The second day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 has come to a close. Sebastien Ogier retained the event lead after the day.
SS5, Tempio Pausania 1
Ott Tänak kicked off the day with his second stage win of the weekend. As the Estonian set a time 3.3 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to top the stage. Sebastien Ogier finished third fastest on the stage, 4.6 seconds slower than Tänak and 1.3 seconds slower than Neuville. WRC2 driver Yohan Rossel was fourth fastest on the stage, 5.3 seconds slower than Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.4 seconds slower than Rossel. Ott Tänak took over the event lead on the stage. Tänak took a 0.1-second lead over Ogier into SS6. Ogier suffered a puncture on the stage.
SS6, Tula-Erula 1
Sebastien Ogier took home the stage win on the sixth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. With a time 2.3 seconds faster than Ott Tänak. Thierry Neuville finished third fastest on the stage, 3.2 seconds slower than Ogier and 0.9 seconds slower than Tänak. Takamoto Katsuta set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 18.1 seconds slower than Neuville. WRC2 driver Yohan Rossel rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.7 seconds slower than Katsuta. Sebastien Ogier was able to reacquire the event lead on SS6. With Ogier now holding a 2.2-second lead over Tänak. No drivers had any reported issues on the stage.
SS7, Tempio Pausania 2
Thierry Neuville took his first stage win on the day on SS7. Setting a time 0.1 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to win his second stage of the weekend. Sebastien Ogier was third fastest on the stage, 4.5 seconds slower than Neuville and 4.4 seconds slower than Tänak, making Tänak the new rally leader. Elfyn Evans finished fourth fastest on the stage, 4.5 seconds slower than Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 1.3 seconds slower than Evans.
SS8, Tula-Erula 2
Ott Tänak took home the stage win on the final stage of the morning loop. As the Estonian posted a time 1.3 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to expand his event lead to 3.5 seconds over Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta finished third fastest on the stage, 8 seconds slower than Tänak and 6.7 seconds slower than Ogier. Dani Sordo had the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.8 seconds slower than Katsuta. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the eighth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024, finishing 4.8 seconds slower than Sordo. Reigning event winner Thierry Neuville crashed out on the stage. Forcing him to retire from the day.
SS9, Monte Lerno 1
Sebastien Ogier kicked off the afternoon loop with his second stage win of the day. Finishing with a time 6.8 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to take back the event lead. Ogier now leads by 3.3 seconds over Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux set the third fastest time on the stage, 11.5 seconds slower than Ogier and 4.7 seconds slower than Tänak. Dani Sordo was fourth fastest on the stage, 9.4 seconds slower than Fourmaux. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 5.5 seconds slower than Sordo. Takamoto Katsuta was forced to retire early into the stage with what’s believed to be a transmission issue.
SS10, Coiluna-Loelle 1
Sebastien Ogier also took home the stage win on the tenth stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024. As Ogier set a time 6.4 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to extend the event lead to 9.7 seconds. Adrien Fourmaux was once again third fastest on the stage, finishing 7.4 seconds slower than Ogier and 1 second slower than Tänak. Elfyn Evans finished fourth fastest on the stage, 1.2 seconds slower than Fourmaux. Dani Sordo rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.9 seconds slower than Evans. No drivers reported any issues on the stage.
SS11, Monte Lerno 2
Sebastien Ogier also took home the stage win on the eleventh stage of Rally Italian Sardegna 2024. With a time 6.5 seconds faster than Ott Tänak to further extend the event lead to 16.2 seconds. Dani Sordo finished third fastest on the stage, 7.7 seconds slower than Ogier and 1.2 seconds slower than Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 6.2 seconds slower than Sordo. Elfyn Evans rounded out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.7 seconds slower than Fourmaux. No drivers reported any issues on the stage.
SS12, Coiluna-Loelle 2
Elfyn Evans took his first stage win of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 on the final stage of day two. As the Welshmen set a time 0.4 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier. Ott Tänak was third fastest on the stage, 1.3 seconds slower than Evans and 0.9 seconds slower than Ogier. Dani Sordo finished fourth fastest on the stage, 0.7 seconds slower than Tänak. Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five on the stage, 0.3 seconds slower than Sordo.
What To Expect From Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 Day Three
The third and final day of Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 will see drivers contest 39.30 km across four stages. Thierry Neuville will be first on the road, followed by Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux. Neuville will likely look to make a huge push on Super Sunday due to his retirement today. If he doesn’t he’s at risk of losing the championship lead for the first time this season.
Driver Quotes
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Jari-Matti Latvala – Team Principal
“To be leading at the end of another Saturday definitely gives us a great feeling. Seb has been driving superbly once again. Even with no spare tyres left, he was able to keep up his speed this morning and then attack in the afternoon. Taka was driving well and keeping Dani Sordo behind, so it was a pity that he had to stop with the transmission-related issue, but the last stage of the morning was very rough and it seems something had broken as a consequence. Elfyn hasn’t had the best feeling in this rally but he’s been driving consistently and, with Thierry making a mistake, he has moved into a better position and if everything goes well tomorrow, this can help him in the championship. It’s a relatively short final day tomorrow but I’m sure everybody will be pushing hard and we can expect more tense competition.”
Sebastien Ogier – 1st Overall
“It’s been an incredible day overall. Very rough and very tough. The morning stages were not so fun to drive with some of the roughest conditions we’ve ever seen. That was really about surviving and I’m glad we were able to do that, especially after we lost one tyre after the first stage of the day. The afternoon was completely different: it was much more enjoyable to drive. The pleasure was back so I really enjoyed it and I managed to create a gap, so tonight it’s very positive. Tomorrow we still expect some rough conditions, but we will still need to have some speed and just carry on with the same approach.”
Elfyn Evans – 4th Overall
“It’s been a long and tough day out there. I think our speed has been better in certain stages than in others. When there’s a bit more room and the surface is sandier, it suits us better. When it’s tight and twisty we’re still struggling a bit. The good thing is that we got the car to the end of the day when others weren’t able to do so and that’s helped us move up the leaderboard. Of course, we still have tomorrow to get through to secure those points, and hopefully, we can push to take a few more.”
Takamoto Katsuta – 40th Overall [SR]
“Everything was going quite well this morning. It was a very rough loop – the last stage especially was very extreme and tough for the cars. We managed to get up to third overall so we were in a good position. But I started to hear a noise in the last stage of the morning and we found that we had an issue with the transmission. With a normal service, we could have fixed it, but with just the tyre-fitting zone we could not do so much. We tried, but it got worse on the first stage of the afternoon and we had to stop. It’s tough, but this is rallying and we just need to look forward.”
Hyundai Shell Mobis
Cyril Abiteboul – Team Principal
“Definitely a day of mixed feelings. We have had some great moments in very good position, including Ott in the lead, but also some disappointments when Thierry made a mistake and went off, meaning he could not complete the day. It is unfortunate as he was looking to build his advantage, but he will be back on Sunday with renewed focus. Ott kept the fight alive against Ogier but eventually elected to take a cautious approach, especially as he still occasionally lacks confidence in certain conditions with the car. Today was one of those days, but tomorrow he will be back on a massive attack. Dani did a great job keeping Evans behind, which is a crucial contribution to the team’s objective and our final result in a very contested championship season.”
Ott Tänak – 2nd Overall
“Generally, I was expecting a very tough first half of the day, which it was, and it was a big job to keep the pace on these roads – it took a lot of energy. I was hoping for a better afternoon on stages that I really enjoy, but I couldn’t make it work. I couldn’t find a good rhythm in the car and when you don’t have full confidence, it’s hard to keep pushing to the maximum. I also had to be safe and not take any risks. Every day has been very different and tomorrow we have two unique stages – the Power Stage on the beach cannot be compared to anything else. It is very cool if you have nothing to lose, but we can’t lose what we have achieved already.”
Dani Sordo – 3rd Overall
“I was performing better this afternoon when I had better grip on the surface of the roads, but it was a tough day and I did struggle. The problems of Katsuta and Thierry gave us a little bit of a boost, but in the end, I started to push and managed to build a gap of thirty seconds. Tomorrow is another really demanding day, with narrow and difficult stages, so we need to keep pushing forwards. Our goal is to keep Evans behind and finish on the podium at a minimum, and try to keep up with the guys in front.”
Thierry Neuville – 44th Overall [SR]
“We were in the middle of a very tricky twisty section when I momentarily lost my concentration on a corner and didn’t realise we would have a slow one right after. I was too late on the brakes and I knew immediately it was going to be tricky to get out of the situation. There were no spectators around to help push us back on, which meant that despite having no damage on the car, we were unable to continue. Tomorrow we have a clear target: to push as hard as we can to take the full 12 points from the day. It’s the best we can do in this situation.”
Rally Italia Sardegna 2024 Day One Recap