Thierry Neuville wins in Sardinia

Thierry Neuville has kept a cool head on the final day of Rally Italia Sardegna to bring his Hyundai i20 World Rally Car home in first place.

After a frustrating start to the year, which saw just the one podium at the opening round in Monte Carlo. The Belgian had experienced a range of mechanical and driver related issues over the following events.

Like his Hyundai team-mate Hayden Paddon in Argentina, Neuville put a complete event together and was rewarded with his second career win. The last coming in Germany in 2014. He also became the fifth different event winner of the year behind Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, Paddon and Kris Meeke.

Coming into the final day with a 16.1-second lead over Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala, he finished the event with a 24.8 second victory. Ogier came home back in third.

“For the second time it’s much less pressure leading the rally all the time,” said Neuville.

“I really enjoyed it and had a great weekend. Great things come to those who earn them.

“I want to dedicate this win to (the late) Phillipe Bugalski, as it would have been his birthday today. He was my mentor and I owe a lot to him.

“The feeling was good in the car this weekend and hopefully it will be like this for the rest of the season.”

The final TV stage went the way of Ogier, ahead of Hyundai youngster Kevin Abbring and Latvala.

VIDEO: Morning Stages

VIDEO: Power Stage

 

FINAL POSITIONS: Rally Italia Sardegna

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time/Gap
1	Thierry Neuville	Hyundai Motorsport N	Hyundai	3:35:25.8
2	Jari-Matti Latvala	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+0:24.8
3	Sebastien Ogier	Volkswagen Motorsport	Volkswagen	+1:37.8
4	Dani Sordo	Hyundai Motorsport	Hyundai	+2:54.0
5	Ott Tanak	DMACK World Rally Team	Ford	+5:26.4
6	Eric Camilli	M-Sport World Rally Team	Ford	+5:59.8
7	Henning Solberg	Solberg Henning	Ford	+6:22.2
8	Teemu Suninen	Team Oreca	Skoda	+8:57.4
9	Jan Kopecky	Skoda Motorsport	Skoda	+9:47.0
10	Karl Kruuda	Drive DMACK Trophy Team	Ford	+13:40.5

DRIVERS´ STANDINGS

Pos	Driver	Total
1.	Sebastien OGIER	132
2.	Dani SORDO	68
3.	Andreas MIKKELSEN	67
4.	Mads OSTBERG	58
5.	Hayden PADDON	57
6.	Jari-Matti LATVALA	56
7.	Thierry NEUVILLE	48
8.	Ott TANAK	34
9.	Kris MEEKE	26
10.	Eric CAMILLI	22
11.	Henning SOLBERG	14
12.	Stephane LEFEBVRE	10
13.	Martin PROKOP	10
14.	Teemu SUNINEN	7
15.	Elfyn EVANS	6
16.	Marcos Sebastian LIGATO	6
17.	Lorenzo BERTELLI	4
18.	Craig BREEN	4
19.	Pontus TIDEMAND	2
20.	Esapekka LAPPI	2
21.	Jan KOPECKY	2
22.	Nicolas FUCHS	2
23.	Kevin ABBRING	2
24.	Armin KREMER	1
25.	Valeriy GORBAN	1
26.	Karl KRUUDA	1