Sensational at the Rally Italia Sardegna. Sassari – Argentiera 2, the last round of the sixth round of the WRC 2024, provided yet another surprise in recent years by proclaiming Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja the winners.
When everything was pointing to the 61st career success of Sébastien Ogier, who would also become the most successful driver in history at the Rally Italia Sardegna, a puncture slowed down the 8-time world champion in the last sector of the test, making him reach the finish line 8″8 behind Thierry Neuville – winner of the Power Stage – and 6″4 behind Ott Tanak.
Ogier had started the test with a lead of 6.2 seconds on the Estonian Hyundai driver, so this led to overtaking Tanak at the last minute, by just 2 tenths of a second. In 2019 Ott lost the victory in Sardinia due to a steering failure of the his Toyota Yaris WRC Plus. This time, however, he saw the victory that then went to Dani Sordo returned.
An incredible epilogue, that of Sassari – Argentiera, one of the most beautiful and spectacular races of the entire Sardinian event and, upon closer inspection, of the entire World Championship. Ogier may complain about having dominated the race from Saturday onwards, but in rallies anything can happen up to the last meter of the race and, sometimes, even beyond.
For Tanak it is the 20th victory of his WRC career and his relaunch in the Drivers’ World Championship. Thanks to the 25 points accumulated this weekend, he rose to second place in the standings, tying Elfyn Evans with 104 points, -18 behind teammate Thierry Neuville, leading with 122 points. As regards the WRC Manufacturers’ Championship, Hyundai Motorsport takes 269 points against 256 for Toyota Gazoo Racing and 131 for M-Sport Ford.
The Belgian, after a promising Friday, made a serious mistake on yesterday’s SS8 by going off the road due to lack of concentration. Today, starting again for Super Sunday, he did his duty in full, taking home maximum points both for being the fastest in the Sunday classification and for having won the Power Stage.
With 12 points, Neuville managed to make up for his mistake by remaining at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. To complete the Hyundai party here is Dani Sordo’s third place finish. The Spaniard got the better of his rivals for the third step of the podium simply by not making mistakes, with experience, taking home the 57th podium of his WRC career.
Elfyn Evans finished fourth, having had an anonymous and non-competitive weekend. Only Neuville’s mistake made it acceptable overall, as he managed to recover 6 points from his rival for the title. But from the next round he will also have to deal with Ott Tanak, who has tied him in the world rankings. Takamoto Katsuta, however, was unlucky as he retired on Saturday afternoon due to a gearbox failure on his official Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
Complex weekend for M-Sport Ford, but made less bitter by Gregoire Munster’s unexpected fifth place overall finish. The Dutchman, maintaining his pace, completed the race ahead of the Rally2s (albeit by just 18 seconds) but it was enough to finish in the Top5.
Very unfortunate weekend for Adrien Fourmaux. The Frenchman, who was third in the event’s general classification on Friday, had to raise the white flag due to an electrical fault on his Ford Puma Rally1 and saw his chance of taking home another podium that was within reach disappear. he. However, the progress made on earth is evident and gives us hope for the future. By maintaining this pace and continuing to improve, it will be no surprise to see it enter interesting discussions for the market in the coming years.
Sami Pajari signed an amazing race in WRC2, achieving the second career victory in the category, but the first at the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The young Finn was the author of a perfect weekend: very fast since Friday he made space behind him after a good fight with Pierre-Louis Loubet, who however retired due to a breakdown on his Skoda Fabia RS Rally2.
At that point it was a real catwalk for Pajari up to the finish line of the Power Stage. He was able to manage the enormous advantage over his rivals, signing a very important victory for his growth. In second place was Yohan Rossel capable of putting together a very competitive second part of the race.
The Frenchman from Citroen Racing took second place in his class, finishing 32″3 behind Pajari, but above all beating the second Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, that of Jan Solans. The Spaniard, however, took home another important podium after the beautiful victory obtained in May at the Portuguese Rally.
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