking good in SS11. It wasn’t a crazy push, and everything felt under control, but under braking for one hairpin it was quite bumpy and rough and I couldn’t get the car stopped. Unfortunately, there was a gravel bank on the outside and we got stuck on top and could not get out. It was quite unlucky, but it was my mistake, and I’m sorry to the team.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s not been an easy day. Already in the morning I was struggling quite a bit. Then in the first stage of the afternoon we went off in quite a rough braking, going a bit wide and getting stuck. After we got back on the road we saw that we had some damage on the car; I’m not sure if that’s why I couldn’t get the car slowed down, but it meant we couldn’t finish the stage. Tomorrow we just need to try and have a good day and get as many points as we can.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“Today has been about managing the rally a little bit,” said Oliver. “We know these stages are going to be very hard for the tyres, so we’re trying to make sure we look after them and the car as well. It’s so rough, especially on the second pass, and we just have to be very careful.

“We’ve had quite a lot of dust at times, this is not so nice. It’s hard to commit completely in these conditions.

“Now, it’s not so much about trying to be the fastest everywhere – sure it’s nice when you do this, but it’s about being as smart and as safe as possible. The gap we have at the front is nice, but this is Greece and we have seen for the last two days that anything can happen and I’m not sure there’s anything you could really call a safe margin on the Acropolis!

“For me and Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] tomorrow is about bringing the car home. Staying in the middle of the road and staying out of trouble.”

 

Sunday

The final day beckons then and it’s a proper day as well with 99km’s over four stages. This event can bite, and will we see a final bit of drama for the crews?

Let’s wait and see.

The first full day of action on the Greek roads would see the crews tackle just over 120km’s in six stages. We had a leaderboard of sorts with Ott leading from Seb and Takamoto. The championship leader, Elfyn, was sixth. The day would not feature any full service at the service park, but there would be a remote service in the middle of the six stages.

First stage then of the day, SS2 Aghii Theodori 1 – 26.76 km and Seb was fastest from Sami and Thierry. Seb stayed in the lead from Thierry who jumped up three positions into second overall and Sami who gained six positions, moving into third overall. Martins had to stop his Puma in the stage to change a wheel, but Takamoto and Josh also had to stop to change as well after getting punctures.

It was all change at the top following SS3 Loutraki – 12.90 km. Adrien took the stage from Thierry and Ott. Seb fell from the lead to third whilst Thierry moved into the lead. Adrien gained four positions and moved into second overall. Meanwhile Elfyn continued to open the road and maintained seventh overall.

Before the remote service came SS4 Aghii Theodori 2 – 26.76 km and Seb set the pace just like earlier from Ott and Takamoto this time. Seb and Ott both gained positions with the Frenchman moving back into the lead from third overall, with Ott now second and Adrien dropping one position to third. The big loser was Thierry who fell from the lead to sixth place. The Belgian had a puncture but did not stop. It was a rough stage and even the top two had tyre trouble.

Then came the afternoon stages and the temperatures were really climbing out there. The first of three completely new stages, SS5 Thiva – 19.58 km saw Adrien set the pace from Ott and Seb. Kalle was fourth fastest and moved up into fourth overall. Thierry had another puncture and lost five positions falling to eleventh overall. Things were going well for Elfyn who’d kept out of trouble and was now in sixth place.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS6 Stiri – 24.18 km and Adrien was again fastest from Ott and Greg. Ott took the lead and Adrien gained a position moving into second place with Seb falling to third. Also gaining a couple of positions was Elfyn who moved into fourth place. It was Kalle who lost time dropping four positions to eighth place. Also climbing the leaderboard was Greg who after his third fastest time was now up to fifth overall. Thierry gained one position, moving back into the top ten.

The final stage then, SS7 Elatia – 11.58 km and Thierry was back to stage winning pace with his teammates Ott and Adrien with the second and third fastest respectively. Thierry gained a couple of places moving inti eighth overall.

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

Classification after Day One

1 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 1:25:07.4 2 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3.0 3 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +16.9 4 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:21.5 5 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +1:43.3 6 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:34.3 7 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:38.1 8 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:38.3 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +2:48.4 10 K. Kajetanowicz M. Szczepaniak Toyota GR Yaris +3:41.8

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“It’s been a very positive day all together. We could see that it was a super demanding day on many fronts, so at times it was difficult to keep it all in one piece, but we are happy that we didn’t have any troubles with the car or the tyres. It’s been really long: 15 hours in the car in 41 degrees means it’s been a difficult journey. Tomorrow will be a much slower day; very technical, twisty and narrow passes through the forests. Let’s see what it has in store, I’m sure it won’t get any easier.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Today was really positive, but we need to get some time back from SS2 this morning when we were slowed down by Katsuta’s dust. It was a really good day for me, we were managing well on the rougher parts of the stages so we could push where it was clean, and this paid off. Generally, our road position was beneficial, but we still had the issue of some really rough areas that forced us to slow down, compromising us a bit throughout the day. Nevertheless, the handling of the car was great. When you start to push too hard in Greece, you get into trouble, so I will keep today’s approach for tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“We didn’t expect to get two punctures in a row and lose that much time, so that was a huge frustration – it felt like we got hit by a big hammer twice. I really struggled to bounce back this afternoon; we didn’t have enough liquid in the car, and I was really not feeling well, so altogether a big struggle. It’s definitely a tough event, but I have never had this many punctures since the start of a season in my career. We need to have something more reliable – deciding results on tyres is not nice.”

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“Overall, the day has been very positive; to be where we are from second on the road is better than we expected. The morning loop was especially good for us with the two stage wins in Aghii Theodori. Loutraki on the other hand was a proper taste of what was to come in the afternoon – on those stages the cleaning effect was much harder, and we lost some time. I am still pretty pleased with what we achieved and with the car, and with a better start position tomorrow we can be even more competitive.”

Elfyn Evans

“It was tough today. It was hot and we definitely suffered opening the road. It was a tough position to be in, especially with how the afternoon stages were, having to clean everyone. I am not particularly happy with how the day went and with how difficult it was to get a good feeling in the conditions that we faced. Fourth is a reasonable position to be in with several others having had trouble today, but there is still a long way to go, and we need to keep driving a clean rally.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Unfortunately, we had to change a tyre early in the first stage this morning; we’re not sure what happened but the roads were rough and there was a very big step in the bedrock. But there can be many dramas on Acropolis, so I made an effort to avoid a similar issue later and also avoid any mistakes. By the end of the day, we recovered to sixth overall, which is good considering what happened this morning. It is still a long way to go, and anything can happen, so I will keep pushing enough while avoiding trouble.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a demanding day on the cars, the tyres and the crews – it has been so hot. I wasn’t able to have the pace that I wanted in the morning which was quite annoying. Also, the roads were so rough that with many big hits to the car we picked up some damage and carried this for the rest of the day. On a rally like this you need some luck, and we didn’t have it today but tomorrow we can try again.”

Sami Pajari

“We had really tough and tricky conditions today. There are so many rocks and anything you hit can lead to trouble. I was pushing in some places but being clever in the tricky sections. It was going quite well in the morning; we were in the game, and I was really happy with the car and the driving. Unfortunately, after SS5 we found we had a technical issue and couldn’t go any further. It was a pity, but Acropolis is so rough that these things can happen, and hopefully we can restart tomorrow.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been quite warm at times,” grinned Oliver. “But OK, we are here, and we’ve been able to drive like we wanted through the day. The key to a rally like this is to try to drive neatly, keep the car as straight as possible and try to avoid the rocks.

“There are so many rocks out there, it’s impossible to miss them all. But I think we’ve done a good job with our Toyota GR Yaris today.

“I didn’t do this event last year, actually I only started it twice before and I haven’t finished either time. Elliott and me want to change that this year. It’s quite tricky at times because we haven’t competed on some of these stages before and when you have the dust hanging in the road it can be a bit complicated. I’m driving with a little bit spare, not going flat out – the risk is really high if you do that.

“Like I said, I want to finish, and I would love to win this rally in this beautiful country.”

Saturday

The second day will see the crews face 123km’s over six stages, with the afternoon stages being a full rerun of the morning stages.

Can Seb fight back into the lead, or will we see Ott continue to hold the lead at the end of the day. Perhaps Adrien could be in the top spot as well?

We shall find out at the end of tomorrow!

Time for the seventh round of the season and this is a big one for the championship! These roads which make some of the trickiest and roughest on the calendar. Elfyn and Scott will be opening the road throughout Friday’s stages of which is a total of 123km’s of competitive over six stages.

Here’s a full view of the stages this weekend.

Weekend at a Glance

• Thursday evening marks the start of the competitive action in Athens with EKO Athens (SS1, 1.50km)
• Friday’s marathon includes seven stages: two loops of Aghii Theodori (SS2/4, 26.76km) and single passes through Loutraki (SS3, 12.90km), Thiva (SS5, 19.58km), Stiri (SS6, 24.18km) and Elatia (SS7, 11.58km)
• Saturday sees six stages form its itinerary: two runs of Pavliani (SS8/11, 24.58km), Karoutes (SS9/12, 19.48km) and Inohori (SS10/13, 17.66km)
• Sunday’s finale is comprised of four stages: Smokovo (SS14/16, 26.16km) debuts in Thessaly, while the classic Tarzan (SS15/17, 23.37km) runs twice, with the second loop as the Power Stage.

 

Let’s hear from the drivers.

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“The Acropolis is another of the tougher gravel rallies on the calendar with a hard and rocky base and a lot of loose rocks. We’re going there at a different time of year to usual, so it has the potential to be very hot and demanding for the cars and the tyres. We also know we will face the familiar challenges opening the road on the Friday, when there are a lot of stages run only once. Our performance was stronger in Sardinia and we’re hoping we’ve made some further improvements in testing and can be more competitive again in Greece.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“In Sardinia we were able to find some good pace and score quite a lot of points in the end, and hopefully we can continue like this for Greece. It’s a rally that has been quite good for us in the past and we’ll try to fight for another strong result. The style of the stages and the surface are a bit different to Sardinia, and it can be harder for the tyres if you’re pushing hard. But we had a chance to test in Greece last week to try and work on this and keep improving the car for these conditions, and this should help us to be prepared.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Sardinia was a very positive weekend for us and I was back in the car two days later to test for Greece and to try and confirm the good progress we made with the setup. The challenges in Greece are not so different, with high temperatures and a rough and rocky surface, and hopefully we can be strong once more in these conditions. It could again be a challenging Friday for the team with our road positions, and this time I’ll be running second so it might be even harder to win this one, but I’m never afraid of any challenge so let’s see what we can do.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m looking forward to going back to Greece. Last year I had good speed there and this time I’m aiming for a better result. Sardinia was a difficult rally but by the end we had good speed, and we were able to find an even better feeling in the car during our pre-event test in Greece last week. The Acropolis is never an easy rally because you need to be able to take care of the car and the tyres, and there will be some new stages again this year. But having confidence in the car always makes it easier to start and I will give my best.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s really helpful for me to have these gravel rallies back-to-back to build up the experience and confidence. In Portugal we could have a nice clean rally, and then in Sardinia the pace was coming more naturally, so hopefully we can continue like this for Greece. Like with Sardinia, I have some good memories of winning WRC2 there last year. At the same time, on rough rallies like these you need to be very careful in the lower categories to look after the car, whereas the Rally1 car can handle a lot more, so you need to learn to trust it and get used to being able to push harder.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Greece is the final in a row of three rough rallies in a row after Portugal and Sardinia, yet it is very different in comparison. Greece has wider roads, but they’re quite solid. It’s not been super rough in the past couple of years – some stages for sure, but it’s still historically a very demanding rally. This year, with the event moving to June, the heat plays a big part on both us as crews and on the car.”

Thierry Neuville

“Last year in Greece, we secured our second 1-2-3 finish for Hyundai Motorsport – it was a stunning weekend. This year, we know we have a good car. The pace in Sardinia was there but we were really unlucky all weekend. It was frustrating for us not to transform that speed into a podium or a win. We will give it our all in Greece; it will be tough with the heat, and we need to make sure we stay out of trouble. It’s rough on the car and the tyres, so we need to manage those elements. My goal is to outscore my opponents, but I would like to build some momentum and return to the podium.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Sardinia taught us what we need to improve on the car for Acropolis Rally, and considering our road position, we need to do everything we can to optimise it. It’s one of the roughest events of the season, and the risk of punctures is really high, so reliability is our biggest priority. Tyre choice can be very difficult, and combined with the abrasive stages, it can be really gruelling. It’s similar to the last round, but it will be even hotter, which is tough for both us and the car. The event itself is great, the atmosphere and fans make it one of the best. We need to be back on form here, we will do everything we can to have a solid weekend.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Of course, we are looking to do better than in Sardinia. Although we aren’t testing in Greece, we used Saturday in Sardinia to get some ideas, and with those ideas we will start the rally in Greece and I’m quite confident we will do well with the package we have. We have done a lot of preparation with the engineers and so I feel well-equipped for this next challenge.

Like Sardinia, the event will be a long and hot one, and there will definitely be opportunity to bring home a good result and we will aim to score some good points next week.”

Josh McErlean

“Heading into the Acropolis Rally, the focus is on a clean and consistent performance. It’s no secret this event is one of the demanding ones on the calendar – the heat, the rough stages. After the disappointment in Sardinia, I really want to deliver a solid result for the team. They’ve worked incredibly hard, and they deserve something to show for it. Our aim is to stay out of trouble, manage the conditions smartly, and hopefully come away with a strong, trouble-free rally.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“This will be my first time ever visiting Greece, so really we have no idea of what awaits us there. I remember watching the rally during my childhood, hearing the name Acropolis Rally and knowing that means something demanding and rough! It will be interesting to experience that, and we hope for a good weekend there. There will certainly be some steep learning curves, but we will come out stronger at the end.”

Jourdan Serderidis

“Acropolis is the most highly anticipated and important event of our season. We have been preparing our program with the objective to get a Top-10 in Lamia (even though we already got a Top-8 in Kenya!). To reach this goal, we need to improve again our pace compared to Sardinia and continue to also improve the setup of the car with the Hankook tyres.

“We still have a PET on Saturday to prepare. We are super excited to meet again the Greek fans who can also give us an additional boost which can make a real difference. We will also be fighting for the 1st Greek Cup, so we have plenty of challenges here!”

 

Oliver Solberg

“Everything feels good. We worked well with the car in Sardinia, we found a set-up which we think was taking the best from the tyres and now we’re looking to fine-tune that a little bit for Greece.

“Sardinia and Acropolis are quite similar in the fact they’re both hot and rough events, but the surface can be a little bit different here in Greece. It’s all about those really fine margins and making sure we have the car absolutely dialled.

“Like I said, our test was good – how can you not be smiling when you have a car like this Toyota to drive on a fantastic road with the sun shining and not a cloud coming in the sky. This is the summertime now and, like you know, Swedish people, we like to celebrate the middle of summer. Taking a win this week would be a good way to do that.”

That baking hot summer will take its toll on both the crew and the car, however; mid-stage temperatures in the cockpit of the GR Yaris Rally are likely to rise north of 60 degrees.

“Definitely this is one of the hotter ones. These are the ones you work hard in the gym and the sauna all winter for. Being physically fit is crucial here – when the heat is coming you get tired faster and that’s where the mistakes can come.”

 

Summary

Well, what an epic event the crews and teams are facing. The road position for those further back in the championship will be the key for those who want to stand on the podium on Sunday. Could Hyundai finally take victory this weekend? All three crews have shown pace yet have made mistakes and had issues with the car as well.

 

M-Sport have had a couple of tricky rallies with crashes and the team will want to make the finish without any problems. It will be interesting to see what their strategy will be.

 

At Toyota with five cars entered, they will look to Seb and Kalle to keep the Hyundai’s at bay and limit the points their championship rivals can score and hope that Elfyn can maintain a decent lead in the championship.

 

Enjoy!

 

Into the final day then of this very tricky rally which despite its rocky and dusty road often has some very close finishes. Adrien and Alex returned to the action as the Hyundai team were able to sort the damage out after their incident yesterday.

First up then was SS13 San Giacomo – Plebi 1 – 25.19 km and Seb was fastest from Ott and Kalle. The top three overall were making the most of the cleaning road which was opened by Adrien. The stage winning pace from Seb meant he increased his lead over Ott by four and a half seconds.

Into the second stage of the day, SS14 Porto San Paolo 1 – 13.70 km which would be the later power stage and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Ott. Takamoto gained two positions and moved into fifth position. This was after their teammate Sami slowed in the stage losing almost a whole minute to the stage winner.

Time for the penultimate stage then, SS15 San Giacomo – Plebi 2 – 25.19 km and Ott was fastest by two and a half seconds from Seb with Kalle third. There were a few leaderboard changes further back as Sami moved back into seventh place, but incredibly Oliver Solberg was actually one place ahead in sixth place, despite driving a Rally2 Yaris.

After a short service break we came to the final stage, SS16 Porto San Paolo 2[Power Stage] – 13.70 km and Thierry set the early pace before the Kalle came through to win the stage by eight or so seconds and Ott was third fastest whilst Takamoto and Elfyn rounded out the final points paying positions in the powerstage. There was some drama for Seb as he lost the rear of his Yaris and nudged a tree at the highest point of the stage. His winning margin in the end was a little under eight seconds.

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

Final Overall Classification – Rally Italia Sardegna

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	3:34:24.5
2	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+7.9
3	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+50.5
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+5:05.7
5	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+7:29.6
6	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris	+8:32.9
7	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+10:29.0
8	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+10:58.7
9	R. Daprà	L. Guglielmetti	Škoda Fabia RS	+12:15.3
10	K. Kajetanowicz	M. Szczepaniak	Toyota GR Yaris	+12:21.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m very happy to secure this win. It was a close fight until the end with Ott and this morning I had the opportunity to build a bit of a margin. Therefore, in the Power Stage I was not pushing for the full points, but we still had to fight with the ruts, and I got caught in a tight corner and preferred to stop and reverse the car. It wasn’t ideal and cost us some Sunday points, but we had enough in hand to achieve our main target which was to win. It’s a very satisfying win for myself and the team, which did a great job after Portugal to improve the car setup and the speed even without a test; the car was enjoyable to drive, and the times were coming more easily.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“I think we can be happy with our weekend. We had a lot of cleaning on Friday and after that we managed it the best we can with a clean and clever drive and maximum points from Sunday. I did everything I could in the Power Stage, and I was surprised by the time gap because it didn’t feel great in such a narrow and slow stage, but I’m happy with the points. In terms of the pace this is probably the best weekend I’ve done in Sardinia, so thanks to the team for the good car.”

Elfyn Evans

“Overall, we have to be satisfied with how our weekend has turned out. Fourth was realistically as much as we could expect starting first on the road on Friday. This is always a rally full of attrition and getting to the end without big issues was vital. The pace of the top three was pretty hot but the positive thing is that we did make clear progress through the rally in terms of feeling, especially in second-pass conditions, so that gives us some positives to take forward to Greece.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a very tough weekend as we expect here, but still, we could finish fifth overall which is not so bad. We had some difficulties during the weekend with the roll and some other things, but this can happen in a rally like this and at the end I felt quite confident with the car. I tried to push in the Power Stage but just made a mistake at the end and got stuck in the very soft and loose surface. So it’s some mixed feelings but I think we are heading in a good direction looking forward to Greece.”

Sami Pajari

“It was a tricky final day for us. The plan was just to get to the finish with a good feeling, but we hit something on the first stage of the day and broke something small in the suspension. We managed to fix it on the road section so that we could continue driving, and then the most important thing was to get to the finish and bring the points back. Up until today I think it was a positive weekend for us. The speed was better and coming more naturally and this is something good to take to Greece.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“We didn’t come into today feeling comfortable to push the limits, as we were struggling to find a good rhythm and balance in the car, but we did our absolute maximum. It has been a very demanding rally, and it’s frustrating to finish second to Seb again. He has been strong this weekend, and at the moment we just don’t have the full package to beat the Toyotas. It was extremely punishing on the stages, and we knew we had to push for as many points as possible but also be very clean and neat, which was a challenge.”

Thierry Neuville

“Overall, I am disappointed in the weekend – I feel we had a lot of back luck on Friday. I still don’t know what went wrong, as I somehow lost control of the car on a flat corner and took off the whole rear. From that point on, there was only today where we could salvage something. Considering our road order, taking five points is not too bad. We will turn the corner soon, the team deserves it; everyone is pushing so hard and I know it will happen. Greece will be tough, it’s very rough and easy to damage the car, but we were able to win from first on the road last year, so starting fifth should be even better for us.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Sardinia was another rally where we were fighting at the top in the beginning, but then something happened that stopped that. I was pleased with my pace on the new stages today, so there are some positives to take from the weekend, and I am determined to turn the negatives into positives by learning from them. There’s things we can definitely improve. The target was a clean rally, which unfortunately didn’t happen, so I will do everything I can to have one in Greece.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“A disappointing weekend for the team with what happened on stage two, but the boys and girls did a good job to get us back on the road. It was quite important to get back out there, because Greece is quickly coming up, so we got some good mileage where we could try things out, collect some data and we’re looking forward to having a better event in Greece.”

Josh McErlean

“A lot of good learning this weekend, and hopefully someday we can use this experience driving first on the road on the first day of a rally! But honestly, a big thanks to the whole team, even in the last service they had a big job to fit a front-left damper in seven minutes! So, a big kudos to them and hopefully we’ve gained some good learning for Greece. It definitely shows us you need to have a good Friday in WRC!”

Jourdan Serderidis

“We end the rally 25th overall, which is better than expected, because looking through the entry list I thought the Top-30 would be the aim. So, we finished 25th, even though we had the roll-on Friday, we lost about three minutes there. For M-Sport it’s not been the best rally so far, with the three cars crashing out on Friday. But thanks to the mechanics, we repaired the cars so we could continue on Saturday and Sunday.”

“Another good point is that we’ve made some developments for the next rally in Greece, and I’m looking forward to a good weekend there soon.”

Romet Jürgenson – WRC2

“In general, it’s been a very positive weekend, the speed is clearly better than in Portugal. That’s what I hoped for, already to be faster on Friday and we were quite consistent as well. Unfortunately, we had the power steering issue which dropped us back, but now we have fought our way back to sixth.”

Oliver Solberg

“Maybe I should have nominated this rally for WRC2 points after all. I’d only been here twice before and without so much experience, I thought it was sensible not to take the points and to focus on learning more about this event.

Before the event, that was sensible. Now, it feels like a bit of a shame. It doesn’t matter. The aim is to win whether we are taking the points or not.

We had a small kiss with the wall on Friday, but after that everything has gone really well. Elliott and the whole team has been amazing and the same with the car.

It was a great weekend. The roads were really tough, but it was a very interesting lesson in working with these new Hankook tyres and making a good strategy to get through the event with the mixture of the hard and soft compound. This has been a hard rally. The temperatures have been high, the car and me and Elliott in the car have worked hard – but it’s been a lot of fun.

Italy has a big passion for rallying, and I think everybody knows we like to go to the place with the big passion for the sport. My dad won here 21 years ago, the first time the WRC came to Sardinia, so it’s nice to take this result.”

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 6

1	E. Evans	133
2	S. Ogier	114
3	K. Rovanperä	113
4	O. Tänak	108
5	T. Neuville	83
6	T. Katsuta	63
7	A. Fourmaux	44
8	S. Pajari	31
9	G. Munster	18
10	J. McErlean	12

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 6

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	312
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	243
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	87
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	48

Summary

What an incredible drive from Seb and Vincent this weekend. Showing their remarkable partnership, they have taken a second win in a row and third of the year. The speculation that they will do a full season will continue. Whether they do is another matter.

For Ott and Martin, a third podium of the year has taken them to fourth in the championship and a good twenty-five points ahead of their reigning champion teammates.

Kalle and Jonne took a good podium with third place. They we’re really on the pace early on Friday and were even at some points slower than Elfyn and Scott. They turned it around with some changes to their car set-up giving them the ability to push harder and this took them ahead of their teammate and championship leaders. They are now within twenty-points behind Elfyn and Scott and third in the championship standings.

Next up is the Acropolis Rally held over the final weekend of June from the 26^th to 29^th.

Onto Saturday’s 121km’s over six stages then and we had a number of returning crews following incident’s from Friday’s stages. Two of the M-Sport crews returned with both Greg and Josh returning as well as Thierry for Hyundai. The M-Sport duo would open the road, with Josh heading first into the stages throughout the day.

First up was SS7 Coiluna – Loelle 1 – 21.18 km and Seb was fastest from Kalle and Ott. The gap between Seb and Adrien who held second overall grew to 7.4 seconds. Meanwhile Kalle’s pace took him ahead of his teammate Sami and into fourth place.

Into SS8 Lerno – Su Filigosu 1 – 24.34 km and Ott was fastest from Seb and Kalle. Adrien fell from the podium positions after getting a puncture which he and co-driver Alex changed at around 5km’s into the stage. The result of this was he emerged from the stage in seventh position.

The final morning stage then, SS9 Tula – Erula 1 – 15.28 km before service saw Seb again set the pace from Kalle and Ott. Adrien had more problems on this stage going off road and losing two more positions.

After the service break SS10 Coiluna – Loelle 2 – 21.18 km was next and Ott was fastest from Seb and Kalle. Adrien found some luck and pace to go fourth fastest and climbed two positions back into seventh. However, at Toyota, Takamoto fell to tenth position after suffering a puncture.

There was more drama in SS11 Lerno – Su Filigosu 2 – 24.34 km with both Elfyn and Sami getting punctures in the stage. They both stopped in the stage to change the tyre. Of course, they were in fourth and fifth coming into the stage and Elfyn ended up passing his younger teammate as he and Scott were able to change the tyre quicker. Ott was fastest from Seb and Takamoto. Adrien luck ran out again as he rolled his car at 1.9km’s into the stage. He was out again sadly.

The final stage then of the day, SS12 Tula – Erula 2 – 15.28 km which had really rutted up and become very rough with rocks over the stages. Seb was fastest from Ott and Kalle and the gap between the top two was just 11.1 seconds.

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

Classification after Day Two

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:32:38.9
2	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+11.1
3	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+55.5
4	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:33.3
5	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+4:56.3
6	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+5:59.6
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+6:11.4
8	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris	+6:19.5
9	E. Lindholm	R. Hämäläinen	Škoda Fabia RS	+6:36.6
10	L. Joona	S. Vaarleri	Škoda Fabia RS	+7:48.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m happy with how we managed today. It was a long and demanding day with rougher sections than yesterday, especially this afternoon. The lead is not a huge one, but we will certainly take it. It’s always nice to fight with Ott and we know that he always pushes hard, so we will have to be at our maximum tomorrow if we want to win. It’s a long final day with new and difficult stages and we need to prepare as well as we can because it’s going to be intense. Everyone will be pushing hard for points so I’m sure it will be interesting to watch.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Today we continued with the better feeling that we had in the car yesterday afternoon, and that together with the better starting position was making a big difference on the first pass. The morning was surprisingly rough already, so we were expecting the afternoon to be tough, and it definitely was. There were quite a few surprises, so I’m happy to finish the day without any issues. Tomorrow won’t be easy at all with the new stages, and it could be quite rough again, but let’s see what we can do.”

Elfyn Evans

“Conditions were tough today like always here in Sardinia. We were just trying to drive at a good pace and with a good feeling in the car and trying to stay out of trouble. The puncture this afternoon was not ideal – it was an exposed rocky place that I tried to avoid, but in doing so I perhaps made it worse for myself – but with Sami losing more time than us we were able to gain a place. Fourth is not a bad position but attention turns to trying to score some extra points tomorrow. It won’t be easy with the strong pace of the guys ahead, but we’ll give it a go.”

Sami Pajari

“This morning I was expecting a big push from Kalle and from the top three. The feeling for me wasn’t too bad, but I was probably a bit on the safe side and could have been quicker. Still this afternoon we were having quite a nice flow until we got the puncture. At first I tried to continue carefully, but then it started making a lot of noise and we stopped to change it and not damage the car. In the end, it wasn’t so bad, we just swapped places with Elfyn. Then I was careful on the last stage, but I hope to find a good flow again tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today I was focused on getting a good feeling in the car and trying some different things with the setup. Unfortunately, we had to stop and change a tyre in the first stage of the afternoon, but after that the pace was pretty good and I felt quite confident with the car. I didn’t expect that I could set those kind of times from my starting position. Tomorrow’s stages are a bit different to today’s, so I will need to find the right compromise in the setup and my driving.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Today has been all about managing the tyre wear but also the risk of punctures. The roads have been very punishing with a lot of loose stones and bedrock, as well as many surprises, so it has been quite the challenge today. We were trying to keep a good rhythm, as well as a good gap to Kalle behind us. Now our aim is to continue that tomorrow, although the nature of rallying means it is very difficult to forecast what will happen next. Tomorrow is a very different day, and we don’t expect it to be easy, but we will give it our best.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was hot and exhausting out there, but it was a clean run through the stages for us. We tried some new settings to see if we could find something interesting for tomorrow, as we have everything to play for. Obviously, our new road position will help after we managed to catch Jourdan Serderidis, but we didn’t expect our team-mates to crash out and to gain a place as a result. It’s going to be tough with two brand-new stages and a lot of cleaning expected, but anything is still possible. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“On approach to a corner that was tightening, I confused two trees and missed the braking point, which was enough to go wide and cause the car to roll. I think the car can be repaired, but we won’t know until we have a proper inspection. It was a shame to end the day like this, as I already knew Elfyn had a puncture on the stage, so decided to go with higher tyre pressures to avoid one myself, but I should have also avoided missing the braking point.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a fantastic day. We’ve been able to find a nice rhythm and show some good speed. It’s always such a fine line on this rally between setting fast times and making the finish. You have to be quick, but not too quick. I think we’ve been nice and consistent today.

“I’m here to take more experience and that’s what I’m doing – the feeling is nice from the car and hopefully we can bring everything home tomorrow. Winning all of the stages except for the first one is good for Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and me. We missed [winning] the first one this morning when we had a little bit of a handbrake problem caused by a sensor.

“We had to make some nice Scandinavian flicks to get through some of the hairpins – that was a lot of fun. We reset the sensor after that stage, and it was fine for the rest of the day.

“Tomorrow is still quite an intense day, with a lot of kilometres still to come and some really tricky sections in the two stages.”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle four stages. However, with two of them being 25km’s in length the total stage distance is almost 78km’s. There will not be any cruising around out there, particularly with just a little over ten seconds between the top two. What can Thierry do as well to score some points?

The first full day of this season’s round on the island paradise and there was loads of drama in the stages. Of course, compared to last year there were 50km’s extra with an extra two stages giving a total distance of 120km’s.

As mentioned in my preview as they are championship leaders Elfyn and Scott would open the road, whilst their teammates at Toyota due to their current championship position would potentially have a road advantage due to the top surface being swept clean by the number 33 Toyota.

Also eyeing up an advantage would be the Hyundai team and their three crews given their present position in the championship. The team have not yet taken a victory this year but have been knocking on the door with Ott and Martin.

Into the first stage then, SS1 Arzachena 1 – 13.97 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Elfyn and Scott who opened the road managed eighth, 10 or so seconds slower than Seb, but it was a surprise to see Kalle slower as well. He and Jonne were a further two positions back in eleventh place. Josh and Eoin were the top placed M-Sport crew, holding sixth place.

Next up then was SS2 Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda 1 – 18.43 km and Ott was fastest from Thierry and Adrien, a Hyundai, 1-2-3. This led to some significant position changes with Thierry moving into the lead from new second placed Ott who’d gained three positions, whilst Sami remained in third. Seb fell four positions down to fifth overall, whilst teammate Elfyn claimed seventh. There was huge drama for M-Sport though. First Greg took a chunk out of his rear suspension after clipping something at the side of the stage. They finished the stage and would look to carry out repairs. It was worse though for both their teammate. First Josh lost a wheel at around halfway through the stage and would retire. Then Martins hit a fence after a jump and the car rolled a number of times. Both crews were fine, but the loss for the team was huge. Unfortunately, Greg would ultimately have to retire for the day as they could not repair the damage caused.

Onto SS3 Sa Conchedda 1 – 27.95 km which was the longest stage of the day and a much more flowing stage with open corners as opposed to the narrow stage two and this time Adrien was fastest from Takamoto and Seb. The two Frenchman were on the move with Adrien gaining two places and taking the lead and Seb moving into third. Also gaining a position was Kalle as he found some pace and moved into seventh pushing Elfyn down one place.

After the service break came SS4 Arzachena 2 – 13.97 km and Ott set the pace in this one from Thierry and Seb and this meant more changes in the leaderboard. Thierry moved back into the lead, Adrien who was only sixth fastest in the stage fell to second overall and Ott moved back into third overall.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS5 Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda 2 – 18.43 km and Kalle was fastest this time from Ott and Seb. There was drama further back though with Thierry clipping something at the side of the stage and having to retire after losing a wheel. Also having drama was Takamoto and Jourdan who both rolled in the stage at the same place. The fans got them back on four wheels with damaged windscreens and bodywork, but they both finished the stage. The new leader by the way was Adrien who held a 1.2 second lead over Ott with Seb now into third.

Time then for the final stage, SS6 Sa Conchedda 2 – 27.95 km and Seb was fastest from Kalle and Adrien. The multiple champions retook the lead from Adrien whilst Ott was now in third overall. It had been a very good day for Sami who was best of the rest in fourth and within 10 seconds of the podium positions.

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

Classification after Day One

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	1:10:33.1
2	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+2.1
3	O. Tänak	M. Järveoja	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+7.3
4	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+16.8
5	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+22.8
6	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:09.8
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:27.9
8	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+2:33.3
9	E. Lindholm	R. Hämäläinen	Škoda Fabia RS	+2:41.2
10	Y. Rossel	A. Dunand	Citroën C3	+2:57.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“To be in the lead after Friday was not what we were expecting, so we must be very pleased with our day. We made some changes to the setup based on our experience in Portugal and I’m feeling happier with the balance of the car here so far. We had a strong, consistent day and I believe it was our good tyre management that allowed us to take the lead in the last stage of the day. Still, the gaps are very close to Adrien and Ott, so we will need to keep pushing just as hard tomorrow as we did today.”

Sami Pajari

“It has been a really good day for us. I think we have been quite consistently on a solid pace. We maybe had some advantage from the road position compared to some, but I don’t think this was the only reason we could be quick. I don’t feel like I’m pushing more than on previous rallies, rather that the pace is just coming more and more naturally as we get used to the car. I’m sure the top three will be pushing very hard tomorrow and I’ll just be happy if we can keep up the pace we’ve had today.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Overall, it has not been too bad a day for us. We expected this morning to be difficult running second on the road and I struggled to get comfortable with the car. But based on this we could make quite a few small changes around the car in service, and we found a better feeling, and the afternoon was definitely better. Still, I think there was some cleaning for us on the second pass, so I’m really happy to have set such good times. With this better feeling in the car and a better starting place, I hope we can keep up a good pace tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“As we expected it was a challenge to open the road today with quite a big cleaning effect. The feeling in the car this morning was actually not too bad with some improvement from Portugal, but the road was evolving a lot behind us and other drivers could take big chunks of time, especially in the last stage of the loop. In the afternoon there was still some cleaning effect for us, but when the road was hard and rocky I was also struggling more with the feeling, so that’s still something to work on overnight. A better road position will definitely help and we’ll go again tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“At first this morning I struggled with the feeling, but we made some changes to the setup between stages, and it was getting better and better. Unfortunately, in the second stage this afternoon, in a very tight corner, we turned in quicker than I had expected and hit the rock on the inside and rolled. I’m very disappointed but at least we could reach service. We will try to reset tomorrow; it won’t be an easy day, but I will just keep focused and do my best. We have seen how a small mistake can catch people out on this rally, so let’s see what happens.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m quite happy with how my day went, fighting for the lead and finishing just two seconds behind Ogier. Of course, I would prefer to have been ahead of him, but I enjoyed the fight out there. Unfortunately, I changed a few things on the car for the final stage and went too stiff, so I was losing time everywhere. I’ve learned a lot today; it’s been a different experience being in the lead and now I know what to do tomorrow. It’s very small margins, and anything can happen – to get a good result here, first you need to finish.”

Ott Tänak

“It was a tricky morning, but on the first stage of the afternoon I felt the car was working well thanks to more grip and the hard tyre. However, I started to struggle again on the middle stage, and we later discovered we had a damper issue. We just had to get through the final stage, which wasn’t easier with it being both fast and rough at the same time – very punishing for the car. We made some improvements for the second loop, so let’s see how we do on fresh roads tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“It’s disappointing to end our day in retirement – our first since Sardinia last year, so a shame to end our positive run of results. I lost the front of the car on the entry to a corner at high speed, and we went maybe 15cm wide and hit something with the rear, ripping our tyre off too. Unfortunately, that was the end of our running. It was a bit of a surprise as I was close to flat out this morning and similar this afternoon, but unfortunately it didn’t end well for us today.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“What a day! We knew that Sardinia could be tough and today really showed that. The day ends is a very positive way for Elliott [Edmondson, co-driver] and me with fastest [Rally2] time on the last two stages.

“The car was working really nicely; we could follow the line and really commit the car in those two. The second pass of stages here is always tricky, with so many rocks being pulled out into the line – but our Toyota ran really well all day.

“We’re not quite at the front, but I think when you see how tough today has been we can still be in the fight to finish the top Rally2 car.

“We had a small communication issue on the second stage, we kissed a wall and dropped some time. Apart from this, it’s been a good day. Thanks for the whole Printsport team, who have done another great job for Elliott and I today.

“Tomorrow’s going to be another long and tough one, but we’re ready for the challenge!”

 

Saturday

The second day will see the crews tackle 121.6km’s over six stages. Can Seb hold onto the lead, or will we see either of the Hyundai crews move past him?

 

What can Elfyn do with his better road position as well and could he close the gap to the top four?

Time then for the sixth round of this year’s championship and the second in a row on gravel. This round is famous for the dust that is thrown into the air by each passing car, as well as some really rough roads, with large rocks being pulled out and giving the second run of the stages additional risk for the tyres and suspension components.

Interestingly, this season’s round has the same number of stages as last year with sixteen stage, but a longer distance with 320km’s up from 266km’s. The day which has changed a lot is in fact Friday which has changed from four stages and 77km’s to six stages and 120km’s.

Elfyn and Scott will again open the road throughout Friday’s stages and will hope for a better result than last time out in Portugal, but this will depend on the position in which they hold at the end of the first day.

Those with a good stating position will be eyeing up a good result and perhaps victory. In that group will be Ott and Martin who took victory last year and after the pace they had in Portugal the Estonian crew will likely want to repeat this victory this year.

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

Weekend at a Glance 

• Cars take to the stages for the first time with the Olbia Cabu Abbas Shakedown (2.19km) on Thursday afternoon.
• Friday’s itinerary features six stages: Arzachena (SS1/4, 13.97km), Telti-Calangianus-Berchidda (SS2/5, 18.43km) and Sa Conchedda (SS3/6, 27.95km)
• Saturday’s six stages are set to cover 121.60km: Coiluna-Loelle (SS7/10, 21.18km), Lerno-Su Filigosu (SS8/11, 24.34km) and Tula-Erula (SS9/12, 15.28km)
• Competition concludes on Sunday with four stages: San Giacomo-Plebi (SS13/15, 25.19km) and Porto San Paolo (SS14/16, 13.70km).

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“After a bit of a frustrating rally in Portugal we certainly want to be stronger in Sardinia. It’s a similar rally in some ways and maybe a bit more demanding in others. We will also have the challenge again of running first on the road on Friday, although the more typical schedule should hopefully help in that respect. We’re still looking for some more performance on this type of rally, and with the limited testing available it’s not easy to find an immediate solution, but we’re going to give it our best like always and try to come away with as many points as we can.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“Sardinia has always been quite a tricky rally and we know every time we go there that we face a big challenge. The result in Portugal was not so bad considering our start position, but we know that we need to keep working to get the feeling and the pace where we want it to be if we are going to have a good rally in Sardinia. Like always, everybody starts each rally from zero and we will try to do our best to come away with good points again.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Our victory in Portugal is good motivation to keep working hard with the team in this busy period of rallies because we know that we can still improve. Sardinia has always been a difficult challenge, one that it took me some years to master. This year it can be even tougher for our team because we have the top three drivers in the championship, and we will have the biggest job to sweep the road for our rivals on Friday. But I have good memories from our win in 2021 from first on the road and we know well that it’s a rally where anything can happen.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Sardinia is going to be another difficult and demanding rally. We learnt a lot of things about the tyres in Portugal and we need to take that knowledge and adapt it for Sardinia, where the gravel surface is a bit different. In general, it’s going to very important to prepare well and decide upon the right setup, but I know that the team is working very hard on that, and we will do our best to have a good rally.”

Sami Pajari

“For the first time with the Rally1 car I’m going to a rally that has similarities in style to the previous one, so there is more that we can learn and carry from one event to the next. In Portugal we had a nice clean weekend with some consistent speed, and so I’m feeling much more prepared for Sardinia. This was a good rally for me last year, when I won in WRC2, and we should have a nice starting position for Friday so let’s see what we can do.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“Rally Italia Sardegna is an event we’ve always been competitive at. The roads play to our strengths, particularly on the second pass, so we’re really looking forward to it. We learned some things about how the car behaves on this surface in Portugal, so we’ll be taking that knowledge with us to testing. We need to be consistently fast, and there’s no room for mistakes, so we will be pushing across every stage. I want to be fighting for the win, so I need to finish ahead of my main championship rivals.”

Ott Tänak

“Sardegna is another super punishing event. At first, it can look smooth and sandy, but roads normally develop quickly. We can suddenly find solid rocks sticking out from the ground, which will make life hard for both the car and tyres. This year we will have many new stages, but we know these are often quite low grip, which makes driving very challenging on these narrow roads. We know our car is not easy to find good setup for different surfaces, but in the past we have done well in Sardegna. Hopefully, we have done our homework, and we are going to be on the pace from the start!”

Adrien Fourmaux

“We had really good pace on Friday morning in Portugal, but we all know that Rally Italia Sardegna can be a bit different. We got an understanding of how well the tyres are working in the dry conditions; we can push hard, and tyre wear is not so bad. The surface in Sardinia is a bit sandier, and there are some super narrow passes. It’s challenging because you want to commit fully, but there’s not much margin for error. We need to have a clean rally and score some good points for the team – this is crucial for our fight at the moment.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Sardinia is another long-standing event on the WRC calendar, and it’s also where we scored our first top-five result last year, so we’re hoping for a good feeling again! It’s a well-known event, but really quite different to Portugal. The stages can be a lot rougher, and their characteristics vary a lot – sandy, rocky, narrow, and technical.

“There are also a couple of new stages, which will make it interesting for everyone, especially the M-Sport crews as we’re a bit less experienced. We’ve done some good testing and gained some real positives, so hopefully we can see that benefit on the event. And hopefully it stays sunny and dry!”

Josh McErlean

“Rally Sardinia is one of the toughest events on the European calendar – rough, technical, and relentless. But you have to learn to love this rally. It’s a real test for both car and crew, and that’s exactly what makes it so rewarding. We had a positive run in Portugal, and the goal is to carry that rhythm into this weekend.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“After quite an eventful rally in Portugal, I think we’re looking for a trouble-free week to regain some consistency. That’s the goal for Sardinia, because – just like Portugal – it will be our first time there in four-wheel-drive machinery. There will be lots of learning again, and nothing will be easy, but let’s see what it brings!”

Jourdan Serderidis

“Happy to be back in the WRC after our top result in Kenya! We come to Olbia with reasonable optimism; we have good memories from Sardinia 2022 in WRC2, and we had an excellent test last week where we discovered an enhanced package for the Puma. On the technical stages of the island, we believe a top-20 finish is possible for us.”

Romet Jürgenson

“I think going into Sardinia I already feel more confident compared to Portugal. In the past we’ve done some testing there with the Rally3 car and the FIA Rally Star team, and we competed in the rally last year, unfortunately not the full event, but we still gained experience, which definitely helps.

“With the car, on Sunday in Portugal we felt like we were in a good place, so I definitely expect a better performance from myself in Sardinia.”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I’m very pleased to be in Sardinia again, a place where I have so many nice memories – especially from 2022 when we were fighting for the podium in the Rally1 car! I hope I’ll be able to progress with the car during the event and try to get closer to the top. I’m really happy with the work of my engineer and the team to optimise everything with the car, so let’s see what we can do!”

Oliver Solberg

“The start to the season has been pretty good,” Oliver said. “We’ve taken two [WRC2] wins from three starts with the Toyota and the car feels like it’s getting better and better.

“It was quite a change from what I was driving last year and with the three-cylinder engine and a few other things, it maybe took a little bit of time to find my feet with this one. I’ve driven a lot of cars, a lot of R5 and Rally2 cars, so I have a good idea of what I want and how to make a car fast.

“Working with Toyota and the Printsport team has been really good, we’ve worked well together, and the pace is getting better and better. This week is about learning more and more from the car and how it works with the tyres. The new Hankook’s are also quite different from what we had last year, so that takes some time to understand the best set-up and how to get the best from the whole package. I really feel we’re getting there, and Sardinia is another step for that.

“And, yes, it’s fair to say I don’t know this rally so well as some of the others. I started here only two times – I have started Monte Carlo six times now! There’s definitely a rhythm to find on these roads, you can’t push too hard and go too crazy, there will be a rock waiting for you. It’s nice to come here without so much pressure for the [WRC2] points and we can drive our own race and keep trying different solutions for the car.

“At the same time, it’s always nice to come to Italy for a rally. There’s so much history for the sport in this country – and Sardinia is a beautiful place with beautiful weather. It’s going to be a good week.”

 

Summary

Well, who do you think will win this rally and stand on the podium? In my view it is possible to see Ott and Martin take victory this weekend. Also, possible to take a victory are Thierry and Martijn who won this rally a few years ago. Could their teammates Adrien and Alex take their first win? They have shown good very good pace this year.

At Toyota Kalle and Jonne could have a great rally. Although they are starting second on the road, it will be interesting to see if they could win this weekend as well or stand on the podium as they did last time out. Elsewhere Seb and Vincent also return to on a fourth round this year and third in a row for their part time season. For Elfyn and Scott as championship leaders will have to make the best of the road position and hope to take a good level of points away to keep them at the top of the standings.

Finally at M-Sport the young team will continue to develop their pace, whilst learning the stages on this new event. Of course, Greg and Louis have some experience from last year and will hope that they can build on this. For their rookie teammates Josh and Eoin and Martins and Renaur they will just look to build experience with the creation of new notes on stages which they have not driven before.

Enjoy the rally!

Onto the final day then and with 72km’s over seven stages the challenge of this rally was not over. Adrien would continue to open the road throughout the final stages. In addition, there would be no service break or tyre fitting zone giving the crews an extra degree of uncertainty.

First up then was SS19 Paredes 1 – 16.09 km and Kalle set the pace from Thierry and Ott. Also on the pace was Elfyn setting a faster time than Sami and closing the gap to his teammate who held sixth place.

Into SS20 Felgueiras 1 – 8.81 km and Ott was fastest in this one from Kalle and Thierry. Elfyn continued to close on Sami, reducing the gap to 7.1 seconds. The Welshman was on a push to get past his younger teammate. Meanwhile Josh was really showing excellent pace, only 1.5 seconds slower than Sami. The Irishman now had a 40 second lead over his teammate.

The first run of SS21 Fafe 1 – 11.18 km and Ott was fastest in this one as well with Seb second and Thierry third. Elfyn took a further 3.9 seconds from Sami and the Welshman was now just 3.2 seconds from his teammate.

Just three stages left then and first up was SS22 Paredes 2 – 16.09 km. Ott again was fastest from Seb and Kalle. Ott was closing on Kalle for second overall, the gap now just 3.7 seconds between them. Meanwhile there was a change in positions as Elfyn passed Sami for sixth overall. At M-Sport Greg was the fastest of the Puma’s and also quicker than Sami.

We came then to the penultimate stage of the rally, SS23 Felgueiras 2 – 8.81 km and Ott was fastest from Elfyn and Kalle. The Estonian’s pace was clear to see, and he passed Kalle for second overall. He was also just 13.6 seconds behind Seb who took the lead after Ott’s problems. It was an amazing recovery drive for the leading Hyundai crew over the weekend.

Onto the final stage then, SS24 Fafe 2[Power Stage] – 11.18 km and Elfyn set the early benchmark before being outpaced by the top five. Ultimately the top five who took the powerstage points were Ott, Thierry, Kalle, Takamoto and Seb.

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

Final Classification – Rally de Portugal

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:48:35.9 2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +8.7 3 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +12.2 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +38.5 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:41.9 6 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:31.0 7 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:38.3 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +5:12.3 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +5:57.5 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +9:15.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels fantastic to win again here in Portugal. It’s been a very demanding and exhausting week but to get this win for the team and for ourselves is something that was really worth all the effort. It was a tough fight with Ott, and I don’t think we had the pure speed to win without his issue, but rallying is not only about being quick. There were very rough conditions on the second pass of stages and with a strong car and a clever approach we were able to take the opportunity, so thank you to the team.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a long and difficult weekend but any time you can finish on the podium is not bad, especially considering the road cleaning we faced running second on the road on Friday. In the end we were able to catch some good points for the championship. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t have a bit more pace today in our fight for second place with a better starting position, so we are still missing something and need to keep working for the next rallies.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It has been a very demanding weekend, but I think it was not a bad one for us. The car was working well, and I felt comfortable, and we had good pace at the beginning of the rally. I’m pleased to finish the rally in fifth position; of course, I would have liked more but there were a lot of things to learn about the new tyres especially and I can see that we have the potential to be better.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been an easy weekend for us and I’m quite relieved to be at the end. Obviously opening the road on Friday was tough for us but we were also missing quite a bit of performance especially from the middle of Friday onwards. We haven’t collected as many points as we would have liked so it’s been a frustrating weekend, and now we just have to work to try and be better on the next rally in Sardinia.”

Sami Pajari

“It has been a good, clean weekend for us and exactly what we wanted. Our plan was to get more experience on this kind of more twisty gravel roads with the Rally1 car and try to have some solid, consistent speed. That’s what we were able to do, with no big mistakes or issues, so I’m really happy with that. A big thanks to the team and let’s try to continue like this in Sardinia.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“In a way this weekend was very frustrating. I hate to lose like this, especially at an event that is very special to me. This is the first time in a long time that we were able to really enjoy our drive, and it was a lot of fun, but while our speed was there the car is maybe missing a bit of the robustness needed to win. Nevertheless, it was definitely a big improvement compared to Rally Islas Canarias, and we are definitely back in the game – now we need to build on that. We’ve only had Toyotas winning rallies so far this season, and it’s time to change that.”

Thierry Neuville

“We made a small mistake on Friday that maybe cost us a position for Saturday, but I think we finished in the same position we would have done without it. My instinct tells me I wouldn’t have been able to fight with Ott today. We didn’t struggle too much this weekend; the performance was there, and our times were good, so I think overall we are satisfied. There are a few things I know we can do to get a bit more speed out of the car, so if we can find that extra performance for Sardinia, we can get a better road position.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Today was tough for us from the start. We were first on the road, so we were doing a lot of sweeping for the rest of the field. We wanted to score some good Super Sunday points but unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible. The whole weekend has been frustrating for us after the great start we had on Friday, but the broken suspension took us out of the fight for the lead as well as made it really difficult to score any points. Despite this, we can still take away a lot of positives; the car has the pace and we got to know these Hankook tyres. We will now shift our focus to a strong weekend at Rally Italia Sardegna.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“Honestly it’s been a really nice weekend and we’ve loved every moment of it. It’s been a crazy rally as always, it’s so nice to come to the finish clean and with some good times as well. A big thanks to all the team, to run four cars with no problems is a great achievement for them. We’ve had a lot of friends and family at home watching, and lots of Irish flags on the stages too which is so nice to see. Now on to Sardinia!”

Grégoire Munster

“It’s been a really tough event, we got some things right and some things wrong and the result isn’t exactly there, but at least we managed to get back the feeling towards the end.

“We had an ok run just then in the power stage, the first two kilometres were ok, but in two ruts we slid wide, and we lost a lot of time. But we didn’t give up and we tried to push and gain back some time, I think we had some pace towards the end.”

Mārtiņš Sesks

“It was a challenging week — a good experience for sure. Not everything went as planned, but it never does! It was a valuable learning opportunity for us.

“I would say everything started to go wrong with the puncture. The stage after felt quite strange, so we made some changes to the set-up, but from that point on we struggled with the feeling. We kept having bad luck, but if you take away the lost time, we were close to our teammates — and for our first time in Portugal in a Rally1 car, that’s pretty good. We didn’t expect it to be this tough!”

Pierre-Louis Loubet

“I’m pleased with the result for our first time with the car. We optimised the package, and I think we did the maximum we could. There are some small things to improve on, and we know where we can develop. I’m very happy to be part of the team, and I’m looking forward to the next event — I hope we’ll be even better!”

Romet Jürgenson

“There’s a big contrast between where we were on Friday and where we are now on Sunday. On some stages — for example, Parades — we showed really decent pace, so we can be happy with that. We were on the same level as Pierre on some stages too, so there were definitely big improvements.

“I lacked a bit of confidence and motivation at times, honestly, because some of the stage times were a bit of a shock to us. But at least we’re here, and we’ve gained a lot of valuable experience.”

Diogo Salvi

“What a party! I enjoyed it. We took it very slowly, but I still had a great time. It’s been a pleasure working with Axel — he’s been very professional, talented, and patient with me throughout the weekend!

“Everyone at M-Sport has been tremendous — the engineers, mechanics, and all the support staff. Everything has been perfect. Thanks also to my family for coming to support me — even my partner, who hates rally! We’ve had a fantastic time.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“I am very, very happy with this result,” smiled Oliver. “We all know how big rallying is in this part of the world and we’ve seen that all the way through this event – so many people, so many fans absolutely everywhere. The atmosphere has been amazing!

“I wasn’t so sure what to expect from the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at the start of the event. We hadn’t done a rally on this kind of surface and with these kind of roads in this car. Printsport did a fantastic job to help me get what I wanted from it. I think there’s still some more speed to come from me and the car, but I’m really happy with what we found.

“For the rally itself, we knew this would be a really tough Friday. It was so long and really hard on the tyres and the car. We pushed as much as we could, we wanted to make an advantage and we managed that. After that, through Saturday and Sunday, it was a little bit more about managing that lead.

“I’ve been so close to winning this rally for the last two years, it’s really nice to finally get it done today. The win is a big thing for me and Elliott, but maybe the bigger thing is the maximum points – they are so important this year. We want that title.

“Like you could imagine, it would have been nice to say a big thank you to the crowds in places like Lousada and Fafe – it would have been nice to do some donuts, but we didn’t do that. We were staying out of the stewards’ room on this one!

“I have one word for the fans though: obrigado! We say it every year, but they’re just amazing. From the moment you land into the country for the recce, they are smiling and talking and cheering – the passion here is incredible. It’s fantastic.

“Tonight, we can celebrate a really good result with some great speed from the car and great work from everybody in the team. Thank you.”

 

Summary

Well, what a result in the end for Seb and Vincent taking Toyota’s fifth win of the year. To be honest though they were lucky to pick this up as Ott and Martin would have won this rally without the failure of the powersteering.

Elsewhere Kalle and Jonne took a good podium and good points for themselves in the drivers’ championship and is 30 points behind his teammate now holding second in the championship.

Next up is Rally Italia Sardegna over the weekend of the 5^th to 8^th of June.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 5

1 E. Evans 118 2 K. Rovanperä 88 3 S. Ogier 86 4 O. Tänak 84 5 T. Neuville 78 6 T. Katsuta 51 7 A. Fourmaux 44 8 S. Pajari 25 9 G. Munster 18 10 J. McErlean 12

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 5

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 258 2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 203 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 72 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 36

Onto the second day then of this classic event and the crews would have 122.92km’s over seven stages with three in the morning and the remaining in the afternoon and early evening. Adrien returned to the action and would open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS12 Vieira do Minho 1 – 17.69 km and Seb was fastest out of the blocks, setting the best time from Ott and Kalle. The double Finnish champion was able to gain one position and moved into third overall at the expense of his Japanese teammate Takamoto. Further back Josh passed his own teammate Greg and moved into eighth position.

Into SS13 Cabeceiras de Basto 1 – 19.91 km and once again Seb set the pace going fastest from Takamoto and Ott a further 2.4 seconds behind. The Frenchman was closing the gap to Ott who had a reduced lead of just two seconds. There was a swap again in positions between Takamoto who regained third position from Kalle.

The final stage of the morning then, SS14 Amarante 1 – 22.10 km and Ott hit back setting the fastest time from Kalle and Takamoto. Seb was only fifth fastest and was now 11.8 seconds from Ott. Incredibly Kalle repassed Takamoto for third place again. Further back Elfyn was losing a few seconds to his younger rookie teammate in their fight over sixth place.

After lunchtime service came the second running of SS15 Vieira do Minho 2 – 17.69 km. Ott was fastest by just three tenths of a second over Seb, the gap between them now 12.1 seconds. Kalle was third fastest and building a gap over Takamoto whose pace was not where it had been earlier. Martins in the Puma was the fastest of the three M-Sport Ford crews in the stage whilst Josh remained the highest placed driver from the team holding eighth overall.

SS16 Cabeceiras de Basto 2 – 19.91 km was next and Ott again was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Martins was again fastest of the M-Sport crews, setting the sixth best time. The top M-Sport crew remained Josh who still held eighth place.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS17 Amarante 2 – 22.10 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Thierry. However, there was drama for the overall leader Ott who at around two thirds of the stage completed had a failure of his powersteering giving him a huge issue with the control of the car. In fact, Martin took over changing gear for Ott. This all meant that the lead changed after the Estonian lost 46 seconds and fell to third overall. Also gaining a position was Thierry as he passed Takamoto for fourth overall.

The final stage then, SS18 SSS Lousada – 3.52 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Sami. Ott managed to keep third overall with a gritty drive in the Superspecial. Greg was the top M-Sport Ford crew in this one setting the seventh fastest time.

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

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:01:04.7 2 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +27.6 3 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +36.1 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +44.6 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +46.8 6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:58.4 7 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:15.9 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:13.2 9 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +4:41.7 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +7:07.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been the day we were hoping for today. The feeling hasn’t been too bad behind the wheel, but we weren’t able to find the speed to go with it. We won’t give up though and we have to stay positive and try to find something to improve for tomorrow. The pace was there at the start of the weekend, so we have to understand why it’s gone the way it has. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll give it everything to push for some more points.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been quite a good day for us in the sense that we were able to gain a couple of positions, both in the overall standings and in the road order for tomorrow. We had much softer conditions than we have seen here before and the second pass was really rough, so it was tough for the tyres and the cars. We haven’t quite had the optimal speed so it might not be easy to keep Ott behind us, but of course we will try our best tomorrow to take as many points as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been another tough day today. This morning it was quite enjoyable but in the afternoon the conditions were so rough with huge ruts. It took a lot of effort to keep it on the road without issues and I was glad to get to the end of the day. It was not the way we would have liked to take the lead, and I really feel sorry for Ott, but it’s also part of the game in this sport and things like this can happen, especially when conditions are rough like today. We just have to focus on our job and try to finish it tomorrow on what is still a long and demanding Sunday.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning I had a good comfortable feeling in the car and good pace, and I was able to have a nice fun fight with Kalle. In the afternoon, when the conditions totally changed and became rougher, it was much harder and unfortunately we lost a position. But now I just need to focus on what I can do tomorrow. The gaps are still quite close, and I will try to keep pushing and see what happens.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m quite happy with the performance that we had today. It’s not so easy to read the pace because we could see there was some road cleaning effect. The morning especially was quite enjoyable with a nice flow. This afternoon there were some extremely rough sections, which was something new for me in this car, but we managed to get through it and let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“The power steering loss was sudden, and obviously the stage still had a lot of bedrock and roughness to it, so there wasn’t anything else I could do. The first stage this morning was not so great, but after that we managed to find something that clicked. I really enjoyed driving the car out there today and was controlling the pace and feeling good grip. Obviously, our issue was very unfortunate, but we are still in the fight tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“We had a solid day today. The car was feeling good, and it allowed us to push on every stage – today was strong and we are satisfied with the position we are in considering our road position. We’re never 100% happy with the pace but it was definitely there, and we were similar to Kalle despite having different tyre choices. There’s still a lot to learn about the tyres. With six stages left and now being so close to the podium, we will be going full attack tomorrow.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“It has been a mixed day for us today. It was challenging to open the road, but we found some improvements within the setup, and we are happy with the changes we made. Nevertheless, it’s frustrating when you don’t have a fight going on around you and you are just driving in a league of your own. We’re keeping our heads up and we are going into Sunday fully focused on maximising our points tomorrow.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been another good day,” said Oliver. “We had to use more of the hard tyre today and that took some more getting used to on these roads. Yesterday, there was more of a hard base to the road, but today it’s a little bit softer with some more ruts and rocks being pulled out.

“The feeling from the car on these tyres is not quite like it was yesterday, but at the same time we have a good lead and we’re just trying to manage that gap. We are trying to go around every rock, but there are quite a lot of them!

“The last stage in Lousada was really cool, like always. No donuts this time, but I hope we still managed to give everybody a bit of a show. The fans here are just incredible, it’s really like an honour to come and drive in front of them. I wanted to make some tyre smoke and slide the car a little bit.

“And there’s more of that coming tomorrow with the really famous Fafe stage. That place is just incredible – the fans have been up there and sleeping up there for days waiting to get their party started!”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle six stages over 72km’s. Can Seb hold on and take a seventh victory in this rally or will there be more drama for the crews?