Toyota (NYSE:) Metropolis, Japan, Jun 3, 2024 – (JCN Newswire) – – TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Staff and Sebastien Ogier regarded set to safe a 3rd consecutive victory collectively at Rally Italia Sardegna earlier than late drama within the ultimate few kilometres of the occasion meant they missed out by the narrowest of margins.
Automobile 17 (Sebastien Ogier, Vincent Landais)
Ogier was concerned in an in depth battle for the lead for many of the occasion, and whereas a powerful Saturday afternoon enabled him to steer into the ultimate day, competitors remained intense on Sunday and simply 6.2 seconds separated him and rival Ott Tanak going into the deciding Energy Stage. Nonetheless, Ogier seemed to be doing sufficient to safe victory till he started dropping air from a tyre over the tough ultimate part of stage.
It meant that he and co-driver Vincent Landais finally missed out by simply 0.2s in a end that equals the closest ever in FIA World Rally Championship historical past – coincidentally set by Ogier when he beat his now-Staff Principal Jari-Matti Latvala by the identical margin in Jordan in 2011. Ogier nonetheless climbs to fourth place within the drivers’ championship, solely 30 factors from the lead regardless of contesting solely 4 of the six rounds held thus far.
Elfyn Evans has additionally decreased his hole to the championship chief to 18 factors after ending fourth total with co-driver Scott Martin. Following a difficult begin on Friday, Evans remained constant to climb up into the highest 4 by the top of Saturday and carried improved tempo into the ultimate day to take third in each the Tremendous Sunday classification and the Energy Stage, netting 18 factors in whole.
Takamoto Katsuta was operating in third place total on Saturday afternoon earlier than a transmission-related challenge pressured he and co-driver Aaron Johnston to cease. They restarted on Sunday and set the fifth-best time within the Energy Stage.
Following its maiden WRC2 victory in Portugal, the GR Yaris Rally2 claimed a second consecutive win on tough gravel roads. Sami Pajari and Enni Malkonen claimed a commanding triumph of their Printsport-run automotive whereas ending in sixth place total. Portugal class winners Jan Solans and Rodrigo Sanjuan made it a double podium in third for Teo Martin Motorsport.
Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“The floor in Sardinia may be very demanding, and it all the time provides challenges to our group and automobiles. TGR has gained Sardinia solely as soon as thus far when Seb acquired the victory in 2021. Seb and Vincent had been doing rather well on this harsh and demanding occasion, however they missed out on the final second on the Energy Stage. The hole of 0.2 seconds is so small and disappointing, however that is sport. Our group all hate to lose. We are going to flip this frustration into power and goal for the following victory.
P.S. to OttI was on-site in Rally Sardinia 2019 and following your efficiency. You made up for the frustration of that Energy Stage this time. Congratulations!”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Staff Principal)
“We are of course very disappointed to miss out on the victory in this way. This final stage in Sardinia has been very dramatic in the past and unfortunately, it’s not the first time that we have experienced late drama here, because it reminds us of what happened back in 2019 when we were leading with Ott until the last stage. This event has not always been kind to us, but it was looking very good for Seb and we thought we could take another victory together here. The only positive is that it didn’t affect the points so much for us. A moment like this can be difficult to digest, and we hate to lose, but we also never lose our fighting spirit and we will come back to fight again on the next event in Poland.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver automotive 33)
“It’s been a very difficult weekend for us but today was a bit better. I would say the feeling was definitely improved and I think the times and the points that we got from the day showed that. Still, it’s clear looking at the weekend overall that we still have a lot of work to do to improve in rallies with conditions like this one. The good news is that the characteristics now change to something quite different for the next three rallies. We know the car can be strong on fast rallies like those and it will be important to prepare as best we can and try to find confidence early.”
Sebastien Ogier (Driver automotive 17)
“We knew it could be tough today with some stages that are very rough and maybe not the most suited to us. Still, I think we were doing a good enough job to secure the win, but unfortunately we started to lose tyre pressure three kilometres from the end. The conditions were very extreme in this Power Stage, even worse than we have seen there before, and I don’t think there was much that I could have done differently. It’s something that’s never easy to take, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really change anything in terms of the overall points for the team. I think I can still be happy with the weekend I’ve done, and sometimes motorsport just doesn’t go your way. We will come back and try to keep up this level of performance we’ve had.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver automotive 18)
“Today my target was to get some points. We knew it would be difficult with our starting position, and the first stage was not good because we had a lot of dust from the car in front and could not see so much. We took some points but of course I wanted more. Things were working well earlier in the rally, everything was under control and then unfortunately we had the technical issue. But it was a demanding rally for the cars and sometimes things like this can happen: I just need to accept it and move forward to the next rally.”
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFIACTION, RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai (OTC:) i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 3h06m05.6s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +0.2s
3 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2m25.8s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2m37.8s
5 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford (NYSE:) Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +6m42.9s
6 Sami Pajari/Enni Malkonen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m13.4s
7 Yohan Rossel/Benjamin Boulloud (Citroen C3 Rally2) +7m45.7s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m52.7s
9 Martin Prokop/Michal Ernst (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m05.4s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m09.3s
35 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +41m28.1s
(Outcomes as of 16:00 on Sunday, for the most recent outcomes please go to www.wrc.com)
2024 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after spherical 6:
1 Thierry Neuville 122 factors
2 Ott Tanak 104
3 Elfyn Evans 104
4 Sebastien Ogier 92
5 Adrien Fourmaux 74
6 Takamoto Katsuta 52
7 Kalle Rovanpera 36
8 Dani Sordo 27
9 Esapekka Lappi 23
10 Gregoire Munster 16
2024 FIA World Rally Championship for producers after spherical 6:
1 Hyundai Shell (LON:) Mobis World Rally Staff 269 factors
2 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Staff 256
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Staff 131
What’s subsequent?
Rally Poland (June 27-30) returns to the WRC for the primary time since 2017, providing quick levels on smooth and sandy roads round Mikołajki within the Masurian lake district within the north-east of the nation.
Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.