Category: Tin Top Racing

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?