Rally Italia Sardegna: Day 3 Ogier and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing clinch dramatic Sardinia triumph

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Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)

“For us, TGR-WRT, Sardinia is truly a tough event. We had faced the challenge of this event eight times previously and we had only won once. Almost every year, someone ended up retiring early, leaving our competition to take the win. Ott lost victory on the Power Stage in 2019, and Seb missed it in 2024, also on the final stage. Last year, Seb missed out on winning by just 0.2 seconds due to trouble, which was really frustrating for us.

This year, we had a close call in the Power Stage, and Seb redeemed himself! It’s a wonderful fifth victory for him in Sardinia. I am very thankful to Seb and Vincent.

The team experienced several issues, including Takamoto’s roll, but I’m also happy that all five cars completed the rally without any retirements and made it back to the finish. Being challenged on such a tough road helps us become stronger. And TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will continue to make ever-better cars as we overcome obstacles one by one through rally stages.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“We’re really happy that we were able to win this rally. It hasn’t been the easiest one for us in the past, and this year we were starting with three cars at the front opening the road on Friday, but still we could take our sixth win in six rounds, which is really incredible. There was a lot of drama through the event, and for some reason there always has to be drama in the Power Stage in Sardinia, but thankfully Seb managed to bring it home after a great performance from the beginning. Kalle could build his performance day by day, finishing with an amazing time on the Power Stage, while Elfyn was suffering the most from opening the road but drove a clever event and took the points that he could. All five of our cars finished in the points without retirements and overall it’s been a positive weekend for the championship.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Overall we have to be satisfied with how our weekend has turned out. Fourth was realistically as much as we could expect starting first on the road on Friday. This is always a rally full of attrition and getting to the end without big issues was vital. The pace of the top three was pretty hot but the positive thing is that we did make clear progress through the rally in terms of feeling, especially in second-pass conditions, so that gives us some positives to take forward to Greece.”

Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“I think we can be happy with our weekend. We had a lot of cleaning on Friday and after that we managed it the best we can with a clean and clever drive and maximum points from Sunday. I did everything I could in the Power Stage and I was surprised by the time gap because it didn’t feel great in such a narrow and slow stage, but I’m happy with the points. In terms of the pace this is probably the best weekend I’ve done in Sardinia, so thanks to the team for the good car.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“I’m very happy to secure this win. It was a close fight until the end with Ott and this morning I had the opportunity to build a bit of a margin. Therefore in the Power Stage I was not pushing for the full points, but we still had to fight with the ruts and I got caught in a tight corner and preferred to stop and reverse the car. It wasn’t ideal and cost us some Sunday points, but we had enough in hand to achieve our main target which was to win. It’s a very satisfying win for myself and the team, which did a great job after Portugal to improve the car setup and the speed even without a test; the car was enjoyable to drive and the times were coming more easily.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s been a very tough weekend as we expect here, but still we could finish fifth overall which is not so bad. We had some difficulties during the weekend with the roll and some other things, but this can happen in a rally like this and at the end I felt quite confident with the car. I tried to push in the Power Stage but just made a mistake at the end and got stuck in the very soft and loose surface. So it’s some mixed feelings but I think we are heading in a good direction looking forward to Greece.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It was a tricky final day for us. The plan was just to get to the finish with a good feeling but we hit something on the first stage of the day and broke something small in the suspension. We managed to fix it on the road section so that we could continue driving, and then the most important thing was to get to the finish and bring the points back. Up until today I think it was a positive weekend for us. The speed was better and coming more naturally and this is something good to take to Greece.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA
1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3h34m24.5s
2 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7.9s
3 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +50.5s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5m05.7s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +7m29.6s
6 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m32.9s
7 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +10m29.0s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m58.7s
9 Roberto Daprà/Luca Guglielmetti (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12m15.3s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +12m21.1s
(Results as of 14:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 6:
1 Elfyn Evans 133 points
2 Sébastien Ogier 114
3 Kalle Rovanperä 113
4 Ott Tänak 108
5 Thierry Neuville 83
6 Takamoto Katsuta 63
7 Adrien Fourmaux 44
8 Sami Pajari 31
9 Grégoire Munster 18
10 Josh McErlean 12

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 6:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 312 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 243
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 87
4 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 48

What’s next?
The Acropolis Rally in Greece completes a trio of demanding gravel events in southern Europe with an earlier date this year of June 26-29. A legendary event in the WRC, it has a reputation for rocky mountain roads and high temperatures.

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