How the WRC's bit-part player reignited Hyundai's challenge

In only his second World Rally Championship event of the year as part of the rotating pool of drivers in Hyundai's third car, Dani Sordo took a thoroughly deserved victory on Rally Italia Sardegna; his third career WRC win and his second in as many visits to Sardinia.

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As the WRC continues to proceed cautiously out of lockdown, this final gravel round on the 2020 schedule felt much more like a full WRC event than either of the preceding events in Turkey or Estonia. Spectators and ceremonial events may have been absent (officially at least), but six timed stages on the opening day felt like business as usual.

Four of the six would be complete before the day's service halt, which meant that many crews took a measured approach early on. Championship leader Elfyn Evans had the job of running first on the road, thereby doing the lion's share of sweeping the loosest sand and gravel for everyone else's benefit.