Onto the final day of action then and the crews had 78 kilometres over four stages between them and the final time control. Jon and Shane would open the road just as they had throughout Saturday’s stages whilst rally leaders Seb and Vincent held a small lead over their teammates Oliver and Elliott coming into the final day.

The first stage then, SS15 Ingenio – Valsequillo 1 and Oliver set the pace from Seb and Elfyn. Only 1.3 seconds covered the three of them as they fought over the point for being fastest on Sunday. Further back there was a change in position between Thierry and Dani as the Belgian moved into seventh overall.

Onto SS16 Santa Lucía – Agüimes 1 and once again the young Swede was fastest from Elfyn whilst Seb was a second back with the third fastest time. The Frenchman saw his lead cut to just over two seconds. The fight was on for sure.

The penultimate stage then SS17 Ingenio – Valsequillo 2 and the three Toyota crews of Takamoto, Sami and Elfyn came through, each one going faster than the last. Then Oliver was making his way through the stage and got to just under 15 kilometres and lost control of the Yaris, colliding with a barrier and taking a wheel off the car. He and Elliott were out of the rally.

Onto the final stage then, SS18 Santa Lucía – Agüimes 2 and with Oliver out of the rally Seb just had to make it to the stage end to confirm his first win of the year. Meanwhile Elfyn set the fastest time taking the maximum points and was also fastest over the four stages making up the final day, therefore taking the Super Sunday points. Takamoto was second, Seb third whilst Sami and Thierry took the final point with the fifth fastest time.

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

Rally Islas Canarias Final Classification

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“First of all, this has been a very enjoyable rally. The team has given us an amazing car to drive once again, and it was a lot of fun behind the wheel. It was really close all weekend with my team-mates and especially with Oliver, so I feel sorry for him and for Elliott because they were delivering another strong performance. On our side, we can be happy and proud about the job we’ve done this weekend and I’m happy to add a new rally to the palmarès. It’s been a fantastic performance by the team, so hats off once more to everybody for their efforts.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a solid weekend for us with a pretty good final day and a good haul of points at the end of it. We made a bit of a slow start on Friday and that really put us too far back in the fight for the win, but things have worked out pretty well in the end. It was very close again today between us, Seb and Oliver. It was unfortunate what happened to Oliver, but congratulations to Seb, who has driven an exceptional weekend and deserves the win.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s always positive when you can finish on the podium, and especially to now have four in a row at this point in my career. This is really great for us. Still, this weekend I felt I had a bit more to give. There were some good stages and good sections, but also some other things which we need to work on and improve for the future. It’s nice to see we can take these podiums, but you always want more. But I’m happy with this result and another great performance from the whole team.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This rally started with a very difficult Friday for me, but it got a lot better on Saturday and I was starting to feel much more comfortable with the car. I was still struggling a bit to get the best from the tyres, but today on the final day I tried to change my driving style a bit and it was working better, and we could take some good points. There’s still more to improve, but it’s going in the right direction at least and I have a good idea how to improve my driving for asphalt, which will be important with Rally Japan coming.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“To be the highest-placed Hyundai and to put some points on the board is a positive; for sure this was not the weekend we were hoping for in terms of performance, but I am pleased with my approach to this rally. I could have started a little bit better on Friday morning but after that, it was very positive, especially against my team-mates. The next event should mean that we are more competitive, on gravel we are a lot more comfortable, so we will try our best in Portugal. I like the rally; I have always been competitive, and we go there with the motivation to get a good result.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a tough weekend, frustrating to see the times versus our main competitors who have been a lot quicker than us. We were struggling to find the speed, here and there we were close but sometimes we were really far away as we tried a lot of different setups. But at least in the Power Stage when we gave a bit more of a push, we were able to get one point.”

Dani Sordo

“The rally in general and being back in the Rally1 class on these stages was super nice. We struggled a bit with the car, and it was very difficult to fight the Toyotas. Between the three Hyundais, it was a nice fight but, in the end, we don’t want to just fight ourselves. We will have a good starting position in Portugal, so we hope to be competitive there and we will see what happens.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a really positive weekend for us. We had a clean rally for once, which represents a big step up in performance compared to previous events. The team has done an excellent job, and I’m grateful for their patience and dedication in finding the improvements we needed. Battling throughout the stages has been enjoyable, and we’re looking forward to Portugal – a rally we really enjoy and where we hope to deliver a strong result.”

Jon Armstrong

“It’s been quite a tricky weekend. Coming here from Croatia, which was also quite tough and twisty, I thought it should be okay, but I probably underestimated the challenge of the rally in terms of all the consecutive corners – the tyre gets very hot and there’s not so much grip to the Tarmac. We just really struggled to be in a good rhythm and have good speed like we did in Croatia, which is frustrating. I made some mistakes trying to learn the tyre, because it’s a bit different from what we had in previous ERC seasons. I’m grateful to get to the finish and still learn as much as we can. We’ll try to pick ourselves back up for Portugal. We only got one Tarmac rally left this year and then a lot of gravel, so it’s important to learn how to progress on gravel. Josh and Martins will be quite fast there, so we have good teammates to benchmark ourselves off and learn where we should go with setup on the test.”

Romet Jürgenson

“It’s been a challenging weekend, and we recognize there are improvements needed across multiple areas. My driving technique on wide roads requires a very specific approach that I’m still refining, but I’m optimistic about our direction ahead. We’re now moving forward to Portugal where we’ll be competing on gravel – my preferred surface – and I’m confident this will bring better results.”

Summary

Well, what a rally. It had fast stages and technical stages. Seb and Vincent mastered them and took their first win of the year. The history books will show that they beat Elfyn and Scott, yet it was Oliver and Elliott who ran them closest before they had their incident on the penultimate stage.

Elfyn and Scott had moments of pace, which was great to see, and we know that they are quick on sealed surface rallies. They set the pace on the last day of the rally and took the maximum points for what is known as Super Sunday. This pace gave them back the championship lead.

Finally, Sami and Marko took their fourth podium of the season after the demise of Oliver and Elliott, but this was a well-deserved result as they’d outpaced Takamoto and Aaron through the weekend.

Next up sees the action move to the classic gravel stages of Portugal held from the seventh to tenth of May.

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 5

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 5

The second day of action would see the crews tackle the longest day of action which also included the longest stage of the whole event. Jon and Shane would open the road as the last placed Rally1 crew at the end of Friday.

First up then was SS9 Maspalomas 1 and it was a good start from Elfyn and Scott who set the fastest time from Oliver and Seb. The Welshman’s pace took him into third overall and back past his younger teammate Sami who’d held third place overnight. The best of the three Hyundai crews was Adrien and Alex who set the sixth best time and passed Dani and Candido for sixth overall, whilst Jon and Shane were eighth fastest after opening the road.

Onto SS10 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 1 which had some rain in parts. Elfyn was again setting the pace from Oliver and Seb, the result was that he was closing the gap to them both. This was going well for him and Scott. Meanwhile, Adrien was finding some pace, setting the fifth best time, going even faster than Sami.

Next it was onto the longest stage of the day, SS11 Moya – Gáldar 1 and this stage also has some rain passing through. Oliver was setting the pace from Seb by just a tenth of a second whilst Elfyn was a further eight seconds further back.

After the service break came SS12 Maspalomas 2 and once again Elfyn was on the pace going six tenths faster than Oliver whilst Seb was a further tenth back with the third best time. Jon and Shane were ninth quickest and found the stage tricky as they were having problems with their in-car intercom and Shane was having to use some hand signals for the corners coming up. At least they made it to the end of the stage.

Onto the middle stage then, SS13 Arucas – Firgas – Teror 2 and Seb was equal fastest with Oliver whilst Elfyn was just two tenths back with the third fastest time. Meanwhile Josh and Jon were ninth and tenth and separated by just half a second.

We came then to the final stage, SS14 Moya – Gáldar 2 and there was drama for Jon and Shane near the end of the stage. They lost almost two minutes after going off the road, but it could have meant retirement as Jon guided the Puma just to the left of the end of a barrier. They needed help getting back onto the road, but at least they did and made it to the stage end. They fell six positions to sixteenth overall. Oliver was fastest from Seb and Elfyn and the Swedish driver closed the gap to Seb down to under four seconds.

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

Classification after Day Two

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been really enjoyable today: this is just the kind of fight that we love to have. Oliver has been driving perfectly today, and it wasn’t bad for us either. We lost a bit of ground this morning: the second stage especially was tricky, and we took a safe approach, then tried to push more in the next one and got unlucky with the rain at the end. In the end, the gap is still in our favour and the strategy for Super Sunday is very simple now: we just have to push to the maximum. It’s going to be an intense one with new stages and I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been an absolutely incredible fight today. With the changeable conditions it was tricky this morning and easy to do a mistake, but we managed to catch a bit of time, and then a bit more in the last stage this afternoon. Seb is a hero of mine and it’s so cool to be able to fight with him on a pure asphalt rally when this car is still new to me, and I’m also still learning a lot from him. Tomorrow if I have the possibility to fight until the end then great, but my main goal is to secure good points after the last couple of rallies we’ve had.”

Elfyn Evans

“Today was a good step forward. The first two stages this morning went well for us. Conditions were very changeable on that second stage and also on the third one, where I wasn’t able to trust the grip so well and gave away a lot of time. We got another stage win this afternoon, and the middle stage was very close against Seb and Oliver. Unfortunately, we had to use a soft tyre on the long last stage, which hampered us a bit, but overall, I’m happier with how things have progressed. We’ll try to make more improvements tonight and see what we can challenge for tomorrow.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s been another interesting day. I’m maybe a bit disappointed with my performance during the morning loop. For some reason, I just wasn’t able to find the confidence to push in those tricky conditions, and we lost way too much time. But we didn’t give up, we tried to maximise the afternoon loop and I think we did the best that we can. I hope we can maximise tomorrow as well. I’m looking forward to it and hope we have some nice weather so we can really enjoy the stages.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Today was so much better than yesterday for me. It was a big step forward in terms of feeling. The car feels much more comfortable and working the way that I want, so I’m quite happy with that. When the conditions are trickier like with the rain this morning then it’s working well, but when the conditions are more demanding in terms of tyre management, I’m not using the tyres so well, so that’s something important to still try to improve tomorrow.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I am quite happy with my day; we had some very good stage times in the morning when we were pushing. Then, in the afternoon it was more about saving the tyres and seeing if the rain came back or not but all-in-all, it was a good day. I am pleased to be ahead of Dani and Thierry who are both tarmac specialists. We took the soft tyres with us for the afternoon because the weather was changing a lot, but we ended up not using them, but it was the safe choice because we didn’t know what the conditions were going to be. The target for Sunday is to try and take the fight to Taka [Katsuta] but we need to see what the pace will be like; for the three of us, it will be difficult because we have only finished ahead of a Toyota on one proper stage so far and it was wet.”

Dani Sordo

“The first stage this morning was very fast, and I was feeling quite good, but I think Adrien was feeling a bit more confident in the car and he had pace, which is good for us. We made a good tyre choice this morning, but the problem in the second stage was that in the last kilometres with crossed tyres, it was very slippery, especially at the rear. Today was a little more difficult than yesterday, but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will push from the beginning and try to find a better setup for the car.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was a bit of a boring day in general, but still an intense day in the car. We have been continuing trying to find a solution to the performance, but we haven’t found much to be honest. We are just struggling; if the car doesn’t turn, it slides and if it slides it doesn’t turn, so it makes it quite difficult. The stages were great, with a lot of variation and the weather made it very challenging but in terms of performance, there is still a big question mark.”

Sunday

The final day will see the crews face just over 78 kilometres over four stages. What will the final day of action bring?

The first full day of action would see Takamoto and Aaron open the road for the first time as the championship leaders. They would face just over 100 kilometres over seven stages. There’d already been a stage on Thursday evening, and this gave us a leaderboard of sorts. At the end of the stage Takamoto led from Sami whilst WRC2 driver Roberto in his Skoda held third.

Into the first Friday stage then, SS2 Valleseco – Artenara 1 and Seb was fastest from Oliver and Elfyn with only just over a second between the three of them. Takamoto would set the fifth best time and fell to second overall as he was passed by Seb for the lead. Further back, Oliver and Elfyn also gained positions and moving into fourth and fifth respectively.

SS3 Tejeda – San Mateo 1 was sadly cancelled and the reason? Well, it turned out that there were parked cars in places which were a danger. Not great from the organisers really.

Onto the final morning stage then, SS4 Mogan – La Aldea 1 and once again Seb was fastest from Elfyn this time, whilst Sami was third. Takamoto once again was fifth fastest and with that fell a further three positions. Elfyn was the key mover as he emerged in third overall, whilst Sami’s time saw him move into second place. Just six seconds covered the top three positions. Jon had a moment in this one, and had to take to an escape road, spinning sideways.

After the service break came SS5 Valleseco – Artenara 2 and Seb was finally beaten by Oliver who was a tenth of a second faster, whilst Sami was third. In the overall positions, Oliver’s pace took him ahead of both Elfyn and Sami and into second overall. The gap widened slightly to 6.4 seconds.

Into SS6 Tejeda – San Mateo 2 which of course was the stage, which was cancelled earlier, and Seb was fastest from Oliver and Sami, whilst Elfyn was fourth. The top four positions remained unchanged.

Onto the final proper stage then, SS7 Mogan – La Aldea 2 and Seb was once again fastest from Oliver and Elfyn and with the Welshman’s pace, he passed his teammate, Sami for third overall, holding a small lead of 1.3 seconds over the Finn.

The final stage then, SS8 BP Ultimate – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2 was won by Sami from Takamoto and Adrien. Surprisingly the Finn passed Elfyn again for third overall, the gap now half a second.

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

Classification after Day One

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“We can be happy with today. The gaps are very close, which is normal on a rally like this, but it’s been evolving in the right direction for us. I wasn’t feeling completely happy with the car balance this morning, but I think we were all struggling a bit with that in these wide circuit-style stages where you place a lot of load on the tyres. This afternoon though we made some positive steps, and it was just feeling better and better in the car, so at the moment I’m happy and hope we can carry on with this feeling tomorrow.”

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a good day. This morning I was just trying to find the feeling a bit and it wasn’t easy, but we made some changes in service, and I felt more comfortable in the car, and we had a much better afternoon. We were trading tenths of a second with Seb, so it’s very cool to know that the speed is there. After what happened in Croatia I wanted to start calmly, see where my feeling was and just increase things step-by-step. I’m happy with the position I’m in tonight and maybe we’ll try to push a bit more tomorrow.”

Sami Pajari

“Today has not been too bad. The stages have been really nice to drive, but my feeling has maybe not been quite as good as I was hoping for. It’s an extremely tight fight with our team-mates and it was a pity to lose a bit of ground in the afternoon. We were making some changes with the setup, and they weren’t all going in the perfect direction, and when the time differences are so small, even the slightest thing can create that gap. Still, we’re not too far away and just need to keep pushing.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s not been a perfect day for us; I can’t be completely satisfied. These racing-style stages are fun to drive but very demanding for the tyres and the balance on a rally car. It wasn’t feeling bad, but I was struggling a bit to get it turning in as I would like. We did manage to make some changes during the day and had a bit of a better feeling and speed in the last proper stage. So that’s something more positive to round out the day and hopefully we can carry that into tomorrow.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s not been an easy day for us. These are very nice stages, but I hoped they would be more enjoyable for me. In the morning already I was struggling a bit, and unfortunately this just seemed to get worse in the afternoon. I’ve just found it difficult to have the trust you need with the front end on these stages and to be as committed with the driving as I want to be, and so the times have not been great. It’s not been easy for the moment, but I have some ideas and hope we can find something to improve tomorrow.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Dani Sordo

“I am obviously very happy with today, that I am still competitive on the first day of Canarias. We are far from the Toyotas, but between the Hyundai drivers we are quite close together. I have not driven the Rally1 car in a rally for some time, so I am quite pleased to be on the pace. At the beginning of the day, I was a little bit faster than my team-mates, but they adjusted the car and this afternoon we were all very close. It is important that we work together with Thierry and Adrien and try to close the gap to the Toyotas.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“The stages have been absolutely beautiful and to be able to push on them in a Rally1 car is very unique and special, so this was really enjoyable. We need to manage the pace and the overheating of the tyres over the long stages, which are quite demanding for the car and brakes. It is very challenging, but also enjoyable. For us, it is difficult because we are not on the pace that we would like, but at least we have a ‘Hyundai Cup’ to play for. I went in a different direction with the setup this afternoon and it is working better now, so it is looking quite positive.”

Thierry Neuville

“It was quite a difficult start to the rally, honestly. All three cars made some changes for this afternoon, but I was struggling more on the first two stages. We are exchanging and sharing information, and obviously trying different things. Dani seemed to be happier than us in the morning and he was also faster. In the afternoon I struggled a bit on the first two stages; but I made a bigger change for the last one and I think we found a bit more balance that allows us to go faster.”

Saturday

The second full day of action will see the crews face 112 kilometres over six stages. Who will hold the lead at the end of the second day?

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

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

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

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Takamoto Katsuta

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

Elfyn Evans

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

Oliver Solberg

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

Sami Pajari

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

Sébastien Ogier

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

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)

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

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

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

Thierry Neuville

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

Dani Sordo

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

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

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

Jon Armstrong

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

Romet Jürgenson

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

Summary

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

Let’s see what happens!