Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe drove a faultless rally – barring one quick spin on Friday – to secure the Belgian driver’s 20th career WRC victory. As early leader Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin’s pace faded on Saturday, so Neuville kicked his Hyundai i20 N into top gear and snatched the lead.
Briefly headed on the leaderboard by part-timer Sebastian Ogier/Vincent Landais, the Toyota Gazoo Racing crew had no answer to their rivals’ sheer pace in the tricky conditions.
“I don’t have the words to be honest”, said a delighted Neuville at the Col finish. “It was just so great this weekend, I felt so comfortable in the car. The whole team was doing an amazing job and I think the whole package was working really well. We need to continue working, but we are very happy to win this rally.”
Neuville won eight of the 17 stages on his way to victory, while Ogier took six wins – including his 700th stage win to put him fourth on the table of all-time stage winners.
Evans claimed the final step of the podium, comfortably clear of Hyundai WRT returnee Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja, who had a few minor technical issues over the course of the event.
Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria brought their M-Sport Ford Puma home in fifth after clean, steady run as they built confidence and knowledge of their car.
Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen brought the third Hyundai home in sixth ahead of Takamoto Katsuta in the third Toyota Yaris having lost five minutes on stage three buried in a snowbank after skidding on black ice. He was in good company as Tanak lost 40 seconds at the same spot.
Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka was the only major casualty, having skidded off the road and buried their Puma in a wooden fence on Saturday, stuck and out of the rally for the day.
Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand took WRC2 honours in their Citroen C3 Rally2, setting a phenomenal time on the final stage up the Col de Turini, beating out their rally-long rivals Pepe Lopez/David Vázquez’s Skoda Fabia and Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov in another C3.
Neuville took seven Super Sunday points as well as the five for the Wolf Power Stage giving him a full house to start the season.
Katsuta was beaten by 0.1 seconds in the final stage by Ogier with Evans and Tänak picking up the remaining bonus points.
Read Motorsport Monday tomorrow for a full report. www.motorsportmonday.com
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