Ott Tänak ended his long quest for a victory in the FIA World Championship by taking the unequivocal victory of the Rally Italia Sardinia on Sunday afternoon.
The Hyundai Motorsport driver dominated the rocky roads of the Mediterranean island in the fifth stage of the WRC season, driving a hybrid-engined i20 N Rally1 to the top of the standings with a 1-minute 3.2-second lead over the Irish M- Sport Ford racer Craig Breen in a Puma Rally1.
Tänak's victory was long overdue. After the last time he took the top step of the podium at Arctic Rally Finland in 2021, 462 days have passed. Since then he has been looking for the right path to victory, but almost always through no fault of his own, numerous mechanical problems have prevented him from achieving it.
He had been leading the rally from the start, but gave it to driver Esapekka Lappi, in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, at the stage that opened on Friday. Once again, a mechanical problem affected the transmission of his car, which now only has three-wheel drive, causing him to lose 0.7 seconds to the Finn at the end of the stage.
This foreshadowed a tough battle between the two riders during Saturday's marathon stage, which took place in the Monte Acuto area, with no mechanical assistance service in the middle of the day.
This foreshadowed a tough battle between the two riders during Saturday's marathon stage, which took place in the Monte Acuto area, without mechanical assistance service in the middle of the day.
With Lappi absent from the rally, Tänak regained the lead and thus won six of the seven stages on Saturday, taking big advantage for the final day, still imposing a very strong pace, even if he said he didn't feel rushed. This gave him a certain tranquility in the last four stages played on Sunday and he won his 15th career victory.
"It's been a big challenge, especially since the beginning of this (hybrid) generation," said Tänak.
"We are very happy, especially the mechanics, who put in an incredible effort over the past year and earlier this year. This rally was not easy and they did a great job of keeping the car moving."
"We took some steps. In Portugal we gave a lot of work but we managed to improve. Without a doubt, if there is confidence we can achieve great results. We just have to keep working hard and well", he said. he added.
Craig Breen was naturally pleased to have achieved his best result with the Ford M-Sport. The Irishman, who finished only in the top five on Friday after a top and grueling day, managed to slip back to second place soon after when teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet punctured the left front tire of his Puma Rally1.
On Saturday he came under pressure from Hyundai's Dani Sordo before finishing in the top three several times and widening the gap to his Spanish rival.
Sordo, who has always been cautious, finished on the podium 29.8 seconds behind the Irishman. He struggled to find a comfortable set-up at the start of the rally, the improvements were gradual, allowing him to pick up pace on his i20 N and he only had a minor mishap in a wet section during ES16.
Behind Pierre-Louis Loubet in a Ford Puma Rally1 he spent another 36.4 seconds, to achieve the best result of his career: fourth place overall. He was able to overcome a puncture maturely and set the pace when necessary, comfortably managing the gap separating him from Kalle Rovanperä, leaving the young Finn behind at 53.4.
Despite the worst result, after three consecutive victories, Rovanperä was the best of Toyota's drivers with his fifth place in the disappointing Italian run for Jari-Matti Latvala's team.
The world leader who had the delicate task of opening the track on Friday and who initially couldn't get out of eighth position, struggling to get traction in his Yaris GR on the loose and dusty surface of Sardinia's dirt floors, but the best position on the road all day Saturday helped him climb the standings. Managing to pass his teammate, Japanese Takamoto Katsuta, who finished sixth, and French M-Sport Ford's Adrien Fourmaux, who retired in SS17. Rovanperä extended his lead in the championship, with a lead that now stands at 55 points.
Briton Gus Greensmith was seventh after a frustrating weekend. He braked too hard in a right-hander on Friday, took a slight detour and lost about two minutes trying to get the hybrid engine of his Ford Puma back on track. From that incident, he focused on finishing the race and testing different settings on his car.As primeiras posições restantes foram compostas por carros da categoria WRC2 que usam carros não híbridos. O vencedor do WRC2, o russo Nikolay Gryazin no Skoda Fabia, o espanhol Jan Solans no Citröen C3 e o finlandês Jari Huttunen no Ford Fiesta MkII, completam o pódio na categoria assistência e fecham os dez primeiros.
After a disastrous race with retirement after a roll on Saturday, Hyundai's Belgian Thierry Neuville managed to save five points with victory at the Wolf Power Stage. Even worse was the race for Toyota's Welshman Elfyn Evans, who had a rally to forget after dropping out on the first two days, Friday and Saturday.
The championship is halfway through with a long-awaited visit to Africa next month. The legendary Kenya Safari Rally, which will be held in Naivasha from the 23rd to the 26th of June.
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