WRC, Sardaigne : Hat-trick sarde pour Ogier / a Sardinian hat-trick for Ogier

Sébastien Ogier et Volkswagen/Michelin ont remporté leur troisième Rallye d’Italie-Sardaigne consécutif. L’équipe Hyundai Motorsports a marqué cette édition 2015 en plaçant deux pilotes – Hayden Paddon (2e) et Thierry Neuville (3e) – sur le podium.

Hormis le doublé historique réalisé en Allemagne l’an passé, l’équipe Hyundai Motorsports a peut-être vécu son plus beau rallye WRC ce week-end, sur l’Ile de Sardaigne.

Le constructeur coréen a dominé le Shakedown avec Dani Sordo, plus de la moitié du rallye avec Hayden Paddon, et a placé deux i20 WRC sur le podium final.

L’homme fort de cette 6^e manche 2015 fut sans conteste le Néo-Zélandais Hayden Paddon, leader de l’ES2 à l’ES17. Le Kiwi était certes avantagé par sa position sur la route, mais il a signé trois meilleurs consécutifs et tenu tête au double champion du monde Sébastien Ogier jusqu’à samedi après-midi.

Hayden Paddon s’est finalement agenouillé dans l’ES17 après un tête-à-queue, puis sa boîte de vitesses lui a fait perdre tout espoir de remporter une première victoire mondiale. Le Néo-Zélandais doit se satisfaire d’un premier podium WRC amplement mérité.

Son équipier Thierry Neuville a connu des hauts et des bas sur ce rallye, à l’image de son début de saison 2015. Il conclut sur la 3^e marche du podium devant Elfyn Evans (Ford), qui signe un de ses meilleurs résultats après avoir perdu plusieurs minutes en début d’épreuve (transmission).

Son équipier Ott Tanak, qui pointait sur le podium provisoire, a lui aussi connu un problème de transmission en fin de 2^e étape. Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) était également sur le podium provisoire avant de commettre une erreur samedi et de terminer à la 6^e place, derrière Mads Ostberg (5^e, Citroën), qui semblait promis au podium avant une erreur de trajectoire dimanche matin

Ce rallye, sans doute l’un des plus cassants de la saison, a très vite piégé et éliminé de nombreux pilotes officiels : Kris Meeke (Citroën), Andreas Mikkelsen (VW), Robert Kubica (Ford)…

Sébastien Ogier, qui a remporté la Power Stage, marque les 28 points maximum et augmente son avance au championnat à mi-saison.

En WRC-2, Yuri Protasov (Ford) s’est imposé avec 5s6 d’avance sur le multiple champion italien Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot) et Jan Kopecky (Skoda) de retour en WRC. Le champion sortant Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) est sorti de la route avant de remonter à la 5^e place et d’échouer à quelques secondes de son compatriote Al-Kuwari (4^e, Ford).

Le champion du monde Junior en titre Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) s’est fait piéger vendredi avant de connaître des soucis électriques samedi. Le terrain cassant a évidemment dévasté les rangs du WRC-2.

Sébastien Ogier and Volkswagen/Michelin collected their third straight Rally Italia Sardegna victory this afternoon. It was a happy event, too, for Hyundai Motorsports which saw Hayden Paddon (2nd) and Thierry Neuville (3rd) both finish on the podium.

With the obvious exception of its landmark one-two finish in Germany last season, the week in Sardinia was clearly Hyundai Motorsports’ best all-round performance since the make’s return to world class rallying in January 2014.

The Korean make won Thursday’s shakedown with Dani Sordo, and then dominated more than half of the event proper thanks to Hayden Paddon. It ended up with two Michelin-equipped i20 WRCs on the final podium.

The star of the 2015 WRC’s sixth round was undeniably Hayden Paddon who led from SS2 until SS16. True, the New Zealander was helped by his running order, but that shouldn’t be allowed to detract from his three consecutive fastest times on Friday, nor from the fact that he managed to ward off the charging two-time world champion Sébastien Ogier until Saturday afternoon.

The Kiwi was finally passed after a spin on SS17, followed by a gearbox problem that deprived him of his final hopes of claiming his maiden world class victory. For the moment, he will have to settle for the first, fully-deserved WRC podium of his career.

His team-mate Neuville had a week of ups and downs which mirrored his 2015 season to date. He ended up on the third step of the podium ahead of Elfyn Evans (Ford) who obtained one of his best ever results despite falling back with early transmission trouble.

The Welshman’s team-mate Ott Tanak had figured in the provisional top-three before he too picked up transmission gremlins at the end of Day 2.

Jari-Matti Latvala (VW) was another driver who appeared on the podium before a mistake on Saturday relegated him to sixth overall. That was one place behind Mads Ostberg (Citroën) who had been heading for a top-three finish until a mistake on Sunday morning.

The event turned out to be one of the roughest of the season and its hazards caught out a number of factory drivers early on, namely Kris Meeke (Citroën), Andreas Mikkelsen (VW) and Robert Kubica (Ford)…

Sébastien Ogier also won the Power Stage to pocket a maximum haul of 28 points and consolidate his domination of the 2015 standings at the year’s midpoint.

The WRC2 victor was Yuri Protasov (Ford) who ended up 5.6s clear of the multiple Italian champion Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot). Third was Jan Kopecky (Skoda) who was making his return to the WRC. The class’s defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) crashed before fighting back to fifth spot, just seconds short of compatriot Al-Kuwari (4^th, Ford).

The 2014 Junior champion Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) made a mistake on Friday before complaining of electrical trouble on Saturday. The WRC2 runners unsurprisingly suffered in the rough conditions.

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FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

Midnight ride with The Parisians.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE from Joris B. on Vimeo.

Classic Driver awards Iso Grifo 'Best Classic in Show' at Wilton House

At last weekend’s Wilton Classic & Supercar, the ‘Best Classic in Show’ trophy – judged by the editorial team here at Classic Driver – was awarded to a 1967 Iso Grifo…

As an official media partner, Classic Driver was given the responsibility of awarding the ‘Best Classic in Show’ trophy, which, as Lord Pembroke was keen to point out, wasn’t strictly reserved for a concours queen. With this in mind (and after much, much deliberation), we chose Andrew Yaras’ elegant dark green Iso Grifo, for a variety of reasons…

King’s Road carriage

“The first owner had a famous restaurant on the King's Road in the ’60s, frequented by celebrities, including the Rolling Stones. It would have been a common sight cruising up and down there in 1967,” explains Yaras, who bought the car at auction 25 years ago. “Apparently he disappeared while on a business trip in America. Someone I know can actually remember the car being left on the King’s Road, half on the pavement, before eventually disappearing.” Regardless of its truth value, it’s a great sub-story from the car’s infant years.  

Furthermore, this is the sole right-hand-drive Iso Grifo (of which there are believed to have been fewer than 30 built) with a factory sunroof that, given the beautiful weather at Wilton House on Saturday, was duly left open.

Understated and original

The Grifo – Italian for ‘Griffin’, a mythical creature part eagle, part lion, that would devour men andtheir (prancing?) horses – is a lavish Italian ’60s Grand Tourer with a powerful American V8 hiding under the bonnet. One of few remaining cars with the two-speed Powerglide gearbox, the driving experience, according to Yaras, is ‘completely effortless’, making it great for long-distance driving. “We’ve been to Le Mans a couple of times, and I drove it to Northern Italy, too,” he says. “If you kick down at anything above 50 or 60mph, the acceleration is phenomenal.”

Often seen in brighter colours, we particularly loved the understated dark green hue of this car, resplendent after a bare-metal respray two years ago. Its originality, something Yaras is keen to preserve, is otherwise especially evident; those beautifully patinated cast-alloy wheels, for example (much nicer than wires, in our eyes). Look closely, and you’ll see that one of the switches reads ‘Ejector Seat’ – “someone with a sense of humour,” quips Yaras. That’ll be something to do with the sunroof, we suspect.

A worthy winner?

With stiff competition (our shortlist included a Porsche 2.7 Carrera RS, a Bugatti 73C and a Le Mans-finishing Mclaren F1 GTR), the decision certainly wasn’t an easy one to make. But chatting with the car’s owner only confirmed we’d chosen the right one – it’s a seldom-seen, well-used classic, in an unusual colour and with a brilliant story to tell. 

Photos: Amy Shore for Classic Driver © 2015

You can find an original competition-spec Iso Grifo offered for sale in the Classic Driver Market.