How Neuville stole the show from Ogier vs Evans slugfest in Spain

Rally Spain was billed as a probable World Rally Championship title decider, with many expecting Sebastien Ogier to lift an eighth world crown at the penultimate round on his favoured asphalt. But it appears that nobody read the script, and what eventuated on Catalunya’s finest roads was the complete opposite.

Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville issued a timely reminder that, had Lady Luck shone upon him this season, he could have been in Ogier’s position vying for a world title. The Belgian recorded a dominant 24.1-second victory, winning 10 of the 17 stages.

As for the title race, the champagne is on ice. Ogier’s Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans produced a gusty drive under pressure to follow Neuville home and take the championship fight into a Rally Monza decider next month. Ogier could finish only fourth following a rare collector's item of a rally, where one of sport’s greatest of all time struggled to gel with his Yaris. The Frenchman also had a run-in with the local police for overtaking a vehicle on the hard shoulder of a road section on Saturday, resulting in a €2000 fine.

After a decade as a mixed-surface asphalt and gravel event, Rally Spain returned to its roots as an all-asphalt affair. This was clearly music to Ogier’s ears given his prowess on the black stuff, and the fact that his accustomed road-sweeper role as championship leader wouldn’t be such a burden as it is on gravel.

“I feel quite relieved to be back on full Tarmac and not starting a rally thinking about how much time I will lose on day one [road-sweeping],” he said before shakedown. “It is all about giving everything and being fast from the start to win this rally.”

The format tweak was not the only change: Pirelli debuted a newly strengthened hard-compound tyre, having come in for criticism following a series of punctures earlier in the year on Croatia’s asphalt roads. And there was a new face in the service park, with Spaniard Nil Solans making his WRC debut on home soil as stand-in for injured 2C Competition Hyundai driver Pierre-Louis Loubet, who had sustained a broken hip after being hit by a car in a road-traffic accident in France.

Hyundai had five i20 Coupes in its arsenal, with the South Korean marque’s new 2022 WRC signing Oliver Solberg tasked to gain experience for next year’s part-time third-car campaign.

PLUS: The steely determination behind the WRC’s Solberg 2.0

Nil Solans, Marc Marti, Hyundai 2C Competition Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

The title battle between Toyota pair Ogier and Evans dominated the build-up since the Welshman had slashed the points gap with a devastating victory in Rally Finland.

PLUS: How joining Finland’s exclusive club was Evans' true WRC coming-of-age

Ogier expected a “big fight” from Evans, who he said had “nothing to lose”. These words couldn’t have been more prophetic. It’s unlikely that even Ogier expected what Evans delivered on the opening stage, where he stunned everyone to clock the fastest time, 5.1s quicker than anyone else and 8.1s up on Ogier.

As one Toyota was flying, another Yaris stepped over the edge when Takamoto Katsuta misunderstood a pacenote from stand-in co-driver Aaron Johnston and ploughed into the barriers. The Japanese managed to drag his wounded Yaris to stage end, but it was game over for the day, although he would return on Saturday under restart rules.

“I expected an easier corner but it tightened a lot – I could not stop,” he related.

Evans was lucky his title aspirations didn’t evaporate on stage five, where he produced one of the saves of the season when a risky cut resulted in clipping a kerb and some frantic steering-wheel wrestling

Evans continued his charge by winning the next two stages, albeit sharing the fastest time on the second test with Neuville, despite the Hyundai driver struggling to turn his i20. Ogier was struggling to click with the Yaris, the new Pirelli tyres and the roads, sitting 12.6s adrift of leader Evans by mid-day service.

“I tried a bit more for sure," said Ogier. “Someone who had a good wake-up this morning is Elfyn.”

Despite sitting second, 7.9s shy of Evans, Neuville was far from happy, revealing he was using the handbrake at times to turn the car, given the severity of the understeer on display.

“I tried really hard but no way – I can't even turn,” he explained.

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC

Photo by: Toyota Racing

The lead three fared better than debutant Solans, who could hardly see due to a misted-up windscreen caused by his co-driver Marc Marti's drinks bag coming undone and depositing water inside the car. Luckily he reached service unscathed.

The complexion of the rally change on the Friday afternoon loop, which also featured the exit of a contender. Ott Tanak misjudged a fast section on the fourth stage, clipping a tree stump that damaged the chassis of his Hyundai, scratching the Estonian from the remainder of the event. The moment arrived after surviving what he described as an “impressive spin” on stage two.

“It was quite an impact, so we were probably carrying too much speed into the corner,” said Tanak, who emerged unscathed alongside co-driver Martin Jarveoja. “We couldn’t save it.”

There was pain of a more delicate kind on the stage for Solberg’s co-driver Craig Drew, who was caught on the in-car microphone saying: “I didn’t want to say but when we went over the first bump I really hurt my left bollock.” Drew was okay, but his privates lit up social media…

The afternoon belonged to Neuville as a radical set-up change suggested by his engineer paid dividends. The Hyundai star won all three stages to end the day with a 0.7s lead over Evans, whose strong pace faded as the day progressed.

“I was able to take more out of the car and you can immediately see it in the times,” said Neuville.

Evans was lucky that his title aspirations didn’t evaporate on stage five, where he produced one of the saves of the season when a risky cut resulted in clipping a kerb and some frantic steering-wheel wrestling.

“It was a pretty big moment,” he admitted. “I just got caught out by the gravel and she just took off.”

Sébastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Ogier ended the day a distant third, 19.4s adrift and 5.4s ahead of the Hyundai of Dani Sordo, who had been nibbling away at the gap. Kalle Rovanpera, still not 100% after his shunt in Finland, endured a lonely to fifth in his Toyota ahead of the M-Sport Fords of Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith, and then Hyundai pair Solberg and Solans.

Neuville proved his new-found pace was no fluke by delivering a series of devastating times to utterly dominate Saturday, where he won six of the seven stages to set up a second win of the season. Nearest rival Evans was heading in the other direction, chasing the ideal set-up to adapt to roads becoming increasingly gravel-strewn due to drivers taking cuts.

“We gambled to try and change some stuff to improve the car, but it didn't work unfortunately and we've gone in the opposite direction,” said Evans.

Such was Neuville’s speed that by mid-Saturday afternoon he had rattled off eight consecutive stage wins, and it was only an improving Ogier, who could now “trust” his Yaris, who ended the streak on stage 12. Ogier’s resurgence prompted Sordo to claim his rival was back in “Sebastien Ogier mode”.

"It was a tough weekend but we fought very hard. We had a good clean run and until near the end everything was perfect. Luckily again, there were enough marshals to give us the support and the car started immediately. There was lots of stress but we kept cool and did the job" Thierry Neuville

A lead of 0.7s at the start of the day had been transformed into a 16.4s advantage over Evans once Neuville won the final blast of the day around the narrow, spectator-lined streets of host city Salou.

“We made an important set-up change yesterday that allowed us to take more out of the car, but there are still things we could have done to go even quicker,” opined the leader.

Ogier appeared to have responded to Sordo’s pressure in the battle for third, until a costly engine stall wiped out almost all of the hard work on the day’s final stage, reducing the gap to 1.2s. Solberg had also lost more than 30s to a stall moments earlier.

It proved to be a difficult day for M-Sport. Greensmith, partnered by co-driver Chris Patterson for the final time before his retirement, suffered a left-rear puncture that cost him more than a minute, while Fourmaux clipped a barrier and damaged his front-left in stage 11, losing seven minutes and throwing away sixth spot. A repair on the run allowed the Frenchman to continue, albeit with two-wheel drive.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC

Photo by: M-Sport

With the rally seemingly won, Neuville appeared to back off on Sunday, but there was a late scare that threatened to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when his car failed to start prior to the final stage. Flames were seen coming from the rear of the Hyundai as Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe pushed the car to regroup, where marshals helped revive the car. Luckily the starter-motor issue was resolved, and in Neuville’s words a “heart-attack” moment was avoided.

A light rain shower added yet further drama, although the final Power Stage had dried significantly by the time a relieved Neuville completed the test, bagging the win and four bonus points in the process.

“I’m relieved to be at the end,” he said. “It was a tough weekend but we fought very hard. We had a good clean run and until near the end everything was perfect. Luckily again, there were enough marshals to give us the support and the car started immediately, and that is why we were able to continue. There was lots of stress but we kept cool and did the job.”

Evans produced a heroic effort to pip Ogier on the Power Stage after being down on the splits at halfway to secure second and take seven points out of his title rival, closing the gap to 17 points ahead of the Monza showdown.

While Neuville completed a 15th WRC win, one of the finest of his career, Sordo was the star of Sunday, winning all four stages to leapfrog Ogier for the final podium spot.

“It's points for the championship,” said Ogier. “Coming here I was targeting higher, but for some reason it didn't happen.”

Sordo’s performance was a pleasing bonus for Evans’s title aspirations and for Hyundai boss Andrea Adamo, since it ensured that the manufacturers’ title battle with Toyota will go down to the wire at Rally Monza. Rovanpera continued his lonely run to fifth after a surviving a wild excursion across a field on Saturday that the Finn declared “one of the biggest” he’d ever had, while Greensmith recovered to sixth ahead of Solberg and Solans.

Winners Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai Motorsport

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Title fight taken to Monza showdown

For the second year in succession, the World Rally Championship title race is set for an “anything-can-happen" head-to-head duel between Toyota team-mates Evans and Ogier at Rally Monza. That’s the reward for a stirring drive by Evans in Spain to keep alive aspirations that seemed all but over a month ago, when gearbox issues thwarted his podium hopes on the Acropolis Rally. A stunning victory in Rally Finland followed up by a second in Spain mean Evans has cut Ogier’s advantage from 44 to 17 points, with 30 available at the Italian finale.

Admittedly, Ogier remains the firm favourite to land an eighth world title as he prepares to say farewell to full-time WRC action at the end of this year, but Evans knows all too well that anything can happen at Monza. Last year the Welshman had the advantage heading into the rally, but crashed out in the snowy conditions.

"My thoughts are that it [the title] is still alive, and it’s probably a very similar situation to last year except the shoe is on the other foot,” said Evans. “We know anything can happen, but we also know Seb is a pretty smart guy and it’s going to take something pretty radical to overtake him, but having said that it’s quite clear what we have to do in Monza.

"Seventeen points is still quite a big gap, so we have to go there and try to win, and the Power Stage could be crucial. Ultimately it’s going to take a mistake or an issue for Seb not to be champion" Elfyn Evans

“Seventeen points is still quite a big gap, so we have to go there and try to win, and the Power Stage could be quite crucial also. Ultimately it’s going to take a mistake or an issue for Seb not to be champion.”

But there was a tone of frustration in Evans’s words following his Spanish run, since he could have enhanced his title chances and taken more points out of Ogier’s lead had he found the sweet spot in his Yaris.

“It should have been more [than seven points gained on Ogier],” he added. “It is what it is now. We are going to look at it, and we already know some of the reasons. Being early on the road on Friday in the first pass, the road was still very clean and as a result we were really able to drive with a car that was a bit of a racing car as such, and get a good feeling overall.

“But unfortunately in the afternoon we had more gravel on the roads and I really struggled to feel comfortable in the car. I had a pretty big moment on the middle stage on Friday which was quite costly in terms of a confidence knock and a loss of time on that stage.

“We have been trying to work around those problems to make the car better, but unfortunately the small improvements actually cost some balance in the car, which brought some understeer. It’s been frustrating.”

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC

Photo by: Toyota Racing