Sebastien Ogier led all the way from Friday to win FIA WRC Rally Italia Sardegna ahead of Ott Tanak and Kalle Rovanpera.
Friday:
Sébastien Ogier held a slender overnight lead at Rally Italia Sardegna after a punishing Friday leg carved through the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) field. The eight-time world champion vaulted from third to first overall on the final stage of the day, overhauling Hyundai pair Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux to end the leg 2.9sec clear in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
Ogier had opened the rally with a stage win but dropped as low as fourth by mid-afternoon, battling low grip levels from his third position in the road order. Crucially, though, he stayed out of trouble on Sardinia’s sun-scorched gravel tracks – capitalising late on as others faltered.
Fourmaux led at the midpoint by 2.9sec over team-mate Thierry Neuville, but the tide turned after lunch. Neuville snatched the lead on SS4, only to retire on the next stage after striking a bank in Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda and damaging the rear-left corner of his i20 N Rally1.
Fourmaux retook first place but was unable to fend off Ogier’s late charge. He dropped 6.7sec on the final test, citing issues with his car’s ability to absorb bumps, and slipped to second overnight. Tänak was third, 5.2sec further back, having completed the stage with a damaged shock absorber.
The newly-introduced Telti – Calangianus – Berchidda stage proved decisive – and destructive. Neuville wasn’t its only victim: M-Sport Ford trio Mārtiņš Sesks, Josh McErlean and Grégoire Munster all retired on the first pass. Sesks rolled at high speed, while McErlean and Munster were sidelined by suspension damage. The second run saw even more drama. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Puma privateer Jourdan Serderidis both rolled at the same hairpin but managed to continue, albeit with time loss.
Sami Pajari continued to impress with his maturity and consistency. The Toyota youngster ended the day fourth, 9.5sec behind Tänak, despite clipping a rock and damaging a front-right tyre on SS3. Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä was fifth after enduring loose conditions from second on the road, while championship leader Elfyn Evans – tasked with opening the road – struggled even more and languished in sixth.
Katsuta brought his battered GR Yaris home in seventh, more than two minutes adrift of the lead, while Rally2 runners filled out the rest of the top 10. Oliver Solberg overcame an early overshoot to hold eighth, with WRC2 frontrunners Yohan Rossel and Roberto Daprá rounding out the leaderboard.
Saturday:
Sébastien Ogier retained his grip on Rally Italia Sardegna with one eye on redemption as the searing Mediterranean event continued to dish out punishment on Saturday. Twelve months ago, Ogier saw a near-certain victory here ripped away by a final-stage puncture that handed Ott Tänak the win by just 0.2sec – the joint closest finish in FIA World Rally Championship history. This time, he’ll take an 11.1sec advantage over the Hyundai driver into Sunday’s four-stage finale, which totals 77.78 competitive kilometres.
What began for Ogier as a 2.1sec buffer over Adrien Fourmaux turned into a 11.1sec lead over Tänak by day’s end after another punishing loop of rocky roads on the island tested the resilience of the Rally1 crews – and saw Friday’s second-placed man Fourmaux roll out in the penultimate stage. Ogier was consistently on the pace across Saturday’s sun-scorched six stages, winning three in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and maintaining a strong rhythm despite a moment of frustration on SS8, when dust from a recovering Fourmaux – who had just stopped to change a wheel – cost him time.
The eight-time champion was handed a corrected time for that test and ended the day satisfied. Behind him, Tänak mounted a fightback of his own. The Estonian dropped time with a slow puncture on SS9 but responded with stage wins on both passes of Lerno–Su Filigosu in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. Behind the top two, Kalle Rovanperä quietly worked his way into third overall. The two-time world champion had started the day fifth but climbed steadily as others faltered, capitalising on issues for both Fourmaux and Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari. He sits 55.5sec back from the lead.
Pajari had enjoyed another assured showing before running wide on SS9 and clouting the rear of his Yaris. The damage was cosmetic, but the Finn also lost time with a wheel change later in the day, slipping to fifth behind championship leader Elfyn Evans – who made gains after a muted Friday but also lost a chunk of time on SS11 when he too stopped to change a wheel.
The attrition up ahead meant that Nikolay Gryazin, driving a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, slotted into sixth overall ahead of Takamoto Katsuta, who was another to carry out a wheel change – adding further frustration to an already trying week. Oliver Solberg was eighth, but it was Emil Lindholm who was the highest-placed driver registered to score WRC2 points in ninth. The Finn finished the day ahead of Lauri Joona, who rounded out the top 10.
Sunday:
Sébastien Ogier survived a heart-stopping final stage scare to clinch a record fifth Rally Italia Sardegna victory, fending off a charging Ott Tänak to win by just 7.9sec on Sunday afternoon. Twelve months on from a final-stage puncture that cost him victory to Tänak by just 0.2sec – the joint closest finish in WRC history – Ogier was again at the centre of late drama on the Mediterranean island.
The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver appeared set for a relatively calm run to the finish after building a 17.1sec buffer ahead of the Wolf Power Stage, but an overshoot in the final kilometres saw that gap slashed by more than half. Ogier was forced to stop and reverse after his car failed to turn into a tight corner carved with deep ruts.
It was a victory built on persistence and poise rather than outright dominance. The eight-time world champion moved to the front during Friday’s brutal opening leg – one that saw multiple Rally1 crews fall by the wayside – before carefully managing the gap to Tänak across the weekend. It marked back-to-back wins for the Frenchman following his Rally de Portugal triumph last month, and his third victory of the season from just four starts—propelling him firmly into the title fight.
Elfyn Evans, who ended the rally fourth, saw his championship lead trimmed to just 17 points over team-mate Ogier, while Kalle Rovanperä – 42.6sec behind Tänak in third overall – dropped to third in the standings. Tänak and Thierry Neuville remain fourth and fifth respectively after round six of 14. Toyota ace Rovanperä delivered a measured drive to complete the podium after climbing from fifth during Saturday’s drama-filled stages.
The Finn also netted maximum Super Sunday points, including the Wolf Power Stage win. Evans’ fourth place came after recovering from a wheel change delay on Saturday, while Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg rounded out the top six. Sami Pajari sustained a damaged rear driveshaft after a spin on Sunday’s opener and slipped from fifth to seventh by the finish. Nikolay Gryazin was eighth, while Roberto Daprà and Kajetan Kajetanowicz capitalised on a final-day crash for Emil Lindholm to fill out the remainder of the top 10 and the leading two positions in WRC2.
Result: https://www.wrc.com/en/events/wrc-rally-italia-sardegna-2025/results-wrc-rally-italia-sardegna-2025
[The story is as per press release]
