The Neuville splash and grab that ends Hyundai’s WRC win drought

Sardinia is renowned as a brutal event at the best of times. But unseasonable rain creating a European homage to the Safari Rally once again outlined why World Rally Championship drivers are among the elite in global motorsport.

Surviving the gruelling 19 gravel stages was achievement in itself. The task was made even more challenging by organisers, who increased the event’s difficulty by adding a brand new test in addition to extending the famous Monte Lerno stage to a whopping 31 miles, to celebrate the event’s 20th anniversary.

It was perhaps fitting that the 20th edition since Subaru’s Petter Solberg won the inaugural event in 2004, was arguably the most challenging and drama-filled gravel grand prix ever witnessed on the usually sun-drenched Italian island.

Whoever came through this onslaught rightfully deserved the plaudits, and on this occasion it was Thierry Neuville, who won a rally for the ages to score his and Hyundai’s first win of the season to boost his title hopes. The Belgian also upheld Hyundai’s honour of being Sardinia masters as the marque chalked up its sixth win in the last eight visits.

Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe were one of five Rally1 crews to complete the 199 competitive miles which emphasised that Rally Sardinia was far from a simple one.

Fears over the impending brutality of the event were made clear after the recce was interrupted by rain, with M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet tweeting that a boat would have been more appropriate than a car.

Four-time Sardinia winner Sebastien Ogier told Autosport: “I thought Safari Rally Kenya was in three weeks’ time but we have a taste of it already because some sections are very rough. Honestly some sections do feel like Kenya, there are lots of stones and basically there are some sections that are harder than a lot of sections we go through in Kenya.”

Toyota team-mate Evans, added: “It’s a pretty extreme rally so finishing is something here.”

The weather held off for Thursday night’s super special as fans flocked to Olbia city centre to witness Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi win the opening stage. It was here that the Finn showed the first glimpse of what was one of his best drives of his career. Lappi’s preparation for the rally had unearthed an experimental suspension set up that he said was “risky but worth a try”.

Heavy rain and wet paths put an extra challenge to the WRC drivers in Sardinia

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

He wasn’t the only driver hoping to benefit from suspension tweaks as M-Sport’s Ott Tanak, who was Lappi’s nearest rival on Thursday despite suffering a puncture, revealed he was running a “much needed” upgrade in that department of his Ford Puma.

“It is a bit early to say if we are completely there. We have definitely improved," said the 2019 world champion.

Friday was earmarked to be the toughest with two passes through the extremely rough Tantariles and the infamous 31-mile Monte Lerno endurance. As the crews returned to service on Friday morning there were several battle scares and stories to tell. The headline however was Ogier, who was leading on his return to the championship after sitting out Portugal.

The Frenchman won two of the three stages to open up a 16.3s lead over Lappi - clearly benefiting from his set-up gamble - while M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet impressed to sit third. The key to Ogier’s lead was a stunning run through Monte Lerno to reach the finish 12.7s faster than anyone else.

“It's a bit crazy now, you need a four-wheel drive pickup in there I think. It's like Dakar” Elfyn Evans

But it was this marathon stage that generated three wild moments. The first of these afflicted world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who already faced the challenge of opening the roads that were damp at this point. Flying round a blind corner, the Finn encountered a small herd of cows requiring cat-like reflexes to take evasive action. In the process this GR Yaris clipped one of the grazing mobile chicanes.

"We clipped one which did some damage to the front and we went off into a ditch to avoid the other cows. We were a bit lucky,” said Rovanpera, who ended the morning 49.5s adrift in eighth.

The Finn fared better than Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, who ran wide just over a mile from the end and in the process of trying to return to the road, slid down a steep embankment and slowly rolled his i20 end over end. With the help of spectators, he managed to reach service but lost three minutes.

“It was not a big crash, there was just a big hole and we didn’t expect it,” said Sordo, who helped his mechanics repair the damage in service. “We just hit the ground really strong with the front of the car and then we rolled. It looks much more serious than it was.”

Rovanpera had an unscheduled meeting with a herd of cows but avoided any serious damage

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta misjudged his braking and went straight on, resulting in his Toyota pitching over a boulder, before becoming wedged between two large rocks. Amazingly he was able to reverse out, losing only 30.1s.

“I thought it was game over when I saw where I was heading but I must say that the team have made a very strong bumper and that is why we are here,” said Katsuta.

The rain arrived for the afternoon providing teams a headache over tyre strategy, with only 12 softs - the best tyre for the conditions provided for the event. It was Hyundai that made the right call on both tyres and set up direction as Lappi slashed Ogier’s lead in half after the first afternoon stage. The Finn continued to eat into Ogier’s advantage over the next two stages to snatch a 0.1s lead over a disappointed Frenchman who rued a wrong strategy call.

“I don’t know where I pulled that time on the first short stage, it wasn’t like crazy driving. It was just clean all of the time. To be that much faster than Seb, I have to say the damper is really working,” said Lappi, who also suffered left rear puncture in the day’s final stage.

Ogier added: “It just went wrong at the service where we had the wrong information for the weather and we made the wrong tyre choice and also unfortunately we made the wrong choice with the set-up.”

At this point, Neuville was watching this scrap unfold in third, 18.6s adrift while Rovanpera relished the slippery conditions to climb to fourth, ahead of Toyota team-mates Katsuta and Elfyn Evans, who wasn’t a fan of the many mud baths and incredibly bumpy conditions.

“It's a bit crazy now, you need a four-wheel drive pickup in there I think. It's like Dakar,” said Evans, who picked a front right puncture on Friday’s final stage.

It had proved a difficult Friday for M-Sport as Loubet’s strong start quickly turned into a nightmare. A gear selection issue prevented him from starting stage five, that was red flagged for a crash involving WRC2 driver Gus Greensmith, before broken steering put him out of the event completely.

Loubet failed to finish due to broken steering - his fourth non-points result from the opening six rounds

Photo by: M-Sport

Tanak reached service more than minute adrift in eighth having struggled with his Puma. The Estonian said it was like driving a “tow truck” in the morning, before a water pump issue developed in the afternoon.

“We are happy to be here. We lost the water pump quite early in the beginning and we were cooking the end,” said Tanak. “In some bumps it came back but then we had no water pressure and no power in the engine.”

Tanak’s hopes of a significant points haul ultimately ended thanks to a water splash which claimed several victims across Saturday. The day had begun in dry conditions although the rain had made the water splashes much deeper and while traversing one in stage nine his Puma stalled with the finish line in sight. Engaging EV mode allowed him to crawl to the finish losing 44.2s but a compete electrical shutdown caused by the water ended his day prematurely.

“We didn’t have any water over the bonnet and we didn’t put the splitter in the water so everything was perfect,” said Tanak. “It seems like some other way which we got the water in and did some damage. I’m not sure if it is unlucky but it wasn’t needed.”

“There was a lot of mud on everything and on my foot and it was a stupid mistake because when I hit the brake for this corner my foot slipped off the pedal so I didn’t brake” Sebastien Ogier

Tanak wasn’t the only driver to suffer at the hands of the water splashes. Katsuta attacked one on stage eight too quickly, which damaged the front of his GR Yaris. The Japanese was able to repair the radiator but a loss of power ended his day.

“There has been so much rain and making it deeper and it is very hard for the cars. At the same time I have the responsibility behind the wheel.” he said. “There is many things you can do I guess but I’m not an engineer. But there is limitations as the car is not a boat.”

The Toyota appeared particularly susceptible to the water splashes as Evans also lost significant power running through another water crossing on stage 10, which also necessitated a roadside repair to the radiator and cooling package.

“I knew it was there and I was expecting to go through it really slowly but it didn’t go as planned,” said Evans.

Ogier was also a frontrunner before he hit watery trouble

Photo by: Toyota Racing

At the front, Ogier and Lappi were locked in an intense battle. The former briefly claimed the lead before Lappi fought back before a combination of a slow puncture and a struggle for grip from his tyres slowed Lappi’s progress. This prompted an eighth lead change of the event that put Ogier in command to the tune of 18.2s, with Neuville lurking a further 6.5s back.

But there was another twist in the tale triggered by water splashes and the return of heavy rain. Seemingly in control of the rally, Ogier was caught out by the same water splash that claimed Katsuta’s Toyota. The Frenchman claimed he “took it [the water splash] easy but still the engine died.” As a result the lead battle began to sweep back in Lappi’s favour, who won stage 12 to close to within 10.5s. This gap decreased to 4.3s with Neuville only 7.4s adrift after Ogier’s wounded GR Yaris bogged down in the same water splash that ended Tanak’s on the next test.

The situation soon turned terminal for Ogier. After working on the roadside to repair his car, a slow puncture alarm went off as he approached stage 14. A frantic wheel change was required with only a minute to spare before check in, that somehow he and co-driver Vincent Landais achieved in 58s. But it was all for nothing. While changing the wheel Ogier’s boot had become muddy and his foot slipped off the brake pedal less than a mile into the stage. Unable to recover the car, he veered off the road and into retirement, though both driver and co-driver were okay.

“There was a lot of mud on everything and on my foot and it was a stupid mistake because when I hit the brake for this corner my foot slipped off the pedal so I didn’t brake,” said Ogier.

“It got stuck somehow between the clutch pedal and the brake. We moved it and braked again but I locked the wheel and we stopped one metre too late into the ditch, and we couldn’t reverse any more.

“I was exhausted and was nearly passing out after as I didn’t have anything to drink as I used all my water to my car. There was no reward for our effort but that is the way it is.” 

Upon hearing the news from his team before he started the stage, Lappi backed off to ensure he navigated through the tricky conditions. However, ahead on the road Neuville was unaware what had unfolded behind and decided to push. The result was the rally lead as he leapfrogged ahead of Lappi by 23.8s, a gap which ballooned to 36.4s at the end of the day.

As disaster struck Ogier, Neuville pounced to claim the lead at a vital time

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

“I am relieved to be at the finish. It was a tough day out there but the feeling was getting better and better with the car,” said Neuville, who had won five of the day’s eight stages.

“Let's say the last two and half stages have been the toughest I have seen for a while, added Lappi. “We kept the pressure on Seb and in the end he made a mistake. Now it's looking good for the team.”

With Hyundai and Neuville both yet to win this year, the Belgian completed Sunday’s final four stages to wrap up a 33.0s win over a frustrated Lappi to head an emotional 1-2 for the Korean marque.

Ogier’s demise handed Rovanpera an unlikely third, as the Finn cleverly wrestled 20 points to extend his championship lead to 25 points after claiming the Power Stage win

“Obviously it was a challenging weekend. We came here with the belief that we could fight for victory,” said Neuville. “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 time for our team principal Cyril Abiteboul as well. But Craig [Breen] is in our memories as well - we wanted the win in Croatia but we got it now.”

Ogier’s demise handed Rovanpera an unlikely third, 1m55.3s adrift as the Finn cleverly wrestled 20 points to extend his championship lead to 25 points, after claiming the Power Stage win held in desperately wet conditions.

Evans finished fourth while an exhaust issue robbed Sordo of fifth which went to surprise WRC2 winner Andreas Mikkelsen after long-time leader Adrien Fourmaux crashed out on the final stage.

Neuville’s Sardinia’s splash and grab has brought him back into the title fight, but the wily Rovanpera is still the driver they are all chasing.

Rovanpera extends his lead to 25 points in the WRC standings approaching the halfway point in the season

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport