TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program drivers Yuki Yamamoto and Hikaru Kogure continued their gravel rally education by taking on Rally Italia Sardegna on May 31–June 2 aboard the GR Yaris Rally2.
Rally Italia Sardegna has been a fixture on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar for two decades and features a variety of road characteristics, from narrow and technical sections to sweeping high-speed sections, plus a mixture of loose gravel and hard bedrock that give a wide variety of circumstances to tackle in a short period of time.
This was Yamamoto and Kogure’s second gravel event in a Rally2 car, following on from Rally de Portugal in early May. As their mileage had been curtailed by issues on the previous event, gaining maximum experience was the primary focus on the Italian island of Sardinia.
Both drivers built up their pace and confidence on a shorter than usual Friday itinerary, learning how to manage and maximise tyres on Sardinia’s hot and abrasive gravel roads.
However, heading into the longest day of the rally on Saturday, a small mistake by Kogure on SS5 ended his rally: braking slightly too late for a corner, he hit the bank on the outside. While the damage to the car could be repaired, Kogure experienced pain in his right shoulder and, while a scan showed no fractures, he was not cleared to drive on Sunday as a precaution.
Yamamoto was unlucky to also stop on SS5, having clipped a piece of concrete hidden on the inside of a corner. While he and co-driver Marko Salminen were able to implement a fix at the side of the road, they ran out of time to make the next stage and had to retire. Yamamoto returned for Sunday’s action and registered further valuable experience.
Results (WRC2 class):
- 1 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)3h13m19.0s
- 2 Yohan Rossel/Benjamin Boulloud (Citroën C3 Rally2)+32.3s
- 3 Jan Solans/Ricardo Sanjuán (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+39.3s
- 4 Martin Prokop/Michal Ernst (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)+2m52.0s
- 5 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)+2m55.9s
- 6 Robert Virves/Aleks Lesk (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)+3m18.5s
- 31 Yuki Yamamoto/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+1h22m45.3s
- Retired Hikaru Kogure/Topi Luhtinen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)
What’s next?
Moving on from the slower and rougher loose surface roads in southern Europe, Kogure and Yamamoto will switch to fast and flowing gravel of Rally Estonia for the fifth round of the FIA European Rally Championship, Rally Estonia, on July 5-7. Estonia will be their debut in the ERC’s primary category, as the GR Yaris Rally2 is the top-level car at continental level.
