Hyundai’s Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja have been concerned in rally-long battle with Toyota’s Ogier and Vincent Landais, because the WRC trailed a brand new shorter 48-hour format for the primary time on Sardinia’s tough gravel roads.
Tanak put Ogier beneath stress by Sunday’s 4 levels overhauling a 17.1s to grab a shocking win by 0.2s within the closing stage, after Ogier suffered a closing stage puncture.
It’s the joint-closest end for the win in WRC historical past, matching the 2011 Jordan Rally when Ogier beat Jari-Matti Latvala.
Hyundai’s part-time driver Dani Sordo survived 16 attritional levels to finish the rostrum [+2m25.6], his first rostrum since final September’s Acropolis Rally.
Two stage wins from Friday’s new-look four-stage itinerary helped Ogier into 4.5s lead over Tanak heading into an eventful and lengthy Saturday, comprising of 149 stage kilometres.
Ogier suffered a puncture on the opening take a look at which briefly handed the result in Tanak by 0.1s. After electing to take just one spare Ogier was pressured to watch out on the brutal rocky roads the place the puncture threat was excessive.
Nevertheless, a quickest time on the following take a look at put Ogier again within the lead, nevertheless it was short-lived as Tanak responded to steer by 3.5s on the finish of the morning.
Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
Ogier reclaimed the lead within the afternoon which coincided with Tanak revealing that his Hyundai staff had requested him to “be protected and never push”. The Hyundai staff judged the additional threat required to proceed to problem for the win was an excessive amount of, after dropping Thierry Neuville as he crashed from third place on stage eight.
The staff instruction coupled with a drop in confidence behind the wheel of his i20 N helped Ogier right into a 17.1s lead. However come Sunday Tanak unleashed a cost motivated by Tremendous Sunday factors to push Ogier all the best way earlier than eclipsing the 6.2s deficit in a dramatic closing stage.
Consequently, Tanak has moved to joint-second within the championship with Elfyn Evans, 18 factors behind Neuville.
Sordo loved stable run and climbed the leaderboard to 3rd after Neuville and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta retired on Saturday. Katsuta had inherited third after Neuville misplaced focus for a fraction and careered off the highway, whereas Katsuta dropped out with a gearbox situation.
Title contender Evans completed fourth [+2m37.8s] after struggling all rally. It started with a puncture on Friday, however a scarcity of a confidence in his Toyota left him unable to match the tempo on the entrance.
The pissed off Welshman was in a position to salvage fourth on Saturday, to take 10 factors, and picked up eight factors on Sunday for ending third within the Sunday standings and third on the Energy Stage.
After impressing to sit down third on Saturday after opening the highway on Friday, championship chief Neuville recovered brilliantly to attain the utmost 12 Sunday factors following his pricey Saturday exit. The Belgian topped the Sunday standings to take seven factors and gained the Energy Stage to seize one other 5 factors.
M-Sport’s Gregoire Munster recorded a career-best fifth general end regardless of a late throttle situation. Group-mate Adrien Fourmaux left Sardinia with two factors after operating as excessive as third earlier than a puncture and alternator situation pressured him to retire on Friday. The Frenchman additionally survived a brake drawback on Saturday.
In WRC2, Sami Pajari scored a second win for the brand new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 automobile and completed sixth general. WRC2 Championship chief Yohan Rossel recovered from a puncture to complete seventh general and second in school.
