Hyundai’s Dani Sordo takes lead after Day 1: WRC

Sardinia, 9 October 2020: At the end of the first day of Rally Italia Sardinia, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo, the winner of the 2019 edition, continues to lead, ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen and Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville, who moved ahead of Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier.

Sordo, on his first FIA WRC round since Mexico in March, won both afternoon stages to extend his lead to 17.4 seconds overnight from Suninen. The Finn wasn’t happy with his tyre choice in the afternoon, as he expected the conditions to be warmer – so he couldn’t use his two hard tyres.

It was a better afternoon for Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, despite two stalls on hairpins during the day. The Belgian went past Ogier in the overall classification with a second-fastest time on the final stage. This meant that he is now a provisional third – by less than a second though.

Ogier struggled with road-sweeping in the afternoon, which also affected his team mate, Championship Leader Elfyn Evans, who called the situation “impossible”. The Toyota duo finished Friday in fourth and fifth places respectively, and are looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

Behind them was the M-Sport Ford Fiesta of Gus Greensmith, who was happy enough with his progress throughout the day but felt that he still had a lot more to learn.

Reigning champion Ott Tänak resolved his suspension problems from the morning at service midday service, with his Hyundai back to full fitness in the afternoon. He finished the day in eighth overall, one place ahead of Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä.

The Finn dropped nearly two minutes in the afternoon with an unidentified technical problem that affected him on both stages. He ended the day nearly 40 seconds behind Tänak.

The FIA WRC2 standings are now led by Toksport WRT driver Pontus Tidemand with his Škoda, after previous leader Adrien Formaux of M-Sport Ford WRT dropped time with a puncture on his Fiesta in SS5, hitting a rock in a corner cut. The Frenchman is second in the provisional standings, with Tidemand’s team-mate Eyvind Brynildsen in third.

Norway’s Oliver Solberg continues to lead FIA WRC3 in another Škoda Fabia, with his advantage in the class now standing at half a minute, ahead of Frenchmen Yohann Rossel and Nicolas Ciamin.

There was no change in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship classification either, with Sweden’s Tom Kristensson carrying on his impressive progress from the morning, 50 seconds clear of Finland’s Sami Pajari and almost 4 minutes over Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zaldivar.

Tomorrow’s action takes in six more demanding stages, starting with Monte Lerno at 07:37. The rally finishes on Sunday, covering 16 stages in total.

2020 Rally Italia Sardegna – Unofficial results after Section 3: