Neuville surprise winner of the Tour de Corsica

Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) signed his third victory at the Tour de Corse after 2011 (in ERC) and 2017 after taking advantage of Elfyn Evans' puncture (M-Sport) in the Power Stage. It's a disappointment for the Welshman who had done the hardest part by pushing the Belgian back more than 11 seconds in the Waters of Zilia, the penultimate course of the Rally of 10000 Bends.

The Belgian thus offers the first victory to Hyundai since the 2018 Sardinia Rally and achieves his 10th success in WRC by imposing himself in front Sébastien Ogier. This is an unexpected result for Citroën which did not score a single scratch in this event, the C3 WRC being strangely suffering on the Corsican asphalt.

Elfyn Evans saves a place on the podium with a dozen seconds ahead of Dani Sordo (Hyundai) who saw his pace drop at the end of the race and who only retained the advantage over Teemu Suninen (M-Sport) only for 6 seconds in advance.

Ott Tänak (Toyota) had to settle for 6th place after his puncture the day before, ahead of Esapekka Lappi (Citroën) and Sébastien Loeb (Hyundai). Kris Meeke (Toyota) finished 9th ahead of his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, but the Northern Irishman won the Power Stage ahead of Ott Tänak, Teemu Suninen, Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Ogier.

Thierry Neuville takes the lead in the championship with 2 points ahead of Sébastien Ogier. Ott Tänak follows at 5 units. Hyundai takes the lead in the Manufacturers' championship with a 12-point lead over Citroën. Toyota follows at 16 points, ahead of M-Sport by 28 points.

Fabio Andolfi (Skoda) snatched victory in WRC 2 from Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda) by less than 4 seconds. Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Volkswagen) completes the category podium. Adrien fourmaux (Ford) ranks 9th ahead of Pierre-Louis Loubet (Skoda). Yoann Bonato completes the ranking which still has 12 entries in the category. Lukasz Pieniazek (Ford) only had to reach the finish line to win in WRC 2 Pro following the retirement of Kalle Rovanperä (Skoda).

Tom Kristensson won the JWRC with 4 seconds ahead of Julius Tannert who took the advantage from Dennis Radström on the last course.

The WRC will resume its rights on the weekend of April 28 with the Rally Argentina.

Discover the analysis of the Tour de Corse carried out by our special correspondent in issue 2210 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.