Hyundai Dominates Rally Sardinia While M-Sport Faces Nightmare Triple Retirement

Hyundai began its pursuit of a maiden World Rally Championship victory in 2025 by taking the lead early on. Rally Sardinia While M-Sport endured a nightmarish triple retirement that encompassed a rollover involving Martins Sesks.

Hyundai concluded Friday's series of three gravel stages in the lead position during the morning session. Adrien Fourmaux top teammate and current world champion Thierry Neuville By 2.9 seconds, Toyota's Sébastien Ogier placed third, trailing behind by 8.1 seconds, and leading Hyundai’s driver by 0.9 seconds. Ott Tanak in fourth.

Starting seventh on the road, Forumaux capitalized on his position to take the lead after claiming victory in stage three, Sa Conchedda 1 - 27.95 km.

"Finishing the first day leading in the rally is half the battle, yet there’s still a considerable distance ahead. The margins remain very tight, however, I am satisfied with how the morning went," stated Fourmaux.

Eight-time world champion Ogier grabbed the early lead after a stunning run through the opening Arzachena 1 - 13.97 km, despite the disadvantage of being third on the road. Considering his road position, Ogier was content with his morning effort.

“I think it has been a very good run. It is a good start. Our team had a good brainstorming session trying to analyse what we can change for this rally, and so far I’m more happy with the car [than in Portugal]," said Ogier, who won last time out in Portugal.

Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

We still lack the data from the tyre tests, and possibly the softer compound would have been more beneficial.

Tanak set a blistering pace in stage two to move to within a second of the rally lead, but the 2019 world champion admitted he was enduring an “incredible struggle” trying to rotate his i20 N.

Toyota’s Sami Pajari ran as high as third as the Finn capitalised on his road position. A front-right puncture in stage three demoted him to fifth [+11.0s], ahead of team-mates Takamoto Katsuta [+15.5s], Kalle Rovanpera [+30.6s] and Elfyn Evans [+41.2s].

Rovanperä and Evans were most affected by the road clearing process. Rovanperä expressed a lack of faith in handling his GR Yaris, whereas championship leader Evans was aware that starting at the front would put him in a difficult position.

"I believe the loss was greater than anticipated. I lost too much time on the initial run due to insufficient speed and lack of confidence in the car. Other than that, we gave it our best," stated Rovanpera.

Evans commented, "We anticipated the time loss; the cleaning impact was significant, particularly during the final part of the lap. While certain aspects seem better compared to Portugal, judging precisely due to our track position remains challenging."

M-Sport struggling after terrible beginning

Joshua McErlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team with theFord Puma Rally1

Photo by: M-Sport

M-Sport remains optimistic that two out of its three vehicles will return to the rally tomorrow following an unexpected triple withdrawal at the second stage.

The swift and unusually narrow stage saw Gregoire Munster and Joshua McErlean The rocks damaged the right and left rear suspensions of their modified Ford Puma Rally1 vehicles, respectively. Meanwhile, teammates Sesks and co-driver Renars Francis safely navigated a terrifying high-speed rollover after taking off over a jump.

"I wouldn't call it terrible, but it's somewhat disappointing," stated M-Sport team principal Rich Millener.

It’s not surprising since the team aims to improve throughout the year. Occasionally, you must endure the hardship of a setback such as this one to gain insights from it. While they understood they shouldn’t have repeated certain actions, they did so anyway and now use that experience as a learning opportunity.

“I think two of the three [cars] will be ok, Martins’ [car] I’m not so confident to be honest as there are a lot of expensive parts that have been damaged, and this calendar is now brutal with events every two weeks.

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“I will have a look but right now the sensible decision in my head is to strip and repair the car here while we have the resources.

“We could spend a lot of money on it to get back but what are we going to achieve being first on the road for two days, there is nothing really to gain. All the repairs we do here we have to do again back in the UK to make sure they are perfect.”