After Rally Mexico, the World Rally Championship (WRC) returns to Europe for the fourth date of the calendar. The Rally Corsica 2019, which takes place from the 28th to the 31st of March, comes loaded with excitement.

Having completed all winter races, the first rally on asphalt will give a good insight into the drivers and the team’s state of form.

The Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT team arrives with a fearsome line-up (Thierry Neuville, Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo) with which it hopes to seal its first win of the season.

 

 

The Belgian driver is also very keen to conquer his first triumph of the year, unwilling as he is to lose positions in the standings, currently led by the Estonian driver from the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Ott Tänak.

 

 

The star driver from the Citröen Total WRT, Sébastien Ogier, second in the standings and defending champion in Corsica, will be aiming for his third win of 2019.

The island race will boast an 80% new layout through its winding and narrow local roads, in what is considered to be one of the greatest technical challenges of the season. It could not get any more exciting!

Hyundai and Neuville: Obliged to win

The team from Alzenau is out to win in Rally Corsica 2019 after their somewhat grey start of the season. A lot of work has gone into readying the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC to shine on the asphalt.

 

Leader´s squad and eternal candidate to the crown, Thierry Neuville, hasn’t won any of the first three rounds of the championship. After arriving in fourth position at the Rally Mexico he has gone down to third in the standings with 55 points.

It is still early days to worry about the points disadvantage but nonetheless, Neuville is ten points behind leader Tänak and six behind Ogier, which is second.

Mathematics aside, Neuville must assert his intentions … with a victory. He should send a message of strength to his adversaries, and let them know he is here for the title. He has triumphed in Corsica at the 2011 and 2017 editions. So he is gonna give it all he has for a third victory.

Sébastien Loeb, his team-mate and four-time winner from 2005 to 2008 in the island will also be up there fighting for glory. The third driver in Hyundai for the legendary French round will be Dani Sordo. A highly skilled driver on asphalt, he also won the 2012 edition in Corsica. Despite having to abandon in Mexico, he left good feelings.

He will take the seat of Andreas Mikkelsen in the team, to whom he also rivals the participation in Germany and Spain.

Citroën & Ogier chase their 2019 3rd win

After bagging two out of three victories so far, the Citröen Total WRT saquad and its star driver Sébastien Ogier face the Rally Corsica in great spirits.

The French driver won the Mexican Rally and will be defending the title in a territory where he also won in 2016. He will be a tough nut to crack.

Esapekka Lappi, second in the Swedish Rally, will drive the other C3 WRC. The Finn will be hoping for a decent performance at a location where he is not fully comfortable.

Toyota and Tänak

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and Ott Tänak, lead the team and driver standings and they would want it to stay that way. It has been a great start to the year for both, with Tänak, winner of the Swedish Rally, showing a very consistent performance with three podiums out of three races.

Although he has never won in the race of the island, The Stonian is a candidate to win at Rally Corsica 2019.

Rally Corsica’s route 2019

The French route has 1.194,06 kilometres, 347.51 of them timed and, on this edition, 80% across the 14 specials are new. The Rally Corsica 2019 starts on Thursday, March the 28th with the shakedown and subsequent start ceremony in Porto-Vecchio. The competition itself will begin on Friday with two loops of three stages; Bavella (17.60 km), Valinco (25.94 km) and Alta-Rocco (17.37 km) with no assistance.

Saturday’s leg within the Bestia region will be key, as it represents more than half the distance of the whole rally. It includes the stages of Cap Corse (25,62 km), Désert des Agriates (14,45 km) and the exhausting Castagniccia (47,18 km).

On Sunday morning the Rally Corsica 2019 will travel northwest through Eaux de Zilia (31.85 km) and the Power Stage in Calvi (19.34 km).

‘Rally Corsica 2019’ Images: Ford M-Sport, Citroën Racing, Toyota WRC & Hyunday Motorpsort.