We are in the twilight stage now of the ABB FIA Formula E Season 11 with Shanghai delivering 2 surprising winners in Max Guenther and Nick Cassidy. Now we head to the final location of the single race weekend of the calendar: Jakarta. Circuit preview:
Jakarta Circuit Map from Season 9. Image Credit: Formula E Documenation
Note: FIA hasn’t updated the circuit map for season 11 yet, so this is from season 9.
Having skipped the Indonesian city in Season 10, we return for the final time in Gen3/Gen3 Evo. The start/finish straight makes it ideal for overtaking, as do turns 3 to 7. The tight and twisty sections of turns 8 to 12 will test our drivers before a straight from turns 12 to 13 finishes the lap with 2 back-to-back left turns with a final right to complete the lap.
Predictions:
Pole Position: Max Guenther
The current DS Penske driver won the last Jakarta E-Prix when he was a Maserati MSG Racing driver. I can see this momentum holding up to take pole.
Race winner: Oliver Rowland
No big surprise, as Rowland has been the man of the moment, although Shanghai was a massive disappointment given he didn’t win either race. If he wants to maintain his lead in the drivers’ championship and round it out in Berlin, a win will be required here.
Podium: Nick Cassidy and Max Günther
Off the back of his sensational win in Shanghai, Nick Cassidy seems to be pushing hard in what looks to be his final year as a Jaguar TCS Racing driver. He will want to end the season on a high before departing for a new team.
As for Max Guenther, as a pole sitter, he will try to maximize this to a win; however, this seems unlikely given the pace of Rowland and Cassidy.
Toprak Razgatlioglu has slashed the championship points lead of Nicolo Bulega after the BMW rider romped to a treble of victories in Misano and his Ducati rival went pointless in the Tissot Superpole Race.
TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE
With Bulega now able to start on pole position having served his 3-place grid penalty in Race 1 yesterday, he was keen to get the hole-shot into the first corner. However, Axel Bassani (gambling on qualifying tyres for the half-distance event) got a much better launch but went into turn 1 too fast and eliminated himself and Bulega on the spot.
Thankfully neither of the Italian riders were injured on home soil and were able to race again in the full-distance race in the afternoon. Bulega was fuming that Bassani did not immediately offer an apology and the latter was dealt a double long-lap penalty for Race 2.
Razgatlioglu was very fortunate to have avoided the chaos at turn 1 and after his main rival went down the half-distance race was a foregone conclusion. The Turkish rider came home 4 seconds clear of an impressive Alex Lowes (also on qualifying rubber) in 2nd place who secured the first podium finish for Bimota in 25 years that arguably might have gone to his teammate if not for the accident at turn 1.
The rival Yamahas of Andrea Locatelli and Remy Gardner squabbled over 3rd place on lap 1 and their resulting battle left the latter vulnerable to Danilo Petrucci. Unfortunately for Petrucci’s teammate and compatriot Yari Montella he crashed out while chasing Iker Lecuona for the final points-paying position in 9th.
Andrea Iannone was given yet another double long-lap penalty for jumping the start having already been found guilty of the same offence twice before this year. That ruled him out of the fight for points, where the man with the most pace on Sunday morning was Alvaro Bautista.
Bautista was determined to improve his grid position for Race 2 by finishing in the top 9 of the Tissot Superpole Race and eventually made it past Gardner for 5th. Gardner then slipped behind Sam Lowes and Jonathan Rea, who was finally showing some promising pace in his injury-affected 2025 campaign.
TISSOT SUPERPOLE RACE RESULTS
Image Credit: WorldSBK
RACE 2
Having dropped 12 points to Razgatlioglu in the Tissot Superpole Race and consigned to starting in 10th for Race 2 of the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round, Bulega had a point to prove on Sunday afternoon. The championship leader had made it into 2nd place with 17 laps still to go, but it was already too late to catch Razgatlioglu up front who won by a dominant margin of almost 10 seconds.
Once Razgatlioglu survived the first lap in the lead from pole position the ‘treble’ never looked in doubt. This was the second time in as many years that Razagtlioglu had won all three races in Misano and he has now cut the points gap to Bulega down to just 9 points at the halfway point of the season.
In the sweltering Sunday afternoon heat that was 3 degrees hotter than Race 1 a day earlier, Locatelli, Petrucci and Alex Lowes were once again the riders who ran behind Razgatlioglu. Bautista took some time to get up to speed but after being passed by his charging teammate the Spaniard began his pursuit of the podium.
Around the halfway point of the race, Bautista engaged in battle with Locatelli for 3rd and sealed the deal with a move at turn 10. It was particularly important for Bautista to have a good result as it was revealed ahead of the Misano weekend that negotiations between himself and his factory Ducati team had broken down over a 2026 contract.
Gardner and Montella suffered a high-speed crash while Jonathan Rea slid out of 9th to end his encouraging weekend on a low. Likewise, Alex Lowes crashed out of 6th after his and Bimota’s breakthrough podium finish earlier in the day but recovered to finish 14th.
The double long-lap penalty for torpedoing Bulega in the Tissot Superpole Race cost the other Bimota of Bassani any chance of a good result after such a strong qualifying earlier in the weekend, while Iannone’s nightmare weekend continued with a crash two laps from home.
The attrition left Locatelli ahead of Petrucci in 4th, with the Italian struggling to keep the Lowes brothers and the Lecuona behind. Once Alex Lowes slid off, Petrucci just held on ahead of Lecuona and Sam Lowes for another solid result that helps keep him narrowly ahead of the factory Ducati of Bautista in the championship.
There was a monumental gap between Sam Lowes in 7th and Garrett Gerloff in 8th. The fight over P8 however was absolutely thrilling.
Gerloff prevailed over Xavi Vierge, an under-pressure Michael van der Mark and an impressive Ryan Vickers but the race-long fight for 8th also featured Iannone and Scott Redding before they both crashed out with less than 2 laps to go. The battles further down the grid compensated for the lack of action at the sharp end as an ecstatic Razgatlioglu gets ever more motivated to switch to MotoGP next year as the reigning World Superbike champion, but Bulega is far from beaten as the season concludes its first half…
After inheriting pole position but falling to third at the start, Toprak Razgatlioglu fresh from the news of his move to MotoGP calmly retook the lead of Race 1 at the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round to ominously breeze past home hero Nicolo Bulega.
In the 30 Degrees Celsius Saturday afternoon sunshine, there was some great action on lap 1 as Bulega shot through from 4th on the grid (having been penalised three spots after going fastest in Superpole) to take the lead through the fast turn 11 from Axel Bassani. Bassani had stolen the lead after Razgatlioglu ran wide through the long left-hander of turn 5 while Dominique Aegerter and Bahattin Sofuoglu both went down at the same spot seconds later.
Alex Lowes put a move on Andrea Locatelli for 4th on lap 2 but just seconds later his Bimota teammate Bassani crashed out, as did Andrea Iannone. This left Razgatlioglu free to chase after Bulega and the two left Lowes behind on track, with the gap already being at 4 seconds by lap 4.
By the 5th lap, Razgatlioglu was confidently closing on Bulega and easily swept past in a move that saw him encounter little defence. Bulega simply had to accept that his BMW rival was a cut above the rest at the circuit where the Turk had performed a hat-trick one year ago and the race was ultimately settled at this point.
Danilo Petrucci had passed Locatelli for 4th and set about catching Lowes for 3rd. It appeared that Petrucci had sealed the deal but with 6 laps to go Lowes retaliated, only for the Italian to get back ahead a couple of corners later in an interesting duel for the final spot on the podium.
Behind the top 4 came Locatelli who held off Alvaro Bautista for 5th then Sam Lowes and Yari Montella were behind and closely contested 7th place. Scott Redding sandwiched the Honda duo with Jonathan Rea, Ryan Vickers, Garrett Gerloff and a returning Michael Ruben Rinaldi rounding out the points scorers.
A thrilling last corner overtake reminds us how close the racing is in Moto3™ . David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) finally broke through for his first Grand Prix victory at the GoPro Grand Prix of Aragon, pulling off a perfectly judged final-corner move on rookie star Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Viel Aspar Team) to clinch the win by just 0.050 seconds.
Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completed the podium, continuing his quietly impressive rookie campaign with a strong late-race charge. But it was a race to forget for his teammate and current points leader Jose Antonio Rueda, who had led for much of the contest before a costly last-lap error dropped him to P8 at the flag.
Photo Credit: Rob Gray (Polarity Photo)
Rueda nailed the holeshot and led through the opening sector, while Quiles rocketed through from the second row to slot into second by Turn 3. The duo quickly broke clear with Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and David Almansa (Leopard Racing) giving chase, forming an early lead group. But Moto3™ being what it is, the pack soon swelled again. Unfortunately, the field was down a rider early on as Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) retired with a mechanical issue, and Vicente Perez (LEVELUP-MTA) took out Stefano Nepa (SIC58) at Turn 9.
By Lap 12, the tide began to turn. Lunetta and Muñoz both made aggressive moves on Rueda, shuffling the #99 back to sixth. Almansa capitalized to hit the front with five laps remaining, his weekend pace finally converting into race-leading form. Behind him, Carpe, Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI), Ryusei Yamanaka, and Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) kept the fight for the podium wide open.
Quiles reclaimed the lead with two laps to go, looking composed as the front group of ten barreled toward the finale. Muñoz hit back on the penultimate lap, but it was all to play for. Then came the mistake—Rueda ran deep into Turn 1 on the final lap, undoing all his earlier work and tumbling down the order.
Photo Credit: Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool
Down the long back straight and into the final corner, Quiles held the advantage. But Muñoz, calm and calculating, made a clean, clinical move to dive up the inside. Quiles tried to retaliate with a final drag to the line but fell heartbreakingly short—just 0.050s the margin between victory and a continued wait for that first win.
David Almansa claimed a career-best P4, narrowly missing the podium but showing clear upward momentum. Lunetta and Piqueras followed in fifth and sixth, the latter closing the gap slightly in the Championship standings. Kelso crossed the line in seventh ahead of Rueda, whose P8 result leaves him with a bitter taste after leading so much of the race.
Ryusei Yamanaka and Cormac Buchanan completed the top ten, the New Zealander earning his best-ever result in Moto3™ after an assured ride. Taiyo Furusato, after his best-ever qualifying, just missed the top ten and had to settle for P11.
Photo credit: Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool
Jose Antonio Rueda may have had a rough ride to P8 in Aragon, but his early-season dominance means he still holds a commanding 52-point lead in the Moto3™ World Championship. With 149 points, he remains the clear favourite—but that margin is beginning to look more manageable for the chasing pack.
Angel Piqueras sits second on 97 points. The Spaniard hasn’t had the cleanest run of late, but consistent top-ten finishes and flashes of pace suggest he’s still the most likely challenger. A big result at the next round could really tighten things up.
Just behind, a cluster of riders are separated by less than a race win:
Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) – 86 pts
Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – 85 pts
Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) – 67 pts
Kelso has been in the mix regularly but still seeks a win. Carpe, meanwhile, is quietly having one of the best rookie seasons on the grid, now just 1 point off P3 in the standings. Furusato rounds out the top five and remains a wildcard threat—especially on Sundays.
Feature image credit: Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool
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.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 5 – 8 June 2025 Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
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 26th to 29th.
Dan Rowbottom took his second win of the season and thrust himself into championship contention with a victory in round 12 at Thruxton.
The NAPA Racing man took the lead on lap one, and didn’t lose it in what was a frantic final race of the day.
It was Jake Hill who took the lead off the start, jumping front row starters James Dorlin and Senna Proctor into first place. Rowbottom got past the pair too and chased down Hill. By the end of lap one Rowbottom’s Focus was in the lead with Hill second.
Dan Cammish had made it into third and was being the perfect wingman for his teammate in front, by harassing Hill and allowing Rowbottom to pull away.
Not to be outperformed, fellow NAPA driver Ash Sutton was hot on the heels of title rival Tom Ingram in fourth. The two championship protagonists made contact coming out of the Complex but nothing too serious. Ingram going wide and losing ground.
The safety car was deployed on lap eight when Adam Morgan crashed out going into turn one. The Vertu Hyundai driver was looking to get a more sweeping line into the right hand corner, but pitched a wheel on the grass and it sent him spinning into the wall and out.
On the restart Ronan Pearson was out of the race, his bonnet flying up and causing damage. He became the second Toyota to retire with Dorlin already out earlier in the race.
The main flashpoint of the race came on lap 12 when Sutton tried a move on the outside Hill. But the BMW man ran wide, taking Sutton with him, and pitching him into a spin. The pair haemorrhaging places with Senna Proctor the main beneficiary.
Proctor’s fine weekend ensured he finished fourth, heralding three top ten finishes on his return to the sport, his first BTCC race since 2021.
Rowbottom secured the win, becoming only the second driver to win multiple races this season. Ingram finished second with Cammish third.
Proctor came home fourth with Sutton recovering for fifth, three NAPA cars in the top five. Chris Smiley and Aron Taylor-Smith were next with Josh Cook coming from the back of the grid to finish eighth. Tom Chilton was ninth and Dan Lloyd tenth. He’d finished seventh on the road but was given a five second penalty for a false start.
Gordon Shedden was 11th with Sam Osborne, Aiden Moffat, Mikey Doble and Daryl DeLeon rounding off the points finishes.
Sutton leads the championship by nine points from Ingram going into the next set of races at Oulton Park. Rowbottom’s win moves him into third in the standings with it all still to play for.
Ash Sutton stormed to this third win of the season in round 11 at Thruxton. He was unchallenged and comfortably secured victory, with title rival Tom Ingram second and Josh Cook securing another third place finish.
Sutton, the only multiple winner so far this season, got the best possible start off the line, surging from fourth to first by the end of the first corner. He scythed between Cook and Dan Cammish in front, before diving down the inside of Ingram at turn one. He built a lead of near two seconds and never surrendered it.
Ingram was largely unchallenged behind from Cook, with the title in mind, the Hyundai man held off Cook’s Honda for second.
Further down the field there were some scrappy moments. Jake Hill was in the wars, making contact with Adam Morgan into the final chicane – pitching the latter into a half spin. Hill then also battled Dan Rowbottom throughout as well as Cammish, with both Ford drivers finishing ahead of Hill’s WSR BMW.
Sutton, Ingram and Cook took the top three spots, but Cook was disqualified after the race for failing the ride height check in parc ferme, with everyone moving up a place.
Rowbottom took third, with Cammish and Hill battling for fourth. Senna Proctor’s fine return to the championship continued with a seventh place finish on the road, promoted to sixth, from ninth on the grid in his Hyundai. He was initially rewarded with reverse grid pole for race three but Cook’s exclusion means that now goes to James Dorlin.
James Dorlin had another fine race as the Toyota Gazoo Racing team are still getting to grips with the Corolla this season, he took seventh. Chris Smiley, Daryl DeLeon and Dan Lloyd rounded off the top ten.
Charles Rainford was next, ahead of Adam Morgan, who had finished eighth on the road but a track limits penalty sent him down to 13th before being promoted back to 12th.
The final points places were taken by Aiden Moffat, Ronan Pearson and Dexter Patterson.
Tom Ingram became the ninth different race winner from ten rounds as he cruised to victory in race one at Thruxton.
The Hyundai driver gained the lead from Ash Sutton and sailed into the distance for his 34th BTCC win. Dan Cammish secured second, but the story of race one was Josh Cook taking third in his ONE Motorsport Honda.
Having crashed heavily in qualifying, resulting in a trip to A&E for Cook, and a late night for the mechanics, Cook started 14th and surged to third. A fine reward for the team, and a good haul of points for the man who’s previously been dubbed the ‘King of Thruxton.’
The start was a hectic affair, with both Charles Rainford and Tom Chilton being pitched into spins. Further into the lap Max Hall got wide on the grass, pitching his Cupra into a spin. He collected NAPA’s Sam Osborne with both ending in the wall and the safety car deployed.
On the restart on lap eight, Cammish lunged past Mikey Doble for third at the Complex. Meanwhile coming into the final chicane, Ingram was battling Sutton for the lead. Ingram broke last on the outside, with Sutton on the edge of control. He understeered into Ingram with both going wide and cutting the chicane. Ingram was through, and never lost the lead.
Further down the order Senna Proctor, returning to the sport after a three year absence, was battling with Cook, Jake Hill and Gordon Shedden. The latter ran wide and lost the back end, spinning and collecting a large amount of turf in his radiator. He ended the race in 18th.
The later stages of the race saw Ingram unchallenged. Sutton reported a loss of power as he was lacking top speed. If there’s one thing you need around the fastest circuit in the UK, is top speed. Cook seized the opportunity and passed the beleaguered Ford driver for third place.
Ingram took the win, boosting his title chances. Cammish was second with Cook third. Sutton brought his stricken Focus home in fourth with teammate Dan Rowbottom fifth.
Jake Hill was sixth with James Dorlin securing his best finish of the season for Toyota in seventh and Adam Morgan eighth. Proctor was ninth in his return with Tom Chilton coming home tenth on the road, but a ten second penalty was applied for frequent track limits infringements.
Daryl DeLeon inherited tenth with Chris Smiley and Aron Taylor-Smith securing decent points. Dan Lloyd and Aiden Moffat coming home ahead of Chilton, who dropped to 15th.
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.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 5-9 June 2025 Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
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.”
2025 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 5 – 8 June 2025 Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
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?
