The eight-time world champion closes the opening day with a 2.1-second lead over Fourmaux at the end of a spectacular SS6. Third place goes to 2024 winner Ott Tänak. Neuville is out while in the lead, and all the Puma Rally1 cars are also out.

Olbia, 6 June 2025 – Sebastien Ogier made no mistake as he finished the first day of Rally Italia Sardegna in the lead. This event  organised by Automobile Club d'Italia in cooperation with the Region of Sardinia has brought the FIA World Rally Championship back to the Island  for the 22nd time.
The opening stage was largely unknown, with the “Arzachena” stages, which were resumed again after a few years,  “Telti-Calangianus-Berchidda” stage, which proved to be the most demanding and unpredictable of the day, and the long “Sa Conchedda” stage, which shaped and reshaped the rankings both times. Ogier played his cards like a true champion: after a less positive  morning due to a tyre choice that did not perform to the best, the driver  got the car back to  service park in third place, 8.1 seconds behind the leader. In the afternoon at  first, he remained close to the three Hyundai i20 N Rally1s, then on the long SS6 he made his move, overtaking both Tänak and Fourmaux and got the lead.
‘I'm excited. It's always good to be in the lead, especially when you don't expect it. Tomorrow will be a very close fight, I know everyone will be pushing hard. Today I managed well, especially the tyre choice. Fourmaux  second in this stage on Hyundai i20 N Rally1, he drove with great consistency and had a good start position. He was leading after the first three stages, but then lost the lead to his teammate Thierry Neuville that went out on SS5. At that point, Fourmaux tried to resist Ogier's comeback but lost the lead on the last technical downhill section of “Sa Conchedda"."I’m happy with how it went, in the end we are second and the race still very open. Too bad for the last stage, I lost my leadership: maybe we could have made different choices, but ok. Tomorrow we will play it to the max. Today’s second stage was the most complicated: tight and difficult.

Third place Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja. The 2019 world champion, winner here in Sardinia last year, had a different approach that in the afternoon saw him fast on the first two stages and a little slower on the long stretch suffering a problem with a damper that slowed him down in the final stages of the day. Its gap is 7.3, but for sure tomorrow’s stage will be exciting. His words at the end of the day:" "We pushed hard all day, but then we had a technical problem otherwise we could have been further ahead" 

Fourth place at 16.8 seconds for the young Sami Pajari he managed his starting position so well that he also prevailed over two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, fifth at 22.8 seconds. The current leaders of the world, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, are sixth, with a 1'09.8 in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. The Welshman had a very clean run , but starting first he had to sacrifice a lot in terms of time: crucial tomorrow an attack stage to shorten the gap. Seventh place at 1'13.01 for  Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, "Taka" had a thrill on the PS5 when he capsized his car but managed to start again thanks to the help of the spectators. They repaired the car in the next transfer but the damaged windscreen forced them to heroically face the last special, of almost 28 kilometers, with skingi masks.

Eighth place , Nikolay Gryazin with Kostantin Aleksandrov. However, Gryazin is not part of the WRC2 series and as a result the lead in the standings is currently held by  Emil Lindholm and Reeta Hämäläinen. The provisional top ten is closed by Yohann Rossel and Arnaud Dunand, current leaders. Rossel has not found a match on the long run and suffered from the competition with a gap that is currently set at 16.3 by Lindholm. Third place for  Martin Prokop and Michal Ernst. 

The Ford Puma Rally1 is missing in the day’s standings. M-Sport experienced a real nightmare on the PS2 when one after another the main drivers of the team had to stop. Munster-Louka have bent a suspension, McErlean-Treacy have detached a wheel and Sesks-Francis have rolled in a fast stretch without any physical consequences for the crews. The Greek gentleman driver Jourdan Sederidis with Frederic Miclotte, remained the only flag bearer still in the race although the team is working with determination to allow all cars to line up at the start of the second day.

The first of the Italians is Roberto Daprà with Luca Guglielmetti,  team ACI Team Italia, on  Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, was slowed down by a spin during the morning lap and tried to increase his pace in the afternoon’s repetition. He is currently in eighth place in WRC2, the challenge he is facing this year with a full program, but the gaps are quite short and tomorrow’s stage will be just as long.

Positive day also in WRC3,for Matteo Fontana and Alessandro Arnaboldi ahead of everyone at the wheel of their Ford Fiesta Rally3. The driver from Como leads the ranking after having led in four of six races and is 49.7 seconds ahead of French drivers Tom Pellery and Hervè Faucher on a Renault Clio Rally3. Mattéo Chatillon and Maxence Cornuau (Renault Clio) who had some difficulties in the last race of the day, which led them away from the category fight despite the victory over the PS5.
Tomorrow is expected to be the longest stage - just 1 km longer than today’s - which will offer a show with three different timed sections to be repeated twice for a total of 121.60 km  on classic roads of Rally Italia Sardegna.  Coiluna-Loelle (21.18 km) repeated twice , then Lerno-Su Filigosu (24.34 km) with the legendary "Micky’s Jump" and Tula-Erula (15.28 km). 

 Sunday 8 June the final stage of 77.94 km  on new sections. The first of San Giacomo-Plebi (25.19 km) returns after more than ten years, but only partially follows the route contested in the past, while the second of Porto San Paolo (13.78 km) that will host the final power stage, is completely new and has wide views of the sea and in the background the enchanting profile of the island of Tavolara. The final podium is scheduled in Olbia at 4:00pm.