Sebastien Ogier claimed victory at Rally Islas Canarias after a titanic fight with Toyota World Rally Championship team-mate Oliver Solberg ended when the latter crashed on the penultimate stage.
Nine-time world champion Ogier, co-driven by Vincent Landais, delivered an asphalt masterclass under intense pressure from Solberg and Elliott Edmondson on the Spanish Island’s smooth stages.
Ogier moved into the rally lead after stage two before extending his lead out to 8.9s over Solberg at the end of Friday. That advantage came under threat from an inspired Solberg through Saturday’s stages.
The rally developed into a battle over fractions of seconds as Ogier and Solberg became locked in an thrilling duel. The pair could barely be separated and even set identical times in stage 13. Solberg made inroads on the lead in stage 14 to head into Sunday’s final four stages 3.8s behind the reigning world champion.
Without a tyre fitting zone on Sunday, the pair knew they had to preserve rubber, but Solberg continued to reel in Ogier. Heading into the penultimate stage, Ogier’s lead was down to 2.2s before drama struck.
Solberg took too much speed into a right hander and clipped a barrier that forced him into an instant retirement. With Solberg out of the rally, the pressure on Ogier was reduced as the Frenchman went on to score his 68th career win – as Toyota surpassed 300 WRC podiums.
“It’s been very enjoyable. We had a great car to drive again and it was good fun, so well done to all the team. It was extremely close this weekend with my team-mates, especially with Oliver. Shame we couldn’t all finish together,’ said Ogier.
Ogier took the win from Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans by 19.9s. The Welshman was involved in the fight for victory on Saturday, having closed to within 10.3s of Ogier after winning stage 10, held in wet conditions.
Evans, however, lost ground on stage 11, battling to find the sweet spot in his GR Yaris. Solberg’s stage 17 exit did elevate Evans to a valuable second position for his title bid that was also boosted by the maximum 10 Super Sunday points. It was enough to move Evans into the lead of the championship by two points.
Sami Pajari had hoped the Canary Island would offer a shot at victory after impressing in Croatia earlier this month. The Finn struggled to extract the pace from the car that his team-mates were able to achieve, but ended the rally in third [+1m40.8s] after Solberg’s retirement.
Championship leader Takamoto Katsuta also struggled in a similar fashion to Pajari and had to settle for fourth [+1m51.2s].
Hyundai arrived in the Canary Islands knowing it would be a tall order to take the fight to Toyota given smooth asphalt roads are the i20 N’s weakness, and the gap between Toyota and Hyundai was perhaps even bigger than 12 months ago at the same rally.
All three Hyundai crews struggled with car balance and were simply unable to commit to the racing lines the Toyota drivers were able to take in the stages.
Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
Adrien Fourmaux managed to make the most progress in extracting pace from the car across the rally, and ultimately finished in fifth [+3m29.5s], the same result as last year.
Thierry Neuville struggled the most, admitting that “something was clearly wrong” after clocking times slower than what he managed last year. The 2024 world champion did however climb ahead of team-mate Dani Sordo into seventh, which became sixth following Solberg’s retirement.
Sordo, making his first Rally1 start since Greece 2024, was the quickest Hyundai after Friday’s stages. The 42-year-old was unable to maintain that pace as the rally progressed and ended up finishing in seventh.
The rally also turned into an intra-team battle within the M-Sport-Ford ranks, as Josh McErlean took the spoils after enjoying a much-needed clean run through a WRC event. The Irishman finished eighth overall.
Team-mate Jon Armstrong endured a challenging event that began with a wild moment that required a trip down an escape road. The Northern Irishman was fortunate to avoid retirement when he understeered off the road in stage 14. Luckily, fans helped him back onto the road, but more than two minutes were dropped. Armstrong reached the end of the rally outside of the top 10.
Lancia claimed its second WRC2 win following its comeback to the championship this year. After taking the spoils in Croatia earlier this month, Yohan Rossel scored back-to-back wins in the second tier after delivering a faultless drive. The Frenchman finished 10th overall, beating Alejandro Cachon by 25.1s.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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