Hyundai Motorsport is looking to continue its positive momentum at Rally Italia Sardegna from 31 May to 2 June, the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season, after claiming a first double-podium of the season at Rally de Portugal.
Similarly to round five, Rally Italia Sardegna comprises fast gravel stages that frequently alternate between wide and narrow roads. The picturesque backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea does not quite reflect the nature of the rally: deep ruts and extreme heat push both driver and machine to the limit, with the rough surface creating extremely abrasive conditions. These factors emphasise the importance of tyre choice, with crews looking for reliability and longevity as well as speed.
The crews representing Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team will remain unchanged from Portugal: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe, Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja and Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera. All three pairs performed well on the Iberian roads, using their experience to extract strong pace from the trio of Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid cars, while avoiding any major incident. This resulted in both of the team’s full season crews – Neuville/Wydaeghe and Tänak/Järveoja – standing on the podium, with Sordo/Carrera finishing closely behind in fifth.
A similar, if not better result will be the target at Rally Italia Sardegna, an event at which Hyundai Motorsport has excelled during its decade in the WRC. Since 2014, the team has scored six victories, 14 podium finishes and 88 stage wins on the Italian island.
A brand-new format will be trialled at this year’s event. Competitive running will be spread across 48 hours, starting with Shakedown on Friday morning and finishing with the podium ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The condensed time frame also means a shorter overall competitive distance, with the 16 stages totalling just 266,12km. The shorter itinerary means the trio of crews must push their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid cars to the limit and make the most of every kilometre.
Hyundai Motorsport president and team principal Cyril Abiteboul said: “Portugal proved to be another positive step forward for the team. From the double podium to claiming the lead of the manufacturers’ championship, and even to Ott feeling more at one with the car, there was a lot of good to take away from the event. We go to Sardinia knowing that we have three crews that can push hard on gravel, so we are hoping for a strong result.”
Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe
Neuville said: “Rally Italia Sardegna is a very technical event, so we need to have a faultless drive across the weekend. We need really accurate pace notes and a good setup; the difference in stages between the first and second pass can be huge, so we need to be able to adapt the car to those changes as well. The heat, tyre wear and length of the days are some of the biggest challenges we face throughout the event. This, paired with the little amount of sleep we get due to long road sections, makes it a unique challenge. There’s no pre-event test and shakedown is not representative at all of the remainder of the rally, so that will be the biggest obstacle for us.”
Crew Notes: Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja
Tänak said: “I would say we had a good and solid weekend in Portugal, so we want to build on that and it’s a bit easier now that we have more pace. Sardinia has some big challenges; it can be very slippery and hard to get the necessary amount of grip. That, paired with the very hot temperatures, makes everything much more of a challenge. Running the same tyres over the first and second loop makes it harder to put a strong package together, so we need a lot of traction from the setup, especially when we start early on the road. It’s an event where rallying is a lot more interesting, and I always prefer that.”
Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera
Sordo said: “Sardinia is a very similar surface to Portugal, but a bit more slippery in places. Portugal gave me good preparation for the event; I completed some good gravel kilometres at the last round. This year’s event is a lot more condensed, so we need a really fast start to get us the best possible road position for Saturday onwards. It’s an event where road position is really important, so we will see what we can do to optimise that. We need a lot of precision in the car because some passes are really narrow, meaning even more grip is needed to get the car through each pass safely.”
Weekend at a glance
The Rally Italia Sardegna begins on Friday morning 31 May with Shakedown, followed by the Osilo – Tergu (25,65km) special stage in the afternoon. Friday’s four competitive stages will cover a total of 77,82 km.
Saturday is the longest day of the event, when the crews have to cover 149 km in the space of 12 hours. Sunday concludes the weekend with four stages, including the 7,1 km-long Sassari – Argentiera 2 Power Stage.
