Day 1/2
After winning Thursday night’s super special, Lappi started the day with a 0.2s lead over Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. But he ended Friday morning 16.3s behind Ogier, electing for a more hard tyre focused strategy in the morning’s 49.9km Monte Lerno test.
However, in the afternoon Lappi fitted soft tyres which worked perfectly in the wetter conditions. This combined with his suspension set-up call helped the one-time WRC rally winner overhaul Ogier to lead at the end of the day by 0.1s, despite suffering a left-rear puncture in the second pass of Monte Lerno.
Hyundai’s main championship contender Thierry Neuville ended the day in the fight for victory, 18.6s adrift of the lead in third.
The team’s third entry driven by Dani Sordo recovered to 12th overall after losing three minute to a slow roll during stage four that caused significant damage to the i20 N.
Rovanperä had entered the final stage down in seventh overall but the wet conditions played to the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver’s favour climbing three positions in the process.
Just 1.3sec behind was Takamoto Katsuta, a front right puncture towards the end of Monte Lerno left Elfyn Evans 18.2sec behind his team-mate in sixth overall. He headed M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tänak, who overcame a failing water pump, by 4.2sec.
Day 3
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville leap-frogged his World Rally Championship team-mate Esapekka Lappi to lead Rally Sardinia after Sebastien Ogier crashed out when heavy rain hit the stages.
Ogier started the day 0.1 seconds behind Lappi but managed to overhaul the Finn to take an 18.2s lead into the afternoon.
Lappi reduced Ogier’s lead across the afternoon before the latter ran off the road in stage 14, handing Neuville, who won five of the day’s eight stages, the lead over Lappi by 36.4s.
World champion Kalle Rovanpera inherited third (+1m50.7s) after a trouble-free run, while Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans overcame significant time loss in water splashes to sit fourth (+5m36.5s). Hyundai’s Dani Sordo (+6m27.9s) completed the Rally1 field.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta retired after suffering damage incurred in water splashes in the morning. Loubet sustained mechanical damage as the day progressed and he too had to retire from the event.
Day 4
Thierry Neuville extended his Rally Sardinia lead on Sunday morning as the Hyundai driver closed in on his and the team’s first World Rally Championship victory of the season.
Despite tricky conditions on the final stages, Neuville elected to push while the majority of his rivals opted to preserve their cars and tyres. He finished comfortably clear of his team-mate Lappi to bring home a 1-2 finish for the team.
Kalle Rovanpera finished a lonely third with his Toyota Team-mate Evans in forth. Amazingly only four WRC cars finished in the top 10. Mikkelsen, Suninen, Kajetanowicz, Rossel, Marczyk & Cais completed the top 10 positions.
