WRC Rally Italia Sardegna 05-06-2025

Rally Italia Sardegna 2025 is the 22nd edition of the Italian WRC event, taking place from 5 to 8 June. The event is the sixth round of the WRC season and the second gravel event in a series of seven. Based in Olbia, in the north-east of Sardinia, the event features a compact but demanding course spread over three days like most other WRC events, with the shakedown taking place the day before. Hyundai has started to show muscle with its new car, and only a technical fault stood in the way of its first win of the year. So, as mentioned in the previous analysis, the new Hyundai is too unstable, but can they fix some of that for the next round on Italy's second largest island?

Surprises in Portugal, challenges in Italy

Rally Portugal offered excitement, predictability, unpredictability and another victory for Toyota. Although Toyota won in the end, the race started with Hyundai dominating, with the first four gravel stages won by Tänak and Fourmaux. And it was the former who would prove to be extremely good this weekend. The Estonian was never worse than fifth on the stages, and with two special stages remaining on the second day of the race, he surprisingly led the race by 13.9 seconds ahead of Ogier. But on stage 17 something went wrong, the servo broke and Tänak lost 45.6 seconds, and because there were no more services that day, he also had to drive stage 18 without servo. There he lost only 8 seconds thanks to the stage being only 3.52 km long, but in total he was 36.1 seconds behind Ogier after the accident. So even though Tänak was clearly the best on Sunday, Ogier was able to control his way to a historic seventh Rally Portugal victory, winning by 8.7 seconds ahead of the weekend's fastest and most unlucky man, Ott Tänak in Hyundai.

Rally Sardinia is also a demanding race on the WRC calendar in its own way. The stages are narrow, rough and run on demanding gravel roads that can easily wear out both driver and car. The rally is known for its unpredictability, and offers a combination of narrow, winding roads, and wider, fast sections, often all within the same stage. The drivers have to navigate through some of the most technically difficult parts of the season, while also battling the heat inside the car and the intense conditions on the roads. And heat can be a big factor in the summer, which is why Toyota has chosen to drive silver-colored cars during the summer season to get cooler cars inside, while Hyundai and Ford have chosen chrome or gold foil on the roof of their cars to reflect the heat from the sun. Because these cars do not carry dead weight such as air conditioning and unnecessary things, so the inside of the cars can be between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius, maybe even higher at times. And then you have to be in very good physical shape to maintain concentration at 180 km/h for 15-20 minutes. In Safarirally Neuville struggled with overheating of his body, and was unable to keep up with the fastest drivers due to exhaustion. It could easily happen here with one or more of them too.

The heat can also take its toll on cars, mechanical parts and tyres, because with small overheating of the engine, gearboxes or tyres, it can cause the car not to perform at its best or the grip becomes worse, and seconds quickly disappear against the competitors. The tyres can wear out faster and the grip on the surface can become worse, so here the sun and heat can do more damage than we think. So drivers, teams and map readers have a lot to think about to make everything work, so that they can be left with the victory in the end. And now that Hyundai has started to get a little more in place, small things can make big differences in the competition for the top positions. It will not be as easy for Toyota now in the future!

Roads, surfaces and tires

Hankook tyres have been, are and will remain a theme in this year's WRC season. During Rally Portugal, Hankook's gravel tyres in full range of rubber compounds were a topic from start to finish. It was the first race with the entire gravel tyre range, and the discussions were not only about durability, grip and wear, but also about tactics. Each team was only allowed to have 12 tyres with soft rubber compounds throughout the race, and the rest of the tyres available consisted of hard rubber compounds. This meant that the drivers had to choose how to distribute this throughout the weekend, because ideally softs would be best in the morning and hards best in the afternoon. But if they drove with softs on all the early stages, they would run out of soft tyres before Sunday, and thus we saw that different tactics were used by the different drivers. And in retrospect, the wisest choices were made by Sébastien Ogier who won the race. He chose to use a lot of hard tyres on Friday, even though he knew he would lose some time doing so. But then he had some extra soft tires that he used on Saturday while others had to use hard ones, so he took so much extra time on Tänak and the competitors on Saturday (even without the accident for Tänak), that he could control into Sunday. We will also see this tactic in the race in Sardinia!

On the Mediterranean island, the roads often have a solid substructure covered with loose gravel or sand on top. This makes the roads slippery, especially during the first pass and for the first cars on the road. Because of the loose sand and gravel, it will also be very dusty after the cars, and if the wind is still, this will affect the cars behind in the rows, because visibility can sometimes be significantly worse and the speed must be reduced. The roads here quickly become rutted and rocky, so that on the second pass the roads will be even rougher than in Portugal, and you have to be careful with the tires to avoid punctures. In addition, many of the roads are narrow and surrounded by trees, rocks and bushes, which gives little margin for error, so precise notes, high concentration and starting position become very, very important.

Race info

Rally Italia Sardegna will run over three days and will consist of 16 special stages totaling 320.24 km, divided into 120.70 km on Friday, 121.60 km on Saturday and 77.94 km on Sunday. Once again, 12 cars will be entered in the toughest class, 5 from Toyota, 3 from Hyundai and 4 in Ford from M-Sport.
For Hyundai, the usual three will be driving: Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux. For Toyota, the same five will be driving as last time: Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans, Kalle Rovanperä, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari. And for Ford, these four will be at the start; Gregoire Munster, Josh McErlean, Mārtiņš Sesks and Jourdan Serderidis. A total of 68 cars will be at the start, with big and small cars that will have to struggle with the road conditions.

The rally starts in the very north of the island before moving a little south and west of Olbia. There is no public stage in this race, the so-called SSS (Super Special Stage). Most of the drivers probably thought this was fine, because apart from showing off in the city center or close to people, most of them think that it is not a real rally stage, and they manage just fine without it. A shakedown is run on Thursday, so that the drivers can warm up a little, and fine-tune the car a little on a similar surface to the race if they wish. This can be run several times, but most people stop after two to three times. For us viewers, it can give a small indication of who has the speed from the start.

The main characters of the event

Thierry Neuville was not disappointed with the fourth place he ended up with in Portugal, because as he himself said he did not have the speed. He struggled a bit with the starting position, which in turn caused him to spin on the loose surface and lose 10-15 seconds, and the car's balance meant that the rear end swung a bit too much in the corners. So all in all he was happy with the finishing position, but the car and the driving could have been better. He was positive that Hyundai now seemed to be on the right track, and that both teammates had enough speed to win several stage stages with the same car that he drives. Before Rally Sardegna he will test slightly different setups than he used in Portugal, and among other things he wants to test Tänak's setup on the front part of the car. Maybe that's the little bit that is needed for him to be able to fight for victory in Sardinia? Neuville drove this race in a WRC car for the first time in 2012, and since then he has been on the podium a total of eight times, three of which on the top podium. The last time he won here was in 2023, but last year he lost concentration for a split second, braked too late on a tight corner, and drove off the road. There he stopped and had to abandon the rally. His advantages here are starting position on Friday, and that Hyundai showed with Tänak that it can go fast.

Ott Tänak was in a class of his own in Portugal, even with a car that was difficult to drive. The Estonian struggled with understeer in this race as well, and although he was happy with his morning drive on Friday, he was unable to find the perfect balance in the car. But as I wrote in the previous analysis, Tänak thrives best on gravel, and what he didn't get out of the car in this race he made up for with effort. The Hyundai driver started fifth on the road on Friday, which was a big advantage, but he was fastest throughout the race regardless of starting position. He took 12 stage wins, but a cracked power steering at the end of Saturday made the time loss so great that he had to settle for second place in the end. Tänak has been very clear that the car must be improved if they are to fight against Toyota, because it is no use being the fastest driver if the car can't withstand the stresses he puts on it. But he is positive about the development of the car, and the feeling he has before Rally Sardinia is very positive. Tänak first competed in this race in 2011 and has been on the podium four times. He has won three times, in 2017, 2022 and last year, so Toyota has a strong contender in the upcoming race. The Estonian will start fourth in Italy.

Kalle Rovanperä started second on the roads in Portugal, but he still managed to limit the time loss on the first day, so that he got a better starting position on Saturday and Sunday. He repeated time and again that he did not have a good enough balance between car and tires, and that he was therefore unable to drive as fast as he needed to keep up with Tänak. Rovanperä moved up to second when Tänak suffered servo problems, but because he had used up most of his soft tires, he was unable to keep the Estonian behind him on Sunday, and ultimately ended up with the last podium place. Rally Sardegna has never been the Finn's favorite race, and in his five starts here, third place in 2023 is his best result. The fact that he now starts second in the race also does not speak in his favor because of the loose sand and gravel that lie at the top of the roads. "I'm not going to Italy with a particularly good feeling. It's probably the worst rally on the entire calendar for me. "I don't like it at all ," says Rovanperä bluntly. He is so negative about the race that he has chosen not to test the car in advance, and continues; "The surface is such that I have never liked the race. The roads simply don't suit my driving style, and I have never found the speed or setup that makes it work and feel good."

Elfyn Evans , the current leader of the WRC, has the biggest challenges with these gravel races. He starts first on the road, and is doomed to lose a lot of time on the first day of the races because he drives on the loose roads with poor grip. Each car after him will get better and better grip on the surface, and can drive much faster than the ones in front. In Portugal, Evans not only struggled with the roads, but also with the pace and setup. He was unable to get this in order throughout the weekend, and he finished in sixth place in the end. Now, as the leader of the championship, he will once again go out first on the road, and once again he will lose time to his competitors. The Toyota driver has also driven the race in Italy many times, but never won. He probably won't do that this time either, and with five fourth places here previously and a second place as his best result, he can fight for another fourth place if he drives well on Saturday and Sunday, but his starting position unfortunately ruins his chances of top places. In addition, Evans says in an interview that he will not have a test before the rally either, and that he is struggling to find the speed on these quiet gravel stages in Portugal and Italy. He struggled with the same thing last year, and even if you iron out the backside by driving first, he will probably still lose time to the others, the Briton says.

Adrien Fourmaux suffered the same fate as Tänak in Portugal, namely weaknesses in the Hyundai that forced him to retire on Friday. Fourmaux hit a rock on the inside corner, which resulted in a broken suspension, and there he was left with no way to move the car. Before this, the Frenchman had managed to win two special stages, so he quickly found the speed of the car. A little helped by the starting position, but he also drove well. They chose to restart on Saturday so that they could test more in competition, but on Sunday the car overheated and Hyundai chose to retire the race so as not to destroy the engine. Fourmaux does not have particularly good memories of Sardinia in the past, where he has mostly retired most of the times with accidents or mechanical problems. His best position here is 15th place last year. It should be said that he has only driven Ford here, and it is very rare that they have been competitive. The Frenchman is driving better now and has a better car, so I think he can pull it off if he has the day. A stage win or two is within reach.

Takamoto Katsuta drives very well at times, but loses it a bit every now and then. In Portugal, he drove very well on Friday and even took a stage win before finishing the day in third place overall. Much of the fast times should probably be credited to Katsuta's starting position, but I've said it before that the Japanese driver has talent and will one day stand at the top of the podium, so it wasn't a coincidence in Portugal. On Sunday, Katsuta chose not to fight for points on Super Sunday to "give" them to Evans, and slowed down the pace. But he also complained at times that he couldn't quite find the rhythm in the car in Portugal. Rally Sardinia has not been Katsuta's race, because in 2018, 2019 and 2020 he had to deal with technical problems, car fires and rolling. In 2021 and 2022 he came fourth and sixth, but the last two years he has had to deal with technical problems again. So what's happening this year? The Toyota seems to be a very stable car, so there shouldn't be any serious mechanical problems, and as sixth on the road he should once again have the advantage on Friday. Maybe we'll see another stage win?

Sébastien Ogier was in my opinion the favorite in Portugal, and even though Tänak turned out to be the fastest on the track, it was still Ogier who won. He took his seventh victory here and made history once again. No one has won in Portugal more than the Frenchman! I think routine is the key word behind Ogier's recent positions, he pushes where he needs to, chooses the right tire strategy, and keeps the car intact throughout the weekend. One advantage Ogier has is that he is not fighting for the World Championship title for drivers, and then he can lose time on Sunday if there is a need to control a good position, like now in Portugal. This means the risk of punctures, technical problems or exits is significantly reduced, and he can sneak up on the results if others in front of him have problems. In the race on Italy's Mediterranean island, Ogier starts third, which may not be entirely ideal, but not entirely a crisis either. The Frenchman first raced this race in 2008, when Kalle Rovanperä was 8 years old, and has since raced it 16 times. Perhaps not surprisingly, he has finished on the podium half of the time, and won four times, most recently in 2021. Last year he finished second behind Ott Tänak, only 0.2 seconds behind. So we shouldn't write off the 41-year-old rally driver here.

Summary and tips

Rally Italia Sardegna is likely to be a hot and dusty affair, and with a lot of loose sand and gravel on top of the roads, starting position on Friday will be an important factor. In addition, the question will be how much wind there will be, because if it is very quiet, the dust clouds behind the cars will also linger for a long time and cause problems with visibility. Evans and Rovanperä have more or less written themselves off in the fight for top positions, while Tänak showed good pace in Portugal and Neuville is positive about the progress of the car. Could Toyota's dominance have turned now, or does Ogier once again have the necessary routine to win again? I think we will get a rally quite similar to the one in Portugal, where Tänak and Ogier are driving fast, with Neuville, Katsuta and Fourmaux in the fight for stage wins on Friday due to starting position. This time I trust that Tänak's Hyundai will hold out a little longer, and I have the following tips:

WRC at 12:00: Ott Tänak best Hyundai driver (2.10)

Alternative bets:
WRC at 12:00: H2H Thierry Neuville – Ott Tänak: Ott Tänak to win (1.65)
WRC at 12:00: Ott Tänak Top 3 (1.65)
WRC at 12:00: Sébastien Ogier Top 3 (1.75)
WRC at 12:00: Sébastien Ogier best Toyota driver (1.70)
WRC at 12:00: Sébastien Ogier to win (5.50)
WRC at 12:00: Ott Tänak to win (2.70)
WRC at 12:00: Sébastien Ogier over 2.5 stage wins (2.05)

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