Hyundai ended up with a 1-2 finish as Dani Sordo won FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Rally Italia Sardegna from Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier.
It looked like Sordo (co-driver Carlos del Barrio) was never away from WRC as the Spaniard returned with a bang in Rally Italia Sardegna after six months since last appearing in the truncated Rally Mexico event in March, where he was forced to retire.
Back in the Hyundai i20 Coupe, Sordo was on-song since the start of WRC Rally Italia Sardegna as he not only led Friday but also Saturday with wins in SS2, SS4, SS5, SS6 and SS8. M-Sport’s Teemu Suninen (co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen) chased him initially.
The Finn won SS1 to be in that position but dropped back on Saturday, when Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier (co-driver Julien Ingrassia) stepped up with wins in SS7, SS9, SS11, SS12, SS13 and SS15 along with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville (co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul).
The Belgian won SS10 and SS14 as he slowly moved into the podium position to challenge Ogier for second. And he took it away from the Frenchman as well in the Power Stage by one second to make it a Hyundai 1-2 behind Sordo, who made two in a row.
The Spanaird had won the 2019 WRC Rally Italia Sardegna as well and did it again in 2020 ahead of Neuville and Ogier. SS3 winner Toyota’s Elfyan Evans (co-driver Scott Martin) ended up fourth to retain his 2020 points lead with two events to go.
After having started off well, Suninen dropped out but recovered to fifth as Hyundai’s Ott Tanak (co-driver Martin Jarveoja) was sixth, which pretty much ends the Estonian’s chance to retain his WRC title. A suspension issue on Friday set him back for the whole event.
He scored extra points, though, for Hyundai by winning the Power Stage. In seventh was Hyundai’s fourth WRC car of Pierre-Louis Loubet (co-driver Vincent Landais) with the Frenchman recovering well despite a puncture and a suspension issue on Saturday.
Here’s the full result: https://www.wrc.com/en/wrcplus/live-timing/
Here’s the 2021 WRC calendar