2019 Rally Italia Sardegna 16. Rally Italia Sardegna
Round 8 of 14 in the2019 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Rally Sardegna features with fast and narrow stages, with intense heat testing tyre limits.
Host country	Italy
Rally base	Alghero,Sardinia
Dates run	13 – 16 June 2019
Start location	Ittiri motocross track, Alghero
Finish location	Argentiera, Alghero
Stages	19 (310.52 km; 192.95 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Gravel
Transport distance	1,073.12 km (666.81 miles)
Overall distance	1,383.64 km (859.75 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered	89
Crews	88 at start, 49 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 3:32:27.2
Power Stage winner	Andreas Mikkelsen Anders Jæger-Amland Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT
Support category results
WRC-2 winner	Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais Pierre-Louis Loubet 3:43:40.2
J-WRC winner	Jan Solans Mauro Barreiro Rally Team Spain 4:02:36.2

The2019 Rally Italia Sardegna (also known asRally Italia Sardegna 2019) was amotor racing event forrally cars that was held over four days between 13 and 16 June 2019.^[2] It marked the sixteenth running ofRally Italia Sardegna and was the eighth round of the2019 World Rally Championship,World Rally Championship-2 and the newly createdWRC-2 Pro class. It was also the third round of theJunior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based inAlghero inSardinia, and was contested over nineteenspecial stages with a total a competitive distance of 310.52 km (192.95 mi).

Thierry Neuville andNicolas Gilsoul were the defending rally winners. Their team,Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.^[3]Jan Kopecký andPavel Dresler were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they participated in the newly createdWRC-2 Pro class.^[4]

Dani Sordo andCarlos del Barrio won their second career victory. Their team,Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, successfully defended their titles.^[5] TheŠkoda Motorsport crew ofKalle Rovanperä andJonne Halttunen took hat-trick in theWRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the French crew ofPierre-Louis Loubet andVincent Landais won the wider WRC-2 class.^[6] The third round of theJ-WRC championship was taken by theRally Team Spain crew ofJan Solans andMauro Barreiro.^[7]

Defending world championsSébastien Ogier andJulien Ingrassia led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships with a two-point ahead ofOtt Tänak andMartin Järveoja.Thierry Neuville andNicolas Gilsoul were third, a further ten points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers,Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a twenty-point lead overToyota Gazoo Racing WRT.^[8]

In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings,Kalle Rovanperä andJonne Halttunen held a three-point lead ahead ofMads Østberg andTorstein Eriksen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively.Łukasz Pieniążek andElliott Edmondson were third, nine and ten points further back respectively. In the manufacturers' championship,M-Sport Ford WRT ledŠkoda Motorsport by thirty-one points, withCitroën Total thirty-three points further behind in third.^[9]

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings,Benito Guerra andJaime Zapata led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by twenty-two points respectively.Takamoto Katsuta andDaniel Barritt were second, following byOle Christian Veiby andJonas Andersson in third.^[9]

In the Junior-World Rally Championship standings,Tom Kristensson andHenrik Appelskog ledJan Solans andMauro Barreiro by thirteen points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, withDennis Rådström andJohan Johansson two points further behind in third in their own standings. In the Nations' standings,Sweden were first, thirteen points clear ofSpain, withEstonia two points further behind in third.^[10]

The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro, Junior World Rally Championship, Italian national championship andprivateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of ninety-four entries were received, with twelve crews entered with World Rally Cars and fifteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Five crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class. A further eleven entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship.

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
World Rally Car entries
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
26	Martin Prokop	Jan Tománek	MP-Sports	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	M
33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
69	Juho Hänninen	Tomi Tuominen	Tommi Mäkinen Racing	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
89	Andreas Mikkelsen	Anders Jæger-Amland	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries
21	Mads Østberg	Torstein Eriksen	Citroën Total[a]	Citroën C3 R5	M
22	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
23	Jan Kopecký	Pavel Dresler	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
24	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5	M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
41	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	Takamoto Katsuta[b]	Ford Fiesta R5	P
42	Ole Christian Veiby	Jonas Andersson	Ole Christian Veiby[c]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	M
43	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Nikolay Gryazin[d]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
44	Fabio Andolfi	Simone Scattolin	Fabio Andolfi[e]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
45	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson	Fabian Cretu	Marco Bulacia Wilkinson[f]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
46	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Kajetan Kajetanowicz[g]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
48	Guillaume De Mevius	Martijn Wydaeghe	Guillaume De Mevius[h]	Citroën C3 R5	M
49	Pierre-Louis Loubet	Vincent Landais	Pierre-Louis Loubet[i]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
50	Simone Tempestini	Sergiu Itu	Simone Tempestini[j]	Hyundai i20 R5	P
51	Nil Solans	Marc Martí	Nil Solans[k]	Ford Fiesta R5	P
Junior World Rally Championship entries
71	Tom Kristensson	Henrik Appelskog	Tom Kristensson	Ford Fiesta R2	P
72	Jan Solans	Mauro Barreiro	Rally Team Spain	Ford Fiesta R2	P
73	Dennis Rådström	Johan Johansson	Dennis Rådström	Ford Fiesta R2	P
74	Julius Tannert	Jürgen Heigl	ADAC Sachsen	Ford Fiesta R2	P
75	Tom Williams	Phil Hall	Tom Williams	Ford Fiesta R2	P
76	Mārtiņš Sesks	Krišjānis Caune	LMT Autosporta Akadēmija	Ford Fiesta R2	P
77	Sean Johnston	Alex Kihurani	Sean Johnston	Ford Fiesta R2	P
78	Enrico Oldrati	Elia De Guio	Enrico Oldrati	Ford Fiesta R2	P
79	Raul Badiu	Gabriel Lazăr	Raul Badiu	Ford Fiesta R2	P
80	Fabrizio Zaldívar	Fernando Mussano	Fabrizio Zaldívar	Ford Fiesta R2	P
81	Nico Knacker	Tobias Braun	ADAC Weiser-Ems	Ford Fiesta R2	P
Other Major Entries
96	Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Bernhard Ettel	Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Škoda Fabia R5	P
100	Giandomenico Basso	Lorenzo Granai	LORAN s.r.l	Škoda Fabia R5	P
101	Luca Rossetti	Eleonora Mori	F.P.F. Sport	Citroën C3 R5	P
134	Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	Adrien Fourmaux	Ford Fiesta R2	M
Source:[11]

The Ittiri Arena stage will be removed from the itinerary as well as some slight length-adjustments to selected stages.^[12]

All dates and times areCEST (UTC+2).

The first leg saw defending world championSébastien Ogier, who was the road-cleaner inSardinia, caught out after hitting a huge rock in the morning loop. Ogier'sCitroën C3 sustained serious suspension damage, forcing him and co-driverJulien Ingrassia to retire from the stage.^[13]Teemu Suninen took an early lead until a spin handed the lead toJari-Matti Latvala, who rolled hisYaris in the afternoon loop. Things went from bad to worse as the Finn went off the road in the final stage of the leg.Thierry Neuville also hit trouble as hisi20 slid nose-first into a ditch, with theHyundai'sradiator being pierced in the ordeal.^[14] Eventually,Dani Sordo became the overnight leader.^[15]

On day two, with a much better road position,Ott Tänak took over the rally — he dominated the day and won all six stages, turning a ten-second deficit to a twenty-five-second lead.^[16] However, his teammateKris Meeke had to change apunctured tyre in the final test, which dropped him down from fifth to eighth.

Things went against Tänak's favour in thepower stage, however, when a latepower steering failure deprived the Estonian of a third consecutive rally win, handing the victory to Sordo; his first rally win since the2013 Rallye Deutschland.^[17]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1		1	Ott Tänak	150		1	Martin Järveoja	150			Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	242
2		1	Sébastien Ogier	146		1	Julien Ingrassia	146			Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	198
3			Thierry Neuville	143			Nicolas Gilsoul	143			Citroën Total WRT	170
4			Elfyn Evans	78			Scott Martin	78			M-Sport Ford WRT	152
5		1	Teemu Suninen	62			Sebastian Marshall	60

Mads Østberg was very likely to lead the category, but he lost almost eleven minutes adrift after hitting a stone in the opening stage, which meantKalle Rovanperä became the leader.Gus Greensmith retired from the day due to plunging down a bank.^[18] Although he restarted on Saturday, asuspension failure forced him to stop again.^[19] Eventually, Rovanperä won the category as well as played a hat-trick.^[6]

Results inbold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Kalle Rovanperä	111			Jonne Halttunen	111		1	Škoda Motorsport	159
2			Mads Østberg	98			Torstein Eriksen	98		1	M-Sport Ford WRT	159
3		1	Gus Greensmith	85			Elliott Edmondson	85			Citroën Total	98
4			Łukasz Pieniążek	74			Kamil Heller	62
5			Jan Kopecký	36			Pavel Dresler	36

Pierre-Louis Loubet enjoyed a troublefree day in the lead. The major retirements of the leg includedFabio Andolfi, who ripped a front wheel from hisFabia, andOle Christian Veiby due to multiple issues.^[18] On day two,Nikolay Gryazin retired from second when he hit a rock and ripped off his right-front wheel. Back to the front,Takamoto Katsuta surpassed Loubet in the final test of the leg.^[19] However, his car was on fire on the final day and forced to retire from the rally, which handled the victory back to the former category leader Loubet.^[6]

Results inbold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points
1			Benito Guerra	69			Jaime Zapata	69
2		6	Pierre-Louis Loubet	51		6	Vincent Landais	51
3			Ole Christian Veiby	50			Jonas Andersson	50
4		2	Takamoto Katsuta	47		2	Daniel Barritt	47
5		1	Nikolay Gryazin	38		1	Yaroslav Fedorov	38

Dennis Rådström dominated the first day, whileSean Johnston retired from the leg due to clipping a bank and plunging off the road.^[20] Rådström maintained the lead on leg two, but his lead was slashed to only 1.2 seconds.^[21] However, he lost the lead toJan Solans, who eventually won the J-WRC victory.^[7]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Nations' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Country	Points
1		1	Jan Solans	71		1	Mauro Barreiro	71			Sweden	61
2		1	Tom Kristensson	62		1	Henrik Appelskog	62			Spain	55
3			Dennis Rådström	56			Johan Johansson	56		1	Germany	37
4			Julius Tannert	36			Jürgen Heigl	36		1	Estonia	28
5			Roland Poom	26			Ken Järveoja	26		4	Romania	24

• Official website(in Italian and English)
• 2019Rally Italia Sardegna ine-wrc website
• Theofficial website of theWorld Rally Championship

• 2019 World Rally Championship season
• 2019 in Italian motorsport
• June 2019 sports events in Italy
• Rally Italia Sardegna

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Official website not in Wikidata
• Articles with Italian-language sources (it)