Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria took a hard-earned fifth place after an up-and-down event, one place ahead of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe. On their first Rally1 outing in almost two years, Dani Sordo and Cándido Carrera finished seventh.

The high-speed roads of Gran Canaria were always going to provide a gruelling test for the trio of Hyundai i20 N Rally1s and the first full day of competition produced few surprises. While the team spent much of the weekend searching for the optimum setup for the unique tarmac stages, all three crews crucially delivered a clean rally, reaching the finish without encountering any issues.

Fourmaux emerged as the quickest of the Hyundai Motorsport crews for much of the rally. Like his team-mates, he struggled with the car balance on Friday’s opening loop before finding his feet in the afternoon, setting the third-fastest time in the evening’s super special stage. Saturday delivered further improvements as Fourmaux was able to push more in variable weather conditions, finishing fifth on SS10. Although he lost time on Sunday’s wet opening stage, he and Coria made their tyre package of three hards and three softs work as the roads began to dry. The French crew then kept it clean in the remaining stages, ending the rally in fifth place after the power stage, following the retirement of Oliver Solberg on the penultimate test, despite receiving a jump-start penalty.

Of the three Hyundai Motorsport crews, Neuville struggled most as he grappled with handling issues in his i20 N Rally1 throughout Friday and Saturday’s stages. Changeable grip levels meant the Belgian battled both understeer and oversteer and he elected to play it safe, settling into eighth place before mounting a comeback on day two as he clawed back time on team-mate Sordo. Neuville put his soft tyres to good use on Sunday morning to move ahead of Sordo to seventh, which then became sixth ahead of the final stage. A clean run through the 13.27km Power Stage ensured a fifth-place finish in the Super Sunday standings and an extra championship point.

Sordo and Carrera returned to the top class of the WRC for the first time in nearly two years and began their home rally impressively as the fastest Hyundai Motorsport crew on Friday. New to most of the event’s stages, having last driven the rally back in 2005, Sordo slipped back on day two but delivered a strong performance for the remainder of the day, despite a scary moment when he clipped a barrier, engaging in a lively fight for seventh with Neuville and Wydaeghe before losing that place on a wet opening stage on Sunday. A slow puncture on SS16 and roads that were drier than expected reduced his attack but a trouble-free run in the final two tests secured a comfortable seventh place.

Crew Notes: Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (#16 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)

Fourmaux/Coria claim best of the rest fifth place finish after challenging weekend

Three top five stage times showed promise for the French crew

Fourmaux said: “To be the highest-placed Hyundai and to put some points on the board is a positive; for sure this was not the weekend we were hoping for in terms of performance, but I am pleased with my approach to this rally. I could have started a little bit better on Friday morning but after that, it was very positive, especially against my team-mates. The next event should mean that we are more competitive, on gravel we are a lot more comfortable, so we will try our best in Portugal. I like the rally; I have always been competitive, and we go there with the motivation to get a good result.”

Crew Notes: Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (#11 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)

Damage limitation exercise on event marred by handling issues

Belgian crew takes consolation Power Stage and Super Sunday points

Neuville said: “It was a tough weekend, frustrating to see the times versus our main competitors who have been a lot quicker than us. We were struggling to find the speed, here and there we were close but sometimes we were really far away as we tried a lot of different setups. But at least in the Power Stage when we gave a bit more of a push, we were able to get one point.”

Crew Notes: Dani Sordo/Cándido Carrera (#6 Hyundai i20 N Rally1)

Composed drive and well-deserved points on first Rally1 outing in almost two years

Slow puncture on Sunday morning the only blemish for crew on their home event

Sordo said: “The rally in general and being back in the Rally1 class on these stages was super nice. We struggled a bit with the car, and it was very difficult to fight the Toyotas. Between the three Hyundais, it was a nice fight but, in the end, we don’t want to just fight ourselves. We will have a good starting position in Portugal, so we hope to be competitive there and we will see what happens.”

Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley said: “We knew that this weekend was going to be challenging in terms of our overall pace, but the target was to minimise the mistakes and take every opportunity to improve the performance over the course of the weekend and be ready to take advantage of any issues for our rivals, and I think we achieved that. We leave this event with renewed determination to go to Portugal and return to the competitiveness that we knew the team is capable of producing. Everybody has worked really hard over the last four months and now we need to turn that work into results.”

Next rally

After back-to-back tarmac events, the WRC makes its return to gravel next time out, with the Rally de Portugal on the weekend of 7-10 May.

Rally Islas Canarias Final Classification

1             S. Ogier V. Landais           Toyota GR Yaris Rally1                       2:43:18.9

2             E. Evans               S. Martin             Toyota GR Yaris Rally1             +19.9

3             S. Pajari               M. Salminen       Toyota GR Yaris Rally1            +1:40.8

4             T. Katsuta           A. Johnston        Toyota GR Yaris Rally1              +1:51.2

5             A. Fourmaux       A. Coria               Hyundai i20 N Rally1       +3:29.5

6             T. Neuville          M. Wydaeghe    Hyundai i20 N Rally1         +3:41.0

7             D. Sordo              C. Carrera           Hyundai i20 N Rally1       +3:57.7

8             J. McErlean         E. Treacy             Ford Puma Rally1                   +5:45.4

9             Y. Rossel             A. Dunand           Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2          +7:24.3

10          A. Cachón           B. Rozada           Toyota GR Yaris Rally2               +7:49.4 ...

Super Sunday Classification – Rally Islas Canarias

1             E. Evans               45:11.2

2             S. Ogier                    +2.0

3             S. Pajari                  +50.1

4             T. Katsuta                +50.1

5             T. Neuville          +1:14.7

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings

After round 5

1             Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team           265

2             Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team    167

3             Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2         75

4             M-Sport Ford World Rally Team                       63

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings

After round 5

1             E. Evans             101

2             T. Katsuta            99

3             S. Pajari              72

4             O. Solberg           68

5             A. Foumaux       59

6             S. Ogier              58

7             T. Neuville         35

8             E. Lappi              21

9             Y. Rossel             20

10          L. Rossel              18

All results remain subject to official FIA confirmation.