Rally Corsica 2019

 Rally Corsica 2019

Racing data
4th of 14 races of the 2019 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Corsica
Date:	28–31 March 2019
Begin:	Bastia
Exams:	14 tests over 347.51 km
Distance:	846.55 km
Covering:	asphalt
Podium
First:	Thierry Neuville Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
Second:	Sébastien Ogier Citroën C4 WRC
Third:	Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta WRC

The 62nd Tour de Corse was the fourth of 13 FIA - World Cup races 2019 . The rally consisted of 14 special stages and was driven between March 28th and 31st.

report

Elfyn Evans (Ford) set the fastest time on the first special stage and was the first overall leader of the Corsica Rally. The start was not optimal for Kris Meeke (Toyota) and Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai). Meeke lost a good 50 seconds due to a puncture. Loeb hit the right rear wheel and damaged the suspension. Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena had to repair the Hyundai i20 WRC at the finish of the special stage. After that, the WRC record world champion could no longer make up almost two minutes behind.

After SS2, Ott Tänak (Toyota) took the lead and fought for the lead against Evans in the following special stages .

In a curious way, Evans lost the lead. In the sixth special stage he ran into Kris Meeke's (Toyota) car, who was driving slowly because of a suspension damage that he had sustained in an accident shortly before. It took Meeke a while to notice Evans and let him drive by. Tänak was in the lead after the first day with 5.9 seconds. But the race management stepped in and rated Evans at the same time as Tänak. This gave Evans the lead, 4.5 seconds ahead of Tänak.

The duel between Evans and Tänak continued unabated on Saturday. After the eighth special stage, the two were separated by just 0.2 seconds. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) was in third place at this point, 10.7 seconds behind.

Dani Sordo secured the best time in SS9 . In the battle for the top of the overall standings, Tänak turned the tide in his favor. He was just 2.3 seconds ahead of Evans after the morning loop. In the afternoon, a puncture on Tänak's Toyota ended the duel and the Estonian lost almost two minutes to the leader. Now Neuville was getting faster and faster and he took the lead with a lead of 4.5 seconds on Evans.

On Sunday, two special stages were driven over a total distance of 51.19 kilometers at the Corsica Rally. At 19.34 kilometers, the power stage was unusually long. In the penultimate special stage Evans took the lead again from Neuville. After a strong performance, Evans suffered a tire damage at the front right on the 14th and final special stage and dropped to third. Neuville won the rally in Corsica ahead of Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) and Evans.

Registration list

No	driver	Co-driver	automobile	class
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C3 WRC	WRC RC1
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Fiesta WRC	WRC RC1
4th	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën C3 WRC	WRC RC1
5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	WRC RC1
6th	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	WRC RC1
8th	Ott Tanak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	WRC RC1
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Toyota Yaris WRC	WRC RC1
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	WRC RC1
33	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta WRC	WRC RC1
28	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Škoda Fabia R5	WRC2 RC2
35	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	WRC2 RC2
38	Fabio Andolfi	Simone Scattolin	Škoda Fabia R5	WRC2 RC2

A total of 95 vehicles were reported.

Classifications

Bottom line

rank	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points + Power Stage
WRC
01	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 WRC	3: 22: 59.0		25 + 2
02	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën C3 WRC	3: 23: 39.3	00: 40.3	18 + 1
03	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta WRC	3: 24: 05.6	01: 06.6	15th
04th	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai i20 WRC	3: 24: 17.4	01: 18.4	12
05	Teemu Suninen	Marko salt mines	Ford Fiesta WRC	3: 24: 23.6	01: 24.6	10 + 3
06th	Ott Tanak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	3: 24: 39.0	01: 40.0	8th
07th	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën C3 WRC	3: 25: 08.1	02: 09.1	6 + 4
08th	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Hyundai i20 WRC	3: 26: 38.2	03: 39.2	4th
09	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	3: 28: 05.3	05: 06.3	2 + 5
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miika Anttila	Toyota Yaris WRC	3: 29: 43.6	06: 44.6	1
WRC2
01 (11)	Fabio Andolfi	Simone Scattolin	Škoda Fabia R5	3: 34: 08.6		25th
02 (12)	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Škoda Fabia R5	3: 34: 12.5	00: 03.9	18th
03 (13)	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	3: 37: 01.9	02: 53.3	15th

Special stages

Day	WP	Surname	length	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	leader
28th March	-	Sorbo Ocagnano (Shakedown)	5.39 km	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	03: 46.7	n / A
Day 1 March 29th	WP1	Bavella 1	17.60 km	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta WRC	10: 20.6	Elfyn Evans
	WP2	Valinco 1	25.94 km	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	14: 23.6	Ott Tanak
	WP3	Alta - Rocca 1	17.37 km	Ott Tanak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	10: 05.2
	WP4	Bavella 2	17.60 km	Elfyn Evans	Scott Martin	Ford Fiesta WRC	10: 17.5	Elfyn Evans
	WP5	Valinco 2	25.94 km	Elfyn Evans	Scott Marti	Ford Fiesta WRC	14: 23.2
	WP6	Alta - Rocca 2	17.37 km	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	10: 02.3
	Service 7:38 pm (45 min)
Day 2 March 30th
	Service 6:05 a.m. (15 min)
	WP7	Cap Corse 1	25.62 km	Ott Tanak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	15: 50.6
	WP8	Désert des Agriates 1	14.45 km	Ott Tanak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Yaris WRC	07: 55.8
	WP9	Castagniccia 1	47.18 km	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	29: 45.0	Ott Tanak
	Service 12:32 p.m. (40 min)
	WP10	Cap Corse 2	25.62 km	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	15: 52.3
	WP11	Désert des Agriates 2	14.45 km	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	07: 57.6	Elfyn Evans
	WP12	Castagniccia 2	47.18 km	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	29: 24.4	Thierry Neuville
	Service 6:34 p.m. (45 min)
Day 3 March 31st
	Service 8:10 a.m. (15 minutes)
	WP13	Eaux de Zilia	31.85 km	Elfyn Evans	Scott Marti	Ford Fiesta WRC	15: 47.2	Elfyn Evans
	WP14	Calvi (power stage)	19.34 km	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Yaris WRC	09: 54.0	Thierry Neuville

Winner special stages

WP	number	driver	automobile
1, 4, 5, 13	4th	Elfyn Evans	Ford Fiesta WRC
6, 11, 12	3	Thierry Neuville	Hyundai Coupe i20 WRC
3, 7, 8	3	Ott Tanak	Toyota Yaris WRC
2, 10, 14	3	Kris Meeke	Toyota Yaris WRC
9	1	Dani Sordo	Hyundai Coupe i20 WRC

Drivers' Championship after the rally

Item	driver	Points
1	Thierry Neuville	82
2	Sébastien Ogier	80
3	Ott Tanak	77
4th	Elfyn Evans	43
5	Kris Meeke	42

Team world championship

Item	team	Points
1	Hyundai Motorsport	114
2	Citroën WRT	102
3	Toyota Racing WRT	98
4th	M-Sport WRT	70

Web links

Commons : Rallye Corsica 2019  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information and results at http://www.wrc.com/
• Official website of the Corsica Rally http://www.tourdecorse.com/site/

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com: WRC Live Ticker Rally France: The Chronology , accessed on July 18, 2020
2. ↑ ewrc-results.com: Entry list , accessed on July 25, 2020
3. ↑ ewrc-results.com: final results , accessed on July 25, 2020