How Tanak turned the tables to deliver Hyundai a timely WRC triumph

The World Rally Championship has become the Kalle Rovanpera show of late. But in Sardinia, the stars aligned for Ott Tanak and Hyundai to remind the Finn that he could yet have a title fight on his hands.

Tanak has developed a love-hate relationship with Sardinia’s fearsome gravel roads. In 2012, it was the scene of his first WRC podium, and five years later, also representing M-Sport, his first victory. But in recent seasons it has been the source of painful memories.

In 2019 there was final stage heartbreak when a power-steering failure struck his Toyota Yaris, wiping out a 26.7-second lead as the Estonian cruelly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Twelve months ago Tanak appeared on course for a likely Rally Sardinia victory with a 40.5s lead when a rock in the middle of the road destroyed his Hyundai’s suspension.

Heading into this year’s edition, largely luckless since his last win 462 days ago at Arctic Rally Finland in February 2021, Tanak was long overdue a slice of fortune, which presented itself at an opportune moment. This stroke of luck allowed Tanak to complete a vintage performance, reminiscent of his 2019 championship-winning pomp, to guide his fast but fragile i20 N to a dominant drought-breaking win. It also marked a first victory of the new Rally1 hybrid era for the troubled Hyundai team.

The lead-up to the WRC’s second gravel rally of the season was dominated by fears over rising cockpit temperatures. Evident in Portugal last month, the repositioning of the exhaust from a central location to the right-hand side of the in the new Rally1 machines has resulted in increasing cabin temperatures, with co-drivers particularly suffering.

With melting 40 degrees temperature forecast in Sardinia, the FIA acted quickly permitting teams to make alterations to the cars to help alleviate the issue. With only two weeks between Portugal and Sardinia, teams hastily fired up their design offices to drum up swift solutions. Despite the time constraints, Toyota was able to redesign and manufacture a new larger roof vent.

Co-drivers have particularly suffered with the extra cockpit heat of the Rally1 cars, which teams sought to address prior to the event

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“Our guys have been working on it between 12 and 15 hours a day depending on what needs to be done, and bringing the parts to the rally in suitcases and last-minute deliveries,” Toyota technical director Tom Fowler revealed to Autosport in the absence of team principal Jari-Matti Latvala, who travelled to Japan to contest the Fuji 24 Hours.

Hyundai and M-Sport fitted reflective gold and silver roofs to their respective cars to repel the sun’s heat, while adding extra ventilation outlets. All three teams fitted reflective film to windows and attempted to fit extra heat shielding around the firewall and exhaust. It meant the service park was a hive of activity on Wednesday as teams readied their modified cars. Rally organisers also ensured water was on hand for crews at the end of stages.

There was, however, uncertainty if the changes would be enough, while drivers were left to accept a tough working environment.

“Whether it will be enough, I think not, but at least it will improve the situation,” said Hyundai deputy team director Julien Moncet.

Despite losing time on stage two, Neuville had been among the contenders until Hyundai’s reliability woes came back to haunt him. A transmission issue left the Belgian with only a front-wheel-drive i20 N, costing him two minutes, ending any thoughts of a podium

“There is not so much that you can do to be fully ready [for the heat],” added M-Sport’s Craig Breen. “You can go in a sauna. That’s as much as you can do.”

Bizarrely, that was exactly the preparation Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi carried out as images emerged of a race suit-clad Finn in a sauna lit up social media.

Heat, however, wasn’t the main concern when the rally proper began on Friday after Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville won Thursday night’s superspecial. Hanging dust was the talking point, caused by reduced three-minute intervals between drivers due to a packed itinerary. It produced worryingly poor visibility but it did benefit championship leader Rovanpera, who was first on the road.

“We mentioned it to the FIA and to the organisers before the rally,” said Neuville, who dropped time. “At the end for the day it is really dangerous for the drivers.”

Neuville was frustrated by the hanging dust on Friday

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

The issue was not a problem come Saturday morning as the FIA altered the itinerary to introduce four-minute gaps for the first two morning stages.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans somehow emerged from the dust to claim an early rally lead, but his victory hopes soon evaporated after a heavy impact in a compression punched a hole in his GR Yaris’ radiator on stage three. The Welshman rejoined on Saturday before rear suspension failure ended his day again as the so far bulletproof Toyota showed some weaknesses. Evans did leave Sardinia with three points from Sunday’s powerstage.

Evans’s demise promoted Toyota team-mate Lappi to the lead, before Tanak became the fourth leader in as many stages. He went into midday service with 3.7s margin over Lappi, who dropped time to a puncture on stage five. Pierre-Louis Loubet turned heads to front M-Sport’s charge in third ahead of Breen, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo and M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux.

Despite losing time on stage two, Neuville had been among the contenders until Hyundai’s reliability woes came back to haunt him. A transmission issue left the Belgian with only a front-wheel-drive i20 N, costing him two minutes, ending any thoughts of a podium.

“We keep fighting, fighting, fighting and we don’t get anything in return, and we get hit by problems in all the rallies,” said a dejected Neuville, after suffering reliability issues for the third consecutive round.

After winning the last two events from first on the road, Rovanpera was unable to perform another miracle, which was largely expected given the nature of Sardinia’s stages. The road-sweeping Finn found himself languishing in eighth, and was lucky to be there after a wild moment on stage four removed a large part of his rear wing.

Tanak extended his lead over Lappi as the afternoon began but it appeared the i20 N’s fragility would strike again as he too suffered a transmission issue, reducing him to three-wheel drive. By mid-afternoon the issue contributed to him dropping to second, 0.7s behind Lappi.

Lappi impressed on his return to the third factory Yaris and led the way on Friday before crashing out early on Saturday morning

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Luckily for Tanak, the rallying gods were looking on him favourably for once as organisers cancelled the second pass through the first two afternoon stages. Laurent Battut’s WRC2 car had caught fire and proved difficult to clear, so an early return to service was administered. It was a lucky reprieve.

“This evening definitely the luck changed no doubt,” said Tanak, who ended the day 0.7s adrift of Lappi. “The car was still driving, but for sure it was good chance to come back to service and fix everything.”

But the drive of the day belonged to Loubet, who ended Friday third ahead of Breen and Sordo, while Rovanpera was more than a minute adrift in eighth. M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith fared worse after losing two minutes to half spin on stage three.

While an untouchable Tanak surged into a comfortable lead, the day ended in confusion when fifth-placed Fourmaux crashed and partially blocked the road, bringing out the red flags

Boosted by a fixed i20 N, Tanak took full advantage of the situation to dominate a long, blisteringly hot Saturday, without service, as he reeled off six wins from the eight stages. The lead changed hands on the day’s opening stage when Lappi drifted slightly off line, resulting in a series of impacts that ripped the left-rear wheel and suspension from the car.

Lappi’s exit arrived on the same stage where a charging Neuville was forced to stop briefly.

“There was a dog in the road, so I had to slow down and turn around. I lost a couple of seconds there, but at least I saved the dog,” said the 33-year-old.

Neuville’s kindness was to be his last act of the day as his carefree charge came to halt when he rolled the i20 on stage 12, ending his day prematurely.

“We had to try,” said Neuville. “We kept believing but I just got caught out on a slow right-hander and I climbed the mountains a bit and rolled the rally car.”

With Lappi out of the way, Tanak utterly dominated on Saturday to put the rally beyond the reach of his rivals

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

While an untouchable Tanak surged into a comfortable lead, the day ended in confusion when fifth-placed Fourmaux crashed and partially blocked the road, bringing out the red flags. The stage resumed once the Puma had been cleared, but a marshal incorrectly showed a red flag to Breen and Tanak, causing confusion as the pair slowed to crawl while the stage was live.

“I got a red flag message, but I’m not really sure what’s happening,” said Tanak.

Notional times were awarded but the damage had already been done, as Tanak headed into the final day with a commanding 46.0s margin over Breen. The Irishman had been battling a hybrid issue, although at the time elected to throw the stage end reporter off the scent with one of the WRC’s all-time great one-liners.

“The giggling pin fell out of the laughing shaft but I managed to get it back in, so we are OK,” said Breen, when asked if the problem had been resolved.

A sensible drive from two-time Sardinia winner Sordo saw the Spaniard jump to third as Loubet lost time when a front-right tyre came off the rim of his Puma.

An out-of-sorts Rovanpera suffered a spin in the afternoon, but inherited fifth by virtue of Fourmaux’s accident. Although unable to produce his sparkling best, the Finn was able to sum up the intense heat the crews were facing.

“The car is almost like a sauna, we just need to have the water to throw on the floor,” he said.

At the front, Tanak was not to be denied a moment in the sun as he rattled off another two stage wins, despite backing off on Sunday morning, to claim a 15th career victory by 1m03.2s.

Rovanpera was out of sorts, but moved up to fifth when Fourmaux crashed

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

“It’s been very challenging, especially since the beginning of this [hybrid] generation,” said Tanak. “We are definitely very happy, especially for the mechanics – they put in an incredible effort. This rally was not easy and they did a good job to keep the car going. If the confidence is there then we can do a good job.”

Fifth was perhaps not the position that Rovanpera has been accustomed to this year, but it was more than enough to keep his title bid on track, extending his lead over Neuville to 55 points

Breen claimed second to score M-Sport’s first podium since Monte Carlo in January, while team-mate Loubet starred to claim a career high fourth, adding to a much-needed points haul for the Ford squad.

To cap the Hyundai’s first win since Spain last October, Sordo netted third to mirror his Portugal finish in only his second start in the car, while Neuville salvaged the five powerstage points having returned under restart rules. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and Greensmith completed the field in sixth and seventh.

Fifth was perhaps not the position that Rovanpera has been accustomed to this year, but it was more than enough to keep his title bid on track, extending his lead over Neuville to 55 points. However, Rovanpera must now be wary of a smiling, in-form Tanak should Hyundai resolve its reliability issues.

Tanak celebrated a long-awaited win after seeing off Breen

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images