Thierry Neuville vaulted from fifth to second in the FIA World Rally Championship standings on Sunday after clinching a long-awaited victory at Rally Italia Sardegna.
Belgian star Neuville headed i20 N partner Esapekka Lappi by 33.0sec in a dream 1-2 finish for Hyundai at round six of 13, scoring his 18th career success alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.
The result served as a maiden 2023 triumph for both Neuville and his team, helping the Korean marque to move within 23 points of championship-leading manufacturer Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The lead changed hands a whopping nine times during the fast and furious Mediterranean island fixture until Neuville seized the initiative when GR Yaris rival Sébastien Ogier went off the road in Saturday’s rain-hit penultimate test.
He surpassed Lappi, who celebrated his third-consecutive top-three finish, in the same stage and managed a comfortable advantage through Sunday’s four-stage finale.
“Obviously it was a challenging weekend,” said Neuville, who now trails series leader Kalle Rovanperä by 25 points. “We came here with the belief that we could fight for victory but the first day was challenging and we lost a bit of time. Yesterday we found ourselves in the lead and we had to manage it until the end.
“It’s the first victory for the team this year, it’s a 1-2, and the first win for our team principal [Cyril Abiteboul] as well. Craig Breen is in our memories also – we wanted the win in Croatia for him, but we got it now.”
Rovanperä completed the podium in third overall, his best result out of five Rally Italia Sardegna attempts.
Although he trailed fellow Finn Lappi by 1min 22.3sec at the finish, the high rate of attrition saw him end a sizeable 3min 25.2sec clear of fourth-placed Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans. Evans struggled to get into a rhythm in his GR Yaris and dropped around three minutes on Saturday when the car’s radiator sustained damage in a water crossing.
Dani Sordo almost made it three Hyundais in the top five but retired after the day’s second stage due to exhaust failure. It brought an early end to what been a turbulent weekend for the Spaniard, having previously rolled his i20 N on Friday morning.
His demise paved the way for Andreas Mikkelsen to claim fifth overall as well as taking a surprise victory in WRC2. The Škoda Fabia driver had trailed Adrien Fourmaux by more than half a minute before the Wolf Power Stage but the Frenchman slid off the road 1.4km into the finale.
Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Kalle Rovanperä (above) added to his lead in the FIA World Rally Championship with a clever drive to the podium and a Power Stage victory on a tricky Rally Italia Sardegna.
Faced with sweeping loose gravel roads on Friday while running first on the road, Rovanperä ran as low as eighth overall before a characteristically strong drive in the rain to win the 30-mile Monte Lerno stage lifted him and co-driver Jonne Halttunen to fourth at the end of the day.
He was then one of only a few drivers to avoid trouble on an eventful Saturday in wetter conditions, gaining third overall while also having to manage the limited number of softer compound tyres made available on what is normally a hot and abrasive rally.
Able to conserve rubber through Sunday’s opening tests, Rovanperä then produced a typically attacking drive on a soaking rally-ending Power Stage on Sunday, setting the best time by 4.7 seconds. Taking the maximum five bonus points to add to his third place overall increased his lead in the standings to 25 points.
Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin ensured there were two GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid cars in the top four at the finish, recovering after losing time on Saturday morning with damage from a deep watersplash. They set the fourth-best time in the Power Stage, claiming additional points for the manufacturers’ championship which Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team continue to lead by 23 points.
The WRC season enters its second half with a hotly anticipated visit to Africa later this month. The legendary Safari Rally Kenya is based in Naivasha and takes place from 22 – 25 June.
Overall classification:
RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 3h40m01.4s
2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +33.0s
3 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) +1m55.3s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid) +5m20.5s
5 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m33.3s
6 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 Rally2) +11m48.9s
7 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12m46.1s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroën C3 Rally2) +12m53.5s
9 Miko Marczyk/Szymon Gospodarczyk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +15m33.8s
10 Erik Cais/Petr Těšínský (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +16m49.4s