At the end of the final day of Rally Italia Sardegna, Thierry Neuville wins for a third time in his career this event with Esapekka Lappi and Kalle Rovanpera following him.
Thierry Neuville takes his first victory of the season in Sardinia and this is his third win with Hyundai in this rally.
Esapekka Lappi completes the 1-2 for Hyundai Motorsport and his approach for today was to avoid any unnecessary risk. This is his third podium in a row with the Alzenau-based team showing that he has find his rhythm with the i20N as he was fighting for the win with Sebastien Ogier since Friday.
Kalle Rovanpera finished at the lowest place of the podium and did not expect to be at the top three considering his road position on Friday. In addition to that, he was the fastest time in PS and scored the five bonus points from it.
Elfyn Evans remains fourth overall and scored valuable points for the championship if you consider his time loss in Stage 10 when his Yaris suffered from a radiator issue after a water splash. Finally, he arrived at the stop line of Powerstage with a damaged rear spoiler.
Dani Sordo was forced to retire from the fifth place as his i20N developed a misfire in Stage 17 which was related to an exhaust issue. The two-time Sardinia winner had limited engine power and his team confirmed his retirement before the start of Stage 18.
Ott Tanak, Sebastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta restarted today under the regulations of Rally2.
The Estonian driver set the fastest time on the first two stages of Sunday and stated at the end of SS16 that he experimented with the settings for the Safari Rally of Kenya which will be held later this month. However, he scored four points in Sardinia as he was the second fastest driver in PS.
Ogier's aim for Sunday was to score manufacturers' points for Toyota in Powerstage, but he took only one point for the championship.
Katsuta finished outside the top ten as Ogier and Tanak while he was the fastest driver in SS18.
M-Sport Ford confirmed on Saturday night that Pierre-Louis Loubet's Puma is retired for the rest of Rally Italia Sardegna following his mechanical issues on Friday afternoon.
Andreas Mikkelsen is the winner in WRC2 class and claimed the victory in Powerstage as Adrien Fourmaux went off the road.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch the overall classification after the end of Rally Sardinia:
Photo Credits: Hyundai
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