Those who expected a tough, demanding, interesting and non-trivial Rally Italia Sardegna were certainly more than satisfied, because the sixth round of the 2023 WRC offered series of emotions and twists, from the first to the last day of the race.
An event that had a foregone conclusion, namely with the victory obtained by Hyundai Motorsport, but we must not stop only to read the final standings. Behind the mere table of results there was much more between accidents, rain, mud, mistakes, daring choices and great tests in terms of driving.
In all of this, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe brought home the success, the first of the season, authors of an exceptional weekend for driving and choices made at the right time, which led them to win the Italian event with merit and relaunch itself in the fight for the Drivers’ world title.
After a quiet start – as often happens to him – Neuville literally changed gears on Saturday morning, winning 3 out of 4 specials on the morning lap, but it was in the afternoon where he really made the difference. The arrival of the rain. the choice of tires (5 Soft, many of them new to make the most of the muddy surface) and decisive but careful driving were all fundamental elements to recover 27 seconds from Sébastien Ogier and then go into the break once the 8th retired times world champion.
The fate of the 20th edition of Rally Italia Sardegna was decided – by the way, congratulations to the organization and Tiziano Siviero and collaborators for having tracked such beautiful stages from all points of view – was the SS14. In pouring rain, Neuville attacked, while Sébastien Ogier was the victim of a chaotic moment just before the stage.
A few minutes from the start, Ogier decided to change a tire because he had experienced a slow puncture. Evidently the tire change operation was carried out on a section made muddy by the rain and, after just 1.2 kilometers from the start of the special, Séb tried to brake in a rather harmless section, but his left foot slipped off from the brake pedal.
At that point his Yaris ended up off the road, without the possibility of being tested again in a short time. Neuville had the road cleared towards the first position (and to the third victory at Rally Italia Sardegna after those obtained in 2016 and 2018), with Esapekka Lappi good second after understanding the situation. The Hyundai driver who has to hunt for the title is obviously Thierry, so the Finn avoided pushing and taking risks to fight with his teammate.
At that point, the one-two that Hyundai Motorsport brought home with great merit took shape, in an event that continues to smile at it. Over the last 8 years he has won it 6 times (3 successes for Neuville, 2 for Sordo and 1 for Tanak). In addition to the merits of the Belgian, who must be underlined for having been able to change gears in the decisive moment of the race, those of Esapekka Lappi must also be underlined, excellent on Friday when he exchanged the leadership of the event with Ogier on several occasions, in a duel at nothing short of exhilarating, the likes of which have not been seen for some time.
For Neuville and Wydaeghe it is the first victory of the season. The last success in the WRC had been obtained at the Rally of Japan, the last race of the 2022 World Championship. The last victory obtained on gravel, however, had come a few months earlier at the Acropolis Rally. Furthermore, this hurrah is the 18th of his career for the Belgian, the fifth with Martijn Wydaeghe dictating the notes for him.
After the binge Hyundai, which returns home having also reopened the Constructors’ World Championship, here is the third place of Kalle Rovanpera in a race, for him, which has always been difficult due to the type of surface and design of the specials. It’s no secret that the reigning world champion has never loved the Sardinian rally, but the succession of events and retirements in front of him meant that he finished with a very important podium in his run-up to the second title of his career.
The gap from the two Hyundais, even 2 minutes and 20 on Neuville, says a lot about the difficulties encountered by the young Kalle, who also avoided retiring despite a strong impact against a cow that found himself in the middle of the special during the of the first day of competition. It should also be underlined that, this weekend, the rain didn’t penalize him too much in the first stage, despite having opened all 6 special stages.
Behind him and at the foot of the podium is Elfyn Evans, who arrived in a good position only due to the numerous retirements between the Rally1s. The Welshman took almost 6 minutes from the best, a huge amount. He was slowed down several times by power losses following the crossing of the fords in Saturday’s practice, a problem that also slowed down or caused the other Toyotas to retire. The team directed by Jari-Matti Latvala will have to think of a solution shortly, because in a few weeks it will be time for the Safari Rally and in Kenya the situation could be the same.
Toyota is also licking its wounds for the retirement of Sébastien Ogier while he was in the lead and of which we have already spoken a little above, but also of Takamoto Katsuta, the first to pay a high price after passing too quickly in a ford, from which Came out with the engine cooling system gone.
Tremendous weekend also for M-Sport, with both of its riders sidelined. Pierre-Louis Loubet started very well, immediately occupying the third position in the general classification. Before him on Friday he was forced to start a practice late due to a gearbox problem on his Ford Puma. Then, in the last stage of the first stage, he went off the road probably due to another breakdown and was forced to retire.
Ott Tanak also experienced another nightmare weekend. The Estonian first reported a drop in engine power after crossing a ford, then he was forced to stop due to an electrical problem caused by the water that invaded the engine compartment of his Ford Puma when crossing over water. Thus the team was also able to make a few evaluations on the new suspensions that made their debut in Sardinia.
At the end of the island event, therefore, only 4 cars arrived without retirements. Dani Sordo, fifth until the end of SS17, was stopped by the team due to a failure in the exhaust manifolds. These could have caused fires in the car and for this reason the team decided not to take unnecessary risks. In fact, Sordo could not have scored points for the Constructors’ Championship considering the positions of the two teammates.
4 Rally1 finishing in the Top 10 is therefore a negative record for this generation of cars. Never so few at the finish line since the current technical regulation was introduced. It is no coincidence that in fifth place in the general classification we find the winner of the WRC2 class, that is an incredulous Andreas Mikkelsen.
The Norwegian found victory in his hands having already finished the Power Stage and secured second place. Adrien Fourmaux, the true ruler of the category this weekend, lost control of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 coming out of a left-hand bend and went off the road, getting stuck between vegetation and a sort of ditch. The intervention of the little public present on that stretch of road was of no use.
Fourmaux’s exit thus joins the retirements of Tanak and Loubet, making the M-Sport race weekend even blacker. The only partial consolation is having understood how strong the Ford Fiesta Rally2 is after having equipped it with updates. But losing a deserved victory like this hurts the team and Adrien.
According to what happened in the last special stage, Mikkelsen brings home a very important victory for his run-up to the category title. Behind him was Teemu Suninen with the Hyundai i20 N Rally2, good at repelling the final attacks of a Kajetan Kajetanowicz who decided to take the position on him. Teemu, however, took home second place in class and sixth overall, with Kajetanowicz who moved up to third due to Fourmaux’s withdrawal.
Very complicated weekend for Oliver Solberg. A very good start, as leader of the class, the Norwegian was slowed down by the failure of a shock absorber in braking after a straight stretch. From that moment on, the ordeal continued with the failure of a suspension. It didn’t go any better for the reigning champion of the category, Emil Lindholm Although the Finn was not entered in the WRC2, therefore invisible for the purposes of distributing points for the title, he had to stop at the end of the second stage due to a suspension problem found by the TokSport mechanics during the Saturday end of day Service.
