Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen finally won Rally Finland, laying to rest the ghost of last year when they crashed out on the penultimate stage.

It was a scintillating final Wolf Power Stage which Rovanperä won by two seconds from Takamoto Katsuta and Sebastien Ogier.

The Finnish wunderkind took the Super Sunday bonus points and moves into second place in the championship standings, just three points off Elfyn Evans who reclaimed the title lead after a disastrous weekend for Ott Tanak.

Tanak suffered a delaminated tyre which caused a high-speed spin on the final stage while Adrien Fourmaux suffered yet another puncture and retired four km from the end of the stage to avoid further damage to his car.

Elfyn Evans brought his GR Yaris home in fourth overall having won the morning’s first stage by 0.4 seconds from Ogier.

Sami Pajari came home in fifth overall, giving Toyota a top five lockout, only the second time in history, a feat last achieved by Lancia 35 years ago on Rally Portugal in 1990.

Thierry Neuville brought his Hyundai home in sixth overall, having run in second place until his fateful puncture on stage 16 on Saturday afternoon.

Josh McErlean was the top M-Sport Ford crew in seventh, followed by Martins Sesks and Gregoire Munster. Ott Tanak salvaged a single point for tenth.

Roope Korhonen fended off TGR Team boss Jari-Matti Latvala to claim his maiden WRC2 victory with Robert Virves rounding out the podium.

Read Motorsport Monday for the full story on the fastest rally in history where Rovanperä averaged 129.9km/h!

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After dominant victories in WRC2 in Rally Sweden, Portugal and most recently, Greece, which saw Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson take the championship lead, the on-form duo is set to return to Rally1 with Toyota Gazoo Racing on Delfi Rally Estonia in two weeks’ time.

It will be the young Swede’s first Rally1 appearance since splitting with Hyundai in 2022 and reported to be a one-off appearance.

“The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here,” Solberg said in a video message shared on social media. “Me and Elliott will be back in the Rally1 car with Toyota Gazoo Racing. It’s been a moment, and a dream come true. We’ve been waiting for a very long time.”

“After a super strong season so far, I think we’re more than ready. We’re confident, we’ve built a great relationship with the team, and now I just want to start the rally and give it a good go. Let’s see what we can do – we’re there to have some fun, gain experience with the car, and hopefully make the most of this opportunity.”

Solberg’s absence from the WRC2 bunfight leaves the fight wide open with Nikolay Gryazin the likely favourite for the category win.

In other news out of the Toyota Gazoo Racing camp is that Sebastien Ogier has elected to enter Rally Finland at the end of the month.

hinting that the lure of the Jyväskylä jumps and last year’s success – where he claimed a second career Finland victory – proved too tempting to resist.

Ogier had not previously been expected to appear at the high-speed gravel event this year, but admitted the idea had been on his mind for some time.

“My summer will actually not be as free as initially planned,” he explained. “Since a little while, I was thinking that doing again Rally Finland would be something nice, as obviously last year was a great rally for me with my second win up there.

“So I mentioned since a while ago to the team that, yeah, why not maybe adding Rally Finland to the list and try to have fun on these beautiful roads. So yeah, I will be at the start in a bit more than four weeks now, so I’m looking forward to see you there.”

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja clinched their and Hyundai’s first victory in eight months after winning the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece by 32.8 seconds over Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais in  a tense final day.

On the Wolf Power Stage Tanak dropped 16 seconds to Ogier which turned out to be gearbox related which cost the rally winner the maximum Super Sunday points which were scooped up by Ogier.

The top two each won a pair of stages on Sunday while Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria stood on the podium for the first time since Monte Carlo back in January.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin brought their Toyota home in fourth place to maintain their championship lead, albeit reduced to just nine points ahead of Ogier with Tanak three points further back in third on the title log.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe came home in fifth after a scare on the penultimate stage when his i20 N lost power. He was forced to stop and reset the computer but it didn’t help and the Belgians lost 1:28s.

Oliver Solberg was a remarkable sixth overall – his third straight victory in WRC2, some 53.8 seconds ahead of his old teammate Gus Greensmith.

Yohan Rossel, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Alejandro Cachon rounded out the top ten.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow.

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Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja dominated EKO Acropolis Rally Greece on Saturday, delivered a near faultless performance, taking five stage wins from six – beaten only by Sebastian Ogier on SS10 and then by just 0.1 seconds as the Toyota Gazoo Racing star held on to second overall.

Tanak takes a 43.6 second lead into Sunday’s four stage finale, on the cusp of giving Hyundai their long awaited first victory of the season.

 “We’ve generally had a very good day. Even in the afternoon, it’s true that some bedrock was threatening us sometimes, but generally it was smoother and more consistent – a bit better than expected. We had a good rhythm, and we maintained all day. While we are still in the lead, it’s important to remember that we haven’t scored any points yet and we still have some rough stages to go, including one that is new and very long, so this is always very demanding. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow to bring this home.”

Ogier initially trailed Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux until he clobbered a a piece of Greek countryside which damaged their suspension, but a makeshift fix got them back on the road and to midday service – dropping them to third overall.

While a tyre came off its rim on SS11, Fourmaux was undeterred, and still managed to claim a top-five stage time to retain his overall position. After a tyre came off the rim in stage 11, the rest of day was smooth sailing, and the crew go into Sunday with a comfortable cushion of just under a minute from Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin.

Evans remained a distant fourth after a steady but unspectacular day. The Toyota man repeatedly described the conditions as “very rough” and ended the leg over three minutes off the lead – but with championship rival Thierry Neuville behind, Sunday’s bonus-point opportunities remain critical.

Kalle Rovanperä was running mid-pack before losing his brakes and going off in SS11, while Takamoto Katsuta also went off and became beached in the same test leading to retirement for both Toyota drivers.

It was another bruising leg for Neuville. After losing time to a puncture in the morning, the Hyundai man fought back into fifth overall – though still over a minute behind Evans.

“We had the pace,” Neuville reflected. “But three punctures [this weekend] didn’t allow us to do what we can.”

Grégoire Munster completed the leg sixth despite nursing a faulty handbrake throughout the day. Oliver Solberg continued to lead WRC2 in seventh overall with a comfortable buffer over Gus Greensmith, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Yohan Rossel.

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One year on from losing victory on the final stage of Rally Italia Sardegna to Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja, this year, the tables were turned when Ogier claimed his record fifth victory on the Italian island by 7.9 seconds.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver went into the final Wolf Power Stage with a comfortable 17.2 second lead over Tanak; however, in the final stage, Ogier ran wide after his car got stuck in a rut at a sharp hairpin and ran off the road, forcing the Frenchman to reverse out, setting only the seventh fastest time.

“In the ruts, I just couldn’t turn the car,” Ogier explained. “There was no speed at all, so I didn’t try to force it and hit it – I preferred to stop and reverse. But yeah, not ideal. Still, it was enough to win.”

The result marked back-to-back wins for the Frenchman following his Rally de Portugal triumph last month, and his third victory of the season from just four starts – propelling him firmly into the title fight.

Behind the dueling Toyota and Hyundai crews, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen stormed through the final 13.7km test 8.1 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe in their Hyundai i20 N.

Fourth in the overall standings went to Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, just over five minutes behind Ogier after losing loads of time sweeping the road clean on Friday. The championship leader saw his lead slashed to seventeen points while Ogier moved into second place on the championship leaderboard, one point ahead of Rovanperä.

Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari ended in fifth and seventh respectively, with Oliver Solberg sandwiched between the two GR Yarises. Pajari sustained a damaged rear driveshaft after a spin, dropping from fifth position.

Roberto Dapra (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) and Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) rounded out the top ten.

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Sébastien Ogier stretched his Rally Italia Sardegna lead on Saturday morning as Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Ott Tänak both ran into problems in the punishing island stages.

Ogier’s 2.1 second overnight lead stretched to 7.4 seconds after winning Saturday’s opening stage, beating this Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Kalle Rovanperä by 3.1 seconds, while Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and Adrien Fourmaux finished third and fourth respectively.

Tänak fought back on stage eight, cutting the Frenchman’s lead to 4.5 seconds but on the second stage of the day Fourmaux picked up a puncture dropping off the podium. Tänak and Rovanperä moved up into the provisional overall podium standings with Sami Pajari holding an excellent fourth overall, ahead of Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.

Ogier was a on a mission on the final stage of the morning loop, heading his Estonian rival by 10 seconds as Tänak had to deal with a deflating tyre, to take a 15 second advantage into the afternoon loop.

Fourmaux’s day went from bad to worse after he ran wide in stage nine, losing another chunk of time.

Tänak reminded everyone he was still in the chase for the win taking the fastest time in stage ten, but only shaved 0.6 seconds off Ogier’s fairly comfortable lead.

Tänak took a big bite out of Ogier’s lead on stage 11, pulling the gap back to 10.7 seconds with one stage remaining.

Evans helped himself to fourth overall after stage 11 at Pajari’s expense, while on the final stage, Ogier took the scratch time again, 0.4 seconds up on the chasing Hyundai.

Rovanperä, Evans and Pajari held station ahead of the WRC2 leader Nikolay Gryazin, who was followed by the recovering Katsuta who dropped down the order after his Friday roll.

Oliver Solberg, Emil Lindholm and Lauri Joona rounded out the top ten with four stages remaining on Sunday.

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The sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Italia Sardegna, was brutal in every respect.

Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais topped the timesheets after Thursday’s shakedown, and he emerged from Friday’s battle with a slender lead of 2.1 seconds over Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria.

Ogier won Friday’s opening stage but starting with an unfavourable third on the road starting position, Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe and Ott Tänak and Martin Jarveoja led the way in a Hyundai one-two after stage two.

Fourmaux went on the attack on the final stage of the morning loop, winning the stage and bouncing from fourth into the overall lead in the process, having maximized his better road position. In the overall standings, Neuville was second from Ogier, Tänak and Sami Pajari.

“Everything is going well,” Fourmaux said. “I really tried to use the lines in front of me and stayed clean and tidy to avoid getting caught in the loose. It paid off, so I’m pleased with that. I expected a lot of sweeping.”

Of the Fords, there was no sign – in a barely believable scenario, all three M-Sport Pumas retired in the stage two. Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean both suffered suspension damage while Martins Sesks rolled at high speed.

When battle resumed after the service break, it was Neuville’s turn to lead after stage four, albeit by 0.2 seconds over Fourmaux with Tänak making it a yet-to-be-seen in 2025  Hyundai one-two-three.

In the next stage, a re-run of Ford’s ‘stagus horribilis’, Neuville retired after whacking a bank which damaged the left rear corner of his car. The carnage continued  when Takamoto Katsuta and Jourdain Serderidis both rolled at the same corner. Both were able to continue, with somewhat battered machinery and no windscreens, and wearing goggles.

At the end of the fifth stage, Fourmaux and Tänak led the way with Ogier 4.6 seconds off the lead.

The final stage of the loop saw Ogier win comfortably from Kalle Rovanperä and Fourmaux, snatching the overnight lead by 2.1 seconds with Tänak keeping a watching brief 5.2 seconds further back.

Pajari did a sterling job to hold fourth, with Rovanperä and the championship leader Elfyn Evans languishing down the order in fifth and sixth respectively, courtesy of running first and second on the road.

Katsuta brought his less than pristine GR Yaris home in seventh, with the WRC2 leaders Nikolay Gryazin, Emil Lindholm and Yohan Rossel rounding out the top ten.

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Sebastien Ogier took a commanding victory in Rally Mexico after spending the final day managing his pace and not taking too many risks. Behind him, Thierry Neuville pipped Elfyn Evans to second place on the final stage of the day to be separated by 0.4s

Sunday

The finale of Rally Mexico ran over four stages. Another run through Las Dunas kicked off proceedings before the longest stage of the rally, Otates, is tackled. San Diego was the penultimate test with El Brinco serving as the final stage and the Wolf Power Stage.

Sebastien Ogier started Las Dunas by not taking any risks with the stage now very rutted. This meant the Frenchman lost a couple of seconds but nothing alarming before Otates. Neuville however was in full chase mode with Elfyn Evans firmly in his sights. The Belgian gained another two-tenths on the Toyota man to try and keep the pressure on.

SS21 saw Ogier ship more time to his teammate but still sat 23.2s in front with two stages left to run. “Very slippery at the end but all good for us,” said Ogier at the end of the stage “We are trying to control the lead and it was a zero-risk drive.” Behind however Evans responded to Neuville’s attack, going 1.7s faster than his rival.

It was more bad news for Ott Tanak though as after a poor rally so far, it got worse with a front damper issue which left the Estonian just trying to drive the car home. His teammate Pierre-Louis Loubet also had poor luck return to him as he crossed the line with a deflated left front tyre which happened in a narrow part of the course.

Anticipation followed in the following test though as Evans finished the stage 3.1s slower than Neuville setting up a dramatic showdown on the Wolf Power Stage. The gap shrunk to 2.7s although it was discovered that Evans had a bent steering arm and was nursing the issue which explained the time drop.

The final stage secured the inevitable, Ogier took his seventh win of the event and capped off his dominance by taking the power stage win as well.

“I like this stage! The car was great this weekend and it was a faultless weekend from us and the team,” remarked a very happy Ogier. “As I am doing the next rally in Croatia, it’s important to start first on the road there and it was important to get the points for the team as well. I am proud but this win is for my friend who I lost not long ago. I am thinking of him.”

Following behind was Neuville who completed his charge against Evans to take second by 0.4s on the last stage. The Belgian also finished the power stage in third behind Tanak to gain a good haul of points and when he crossed the line, he remarked how much he was pushing.

“All weekend we have been on the limit, and it was really exhausting towards the end.”

Evans wasn’t surprised to drop to third but he was frustrated due to his bent steering arm. “It’s not a surprise,” said Evans. “We’ve been nursing a bent suspension arm since the first one this morning. We had to take it easy in a couple of places just to make sure we got back. It’s a shame.”

Behind the podium was Kalle Rovanpera who finished 1min 55.3s back from Ogier. The Finn rued losing his rear wing on the final stage because he couldn’t fully capitalise on the power stage points on offer.

Dani Sordo rounded out the Rally1 contingent in fifth place over a minute back from Rovanpera. Some points were scored but he will be looking towards Portugal now which is his next outing.

Gus Greensmith took victory in WRC2 and placed sixth overall in his first event of the season. “From SS6, this whole rally was under control for me,” commented Greensmith. “When we need to go faster we could gap everyone and after that, it was just about controlling it and not making any mistakes. It’s the perfect way to start the year.”

Final standings

1. Ogier 3hr 16min 9.4s
2. Neuville +27.5s
3. Evans +27.9s
4. Rovanpera +1min 55.3s
5. Sordo +2min 58.8s
6. Greensmith (WRC2) +12min 31.5s

Next up the WRC heads to Croatia for round 4 of the season on the 20^th – 23^rd April.

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Sebastien Ogier took a commanding Rally Mexico lead after his chief rival, Esapekka Lappi, crashed out on the opening stage of the day. The WRC legend pulled a gap of over 30s over his teammate who had spent the whole day being hunted down by the Hyundai of Thierry Neuville.

Saturday

Ibarrilla, El Mosquito, Derramadero and Las Dunas are the three morning tests on which the crews will start their day. After the midday service, they then repeat the same three routes with another run through Distrito Leon Mx Rock and Rally to close off the penultimate day of the event.

The morning saw high anticipation for the resumption of the battle between Esapekka Lappi and Sebastien Ogier, however, it failed to materialise. The two started the day separated by 5.3s with both drivers knowing they had to be on it from the get-go, however, 10km into SS11, Lappi crashed his Hyundai after being caught out by a sequence of turns. The Finn collided with a utility pole before briefly catching fire.

“There was a right with a cut, and it went straight into a left over crest,” explained a disconsolate Lappi. “I was a bit caught out with this cut and I was delayed on the entry to the left. We went wide and hit the bank which spun us out immediately and we hit the rear of the car.”

Lappi’s accident meant that Ogier was virtually unchallenged for the rest of the morning. The Frenchman held a 28.5s lead over teammate Evans after dialling back on the aggressiveness now his primary challenger had gone. Evans however is in a battle for second with Thierry Neuville. The Belgian put yesterday’s troubles behind him to have a smooth morning and cut the gap to 8.7s at service.

Kalle Rovanpera finished the morning a further 36.6s behind due to suffering a lack of traction from his Toyota. Evans had been complaining of a similar issue so it may be the case that Toyota hasn’t got on top of its rough gravel issues from last year. Despite this Rovanpera still headed Dani Sordo in the morning by 43.1s.

Lappi’s crash had a knock-on effect on the field as SS15 had to be cancelled due to not being able to clear the Irrabilla stage. The WRC2 field had only run one stage all morning due to stage interruptions.

Throughout the afternoon, Ogier continued to manage his pace and extend his lead over Evans. A stage win on El Mosquito 2 meant the Frenchman had a dominant 35.8s lead heading into the final day at a rally in which he made his first WRC debut in 2008.

“I think the lead is good,” said Ogier. “It’s been another strong day for me. We had a little bit of a different approach after Esapekka went off in the first stage in the morning.”

Evans had a fight on his hands with Thierry Neuville charging him down. Although the Belgian failed to jump the Welshman by the end of the day, the deficit would only be 4.3s with four stages still to go. Rovanpera lost more time to the duo due to a stall in Derramadero 2 which left the Finn 54s behind Neuville.

Sordo finished the day fifth albeit 47.2s back from the reigning champion. The Spaniard was focused on trying new set-ups as he battled a car with a loose rear end however he is the last Rally1 car in the overall top 6.

Standings after Day 3

1. Ogier 2hr 35min 37.6s
2. Evans +35.8s
3. Neuville +40.1s
4. Rovanpera +1min 34s
5. Sordo +2min 21.2s
6. Greensmith (WRC2) +10min 33.4s

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Sebastien Ogier won the 2023 edition of the Rallye Monte-Carlo, beating his Toyota team-mate, Kalle Rovanperä, by 18.5s. Thierry Neuville brought home his Hyundai in third place 44.6s back.

The final day had been set up with a possible fightback from Rovanperä because the Finn started the day only 16s behind Ogier, but the Frenchman started the day strongly by winning the first stage to extend the lead to 18.7s.

Rovanperä didn’t feel as confident during the stage and commented: “I am not fully happy. I did this stage last year and I was not on the pace, so for sure it was not easy now to step up.”

Despite a lack of confidence, however, there wasn’t an immediate threat from behind due to Neuville spinning on stage and then experiencing a hybrid issue. This dropped the lead Hyundai back to a 37.1s deficit to Ogier.

The following stage saw Rovanperä claw back 1.5s and grab the stage win but it wasn’t significant enough to make a proper dent into the lead with only two stages remaining. At this point, Neuville was looking back to a possible challenge from Elfyn Evans but with the Welshman already having to manage his tyres, Neuville was able to produce a clean stage to extend the gap.

At SS17, Ogier made another statement by beating his nearest rival by 6.3s. Takamoto Katsuta did split them in the stage standings, but all Ogier had to do was navigate the Wolf Power Stage with no issues.

And that is exactly what the veteran accomplished. Rovanperä beat Ott Tänak to top the stage timings followed by Evans, but it was only a 4.7s gap back to Ogier. This meant that Ogier grabbed a record ninth Rallye Monte-Carlo victory.

“It’s huge. I love this rally, it’s the one which gave me the dream right at the beginning and I am so happy for Vincent: it’s nice for me, but for him, it’s a dream to take his first win.”

Rovanperä was happy with second overall and topping the power stage timings. “It was a good one. I think we can be quite happy with second place. There was much more cleaning than I expected on Thursday and Friday, and it seems when we were in the same conditions as everyone, we had the same pace as everyone else.”

With Ogier only completing a part-time program, this effectively means that Rovanperä leads the full-time contingent of drivers in the overall standings.

Neuville brought home third place but bemoaned a lack of speed in the car at this stage. “I gave it everything in there, but we had so much tyre wear compared to the others all weekend and we are missing speed. Even if we are taking some risks at some points, we can’t match the others.”

Elfyn Evans brought his car home in fourth, but it was a question of what could have been for the Welshman. The car was on pace and running second early on, but the Friday puncture cost the Toyota so much time that a podium was too far of a stretch.

Tänak finished fifth in what was a testing first rally for him in the Ford Puma Rally1. Various issues from the start meant that Tänak didn’t have too much of a chance to get comfortable in the event.

Tänak’s team-mate, Pierre-Louis Loubet, was the only Rally1 driver not to finish round 1 of the season. On Sunday a broken handbrake and then a technical problem before the penultimate test of the rally forced him to retire again, making it a rally to forget for the new full-time M-Sport driver.

Takamoto Katsuta brought his car home in sixth despite coming close to beating Tänak. The Japanese driver suffered an issue in the final test which meant that he nearly fell back into the clutches of Dani Sordo. Esapekka Lappi was the last Rally1 finisher in a debut to forget in Hyundai colours.

Final classification:

1. Ogier – 3hr 12min 2s
2. Rovanpera – +18.5s
3. Neuville – +44.6s
4. Evans – +1min 12.4s
5. Tänak – +2min 34.9s
6. Katsuta – +3min32.6s

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