The big talking points ahead of WRC Rally Sardinia

Sardinia is regarded as one of the roughest rallies on the World Rally Championship calendar, and is often a critical round as the title race edges towards the halfway mark.

Heading into the rally, Toyota’s Elfyn Evans continues to lead the standings, albeit his advantage has been cut to 30 points over team-mate Kalle Rovanpera, with part-time driver Sebastien Ogier in third. However, all eyes will be on Hyundai’s it looks to ignite its season and end Toyota’s 100% winning start to 2025.

Here are the key talking points heading into Sardinia.

Can Hyundai rekindle its Sardinia magic?

Winner Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

The pressure is well and truly on Hyundai to end its winless start to the season at an event where it has only been defeated twice since 2016.

Last month’s round in Portugal provided much-needed momentum for Hyundai as Ott Tanak dominated the event only for a power steering issue to deny the 2019 world champion a likely win.

Hyundai’s impressive history in Sardinia coupled with Tanak, world champion Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux starting behind the leading Toyotas of Evans, Rovanpera and Ogier has presented Hyundai with a strong case for victory. Its two lead drivers Neuville and Tanak have also scored three wins apiece at the event.

“I hope [we can take a victory]. Let’s see. There is the positive statistic of good results here in the past but that is also creating some pressure on us to deliver. There is also the bad statistic of our championship start, which is also creating some extra pressure to deliver here, so clearly the pressure is on us,” said Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

“In motorsport at this level it is always going to be marginal between the winner and the loser. We hope to be in the first category, but let’s see. We need to be extremely humble regarding the championship star and the harshness of a rally like this one.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Vincent Thuillier / Hyundai Motorsport

While Neuville, Tanak and Fourmaux are desperate to be standing on the top step of the podium, the trio are fully aware that this is a rally where drama can strike at any moment.

“Hopefully [we can win]. You never know what can happen on a rally, but we are going to find out,” said Neuville, who has moved to a similar set-up to Tanak in search of replicating the latter’s speed in Portugal.

A plethora of unknown new stages for this year’s edition add another curveball, while Tanak is keen to point out that the gravel surface is “different” to Portugal. Fourmaux also highlighted the danger of loose rocks that are difficult to pick out and can end victory bids in a heartbeat.

“The surface is completely different and the stage characteristics are different. Rallying is very difficult to predict to be honest,” said Tanak.

While Fourmaux added: “This is probably the toughest Sardinia I have seen in my career. On Friday and Sunday the stages are quite narrow and there are rocks on the side of the road. It is interesting to have some new stages. Our position is good so I need to optimise that. If I’m good enough I should be leading the rally on Friday evening.”

Road position will hamper Toyota’s challenge

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

There is no doubt Toyota will face a tough task to maintain its 100% winning start to the season in Sardinia virtue of its domination of the championship to date.

Occupying the top three positions in the championship means Evans, Rovanpera, who is not a fan of Sardinia’s stages, and Portugal winner Ogier face the worst of the conditions on Friday, on stages where road cleaning has a huge effect. Toyota does however have Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari starting further down the order, who could stand to benefit from cleaner road conditions.

Championship leader Evans is already expecting a “tough ride” but is hopeful some changes made to his GR Yaris will help combat the turn in struggles he battled in Portugal.

“It is fairly typical Sardinia, there are sections that are rough and sections that are nice, but like always there will be cleaning, so nothing new really. It is always bad here,” said Evans.

“There have been some bits done [to the car] and let’s see how it plays out. We have definitely played with a few things to try and gamble to help the car turn a bit better.

Sébastien Ogier, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“We know we are in for a tough ride on Friday but we still have to give it the best and assess from there.”

However, eight-time world champion Ogier has proved it is possible to win in Sardinia from first on the road back in 2021 and knows more than most that anything can happen after losing last year’s edition by 0.2s on the final stage.

“I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this rally. It won’t be over until it’s over, which is often in rallying,” said Ogier. “We know we face a big challenge as a team with three cars at the front which will make it harder for us, but I will have at least two cars in front so will make the best of the lines in front of me.

“We are facing a hard challenge but I always start with a positive attitude and think that it is possible. The confidence is good and the hopes are still high.”

How much will heat be a factor?

Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Sardinia is renowned for its incredibly high ambient temperatures and the thermometers will once again be rising this weekend.

Forecasts suggest temperatures will peak at 32 degrees over the course of the rally, which is lower than in recent years, but it won’t be any less punishing on the crews. Cabin temperatures are expected to reach the 70 degree mark, although drivers and teams will have the respite of midday services on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, unlike the most recent round in Portugal.

However, high temperatures will still offer challenging conditions to contend with.

“It will be hot and it is not going to be pleasant in the car,” said Tanak.

Evans added: “It is going to be properly hot but luckily there are not any super long stages.”

The summer temperatures at rallies, such as Sardinia, are among the reasons why Toyota replaced its black colour scheme with a silver livery to reflect some of the heat away from its GR Yaris entries.

Can M-Sport’s suspension upgrade move it closer to the pack?

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

M-Sport will debut a revised suspension package across its Ford Puma Rally1 cars as it looks to close the gap to rivals Toyota and Hyundai.

New specification dampers have been fitted to all four Puma Rally1 cars piloted by Josh McErlean, Gregoire Munster, Martins Sesks and Jourdan Serderidis.

Dampers are an area that teams can develop throughout the season without needing to deploy one of its limited homologation jokers that are usually deployed to re-design more significant components on the cars in the quest for more performance and reliability.

“Obviously, we are trying to find a set up that works to try and give them more feeling and work the tyre better,” said team principal Richard Millener.

“Certainly us and Hyundai are still trying to understand how the tyre works, and Toyota are maybe a little bit further ahead than us. We need to see what really happens in the rally, as long as it gives them a bit of confidence [that is good].”

The package has already garnered positive feedback from the crews.