The 2019 Tour de Corse (also known as the Corsica Linea – Tour de Corse 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 28 and 31 March 2019. It marked the sixty-second running of Tour de Corse and was the fourth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. It was also the second round of the Junior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based in the town of Bastia in Corsica, and was contested over fourteen special stages with a total a competitive distance of .
Reigning World Drivers' and World Co-Drivers' Champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were the defending rally winners. M-Sport Ford WRT, the team they drove for in 2018, were the defending manufacturers' winners. Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not participate in the event. Jean-Baptiste Franceschi and Romain Courbon were the reigning World Rally Championship-3 and defending Junior World Rally Championship winners, but did not defend their titles as they did not take part in the rally.
Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul won the Rally Corsica for the second time in their career. Their team, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT, were the manufacturers' winners. The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Łukasz Pieniążek and Kamil Heller won the WRC-2 Pro category, while the Italian crew of Fabio Andolfi and Simone Scattolin won the wider WRC-2 class, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category. The second round of the J-WRC championship was taken by the ADAC Sachsen crew of Julius Tannert and Jürgen Heigl.
Background Championship standings prior to the event Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships with a four-point ahead of six-time world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further six points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, defending manufacturers' champions Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT held an eight-point lead over Citroën Total WRT.
In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson held a three-point lead ahead of Łukasz Pieniążek and Kamil Heller in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen were third, one point further back. In the manufacturers' championship, M-Sport Ford WRT led Škoda Motorsport by forty-one points, with eleven-point-behind Citroën Total in third.
In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Ole Christian Veiby and Jonas Andersson led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by fifteen points respectively. Yoann Bonato and Benjamin Boulloud crew and Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata crew shared second.
In the Junior-World Rally Championship standings, Tom Kristensson and Henrik Appelskog led Roland Poom and Ken Järveoja by eight points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively, with Jan Solans and Mauro Barreiro two points further behind in third in their own standings. In the Nations' standings, Sweden were first, eight points cleared of Estonia, with Spain three points further behind in third.
Entry list The following crews were entered into the rally. The event was open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and WRC-2 Pro, the FIA R-GT Cup, the Junior World Rally Championship, and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. Ninety-six crews were registered to compete, including ten competing with World Rally Cars and eighteen in World Rally Championship-2. Two of these crews are nominate to score points in the WRC-2 Pro class. A further thirteen entries were received for the Junior World Rally Championship. The total of ninety-six crews made for the largest entry list for a World Rally Championship event since the 2015 edition of the Tour de Corse, when a total of 123 crews were registered to the event.
No. Driver Co-Driver Entrant Car Tyre World Rally Car entries 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 5 Kris Meeke Toyota Yaris WRC 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 8 Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 19 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 33 Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries 21 Kalle Rovanperä Jonne Halttunen Škoda Fabia R5 22 Łukasz Pieniążek Kamil Heller M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta R5 World Rally Championship-2 entries 23 Ole Christian Veiby Jonas Andersson Ole Christian Veiby 24 Yoann Bonato Benjamin Boulloud Yoann Bonato Citroën C3 R5 25 Adrien Fourmaux Renaud Jamoul Adrien Fourmaux Ford Fiesta R5 26 Rhys Yates James Morgan Rhys Yates Škoda Fabia R5 27 Nicolas Ciamin Yannick Roche Nicolas Ciamin Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 28 Nikolay Gryazin Yaroslav Fedorov Nikolay Gryazin Škoda Fabia R5 29 Guillaume De Mevius Martijn Wydaeghe Guillaume De Mevius Citroën C3 R5 30 "Pedro" Emanuele Baldaccini "Pedro" Ford Fiesta R5 31 Takamoto Katsuta Daniel Barritt Takamoto Katsuta Ford Fiesta R5 32 Eric Camilli Francios-Xavier Buresi Eric Camilli Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 34 Pierre-Louis Loubet Vincent Landais Pierre-Louis Loubet Škoda Fabia R5 35 Kajetan Kajetanowicz Maciej Szczepaniak Kajetan Kajetanowicz Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 36 Simone Tempestini Sergiu Itu Simone Tempestini Hyundai i20 R5 37 Nil Solans Marc Martí Nil Solans Ford Fiesta R5 38 Fabio Andolfi Simone Scattolin Fabio Andolfi Škoda Fabia R5 39 Sebastien Bedoret Thomas Walbrecq Sebastien Bedoret Škoda Fabia R5 Junior World Rally Championship entries 71 Tom Kristensson Henrik Appelskog Tom Kristensson Ford Fiesta R2 72 Roland Poom Ken Järveoja Roland Poom Ford Fiesta R2 73 Jan Solans Mauro Barreiro Rally Team Spain Ford Fiesta R2 74 Dennis Rådström Johan Johansson Dennis Rådström Ford Fiesta R2 75 Tom Williams Phil Hall Tom Williams Ford Fiesta R2 76 Mārtiņš Sesks Krišjānis Caune Ford Fiesta R2 77 Sean Johnston Alex Kihurani Sean Johnston Ford Fiesta R2 78 Enrico Oldrati Elia De Guio Enrico Oldrati Ford Fiesta R2 79 Ken Torn Kuldar Sikk OT Racing Ford Fiesta R2 80 Fabrizio Zaldívar Fernando Mussano Fabrizio Zaldívar Ford Fiesta R2 81 Julius Tannert Jürgen Heigl ADAC Sachsen Ford Fiesta R2 82 Nico Knacker Tobias Braun ADAC Weiser-Ems Ford Fiesta R2 83 Raul Baidu Gabriel Lazar Raul Baidu Ford Fiesta R2 Other major entries 40 Jean-Charles Beaubelique Julien Pesenti Jean-Charles Beaubelique Citroën DS3 WRC 41 Armando Pereira Rémi Tutélaire Armando Pereira Ford Fiesta RS WRC 42 Alain Vauthier Gilbert Dini Alain Vauthier Ford Fiesta RS WRC 43 Robert Simonetti Célia Simonetti Robert Simonetti Citroën DS3 WRC Source:
Route The 2019 edition of Tour de Corse features a new route, with up to three-quarters of the route being revised from the 2018 edition.
Itinerary All dates and times are CET (UTC+1) from 28 to 30 March 2019 and CEST (UTC+2) on 31 March 2019. Date Time No. Stage name Distance28 March 9:00 —Sorbo Ocagnano [Shakedown] 5.39 km Leg 1 — 121.82 km 29 March 8:29 SS1 Bavella 1 17.60 km 9:24 SS2 Valinco 1 25.94 km 10:32 SS3 Alta-Rocca 1 17.37 km 14:05 SS4 Bavella 2 17.60 km 15:00 SS5 Valinco 2 25.94 km 16:08 SS6 Alta-Rocca 2 17.37 km Leg 2 — 174.50 km 30 March 7:38 SS7 Cap Corse 1 25.62 km 9:08 SS8 Désert des Agriates 1 14.45 km 10:14 SS9 Castagniccia 1 47.18 km 14:38 SS10 Cap Corse 2 25.62 km 16:08 SS11 Désert des Agriates 2 14.45 km 17:14 SS12 Castagniccia 2 47.18 km Leg 3 — 51.19 km 31 March 9:45 SS13 Eaux de Zilia 31.85 km 12:18 SS14 Calvi [Power Stage] 19.34 km Source:
Report World Rally Cars The very first stage of the first pure tarmac rally of the season was dramatic. Kris Meeke suffered a puncture, while four-time winner Sébastien Loeb slid wide and damaged his suspension. Defending world champion Sébastien Ogier nosed his C3 into the bank and lost about ten seconds. In the afternoon loop, a stage drama happened between Meeke and rally leader Elfyn Evans. Evans caught up to Meeke and got stuck behind him, which saw Evans set a stage time eleven seconds slower than Meeke's Toyota teammate Ott Tänak. Evans dropped behind Thierry Neuville, who was 5.3 seconds behind Tänak, on the leaderboard. Eventually, the stewards decided to credit Evans with the same time as the Estonian, which restored him to first with an unchanged advantage after Leg 1.
Saturday appeared to be a disaster for the overnight leader Tänak, who also suffered a puncture and dropped down to sixth, which handled the lead back to Evans. But the Welshman's lead was short-lived as Neuville charged himself to the top spot in the final stage of the day with a-4.5-second lead. Despite Evans astonishingly fought back, an extremely unfortunate right-front puncture happened to the Welshman at where six kilometers from the finish line, which dropped him straightly down to third, over twenty seconds behind defending world champion Sébastien Ogier. Following Evans' puncture, Neuville snatched his first victory of the season.
Classification Position Driver Entrant Car Time Points Event Class Event Stage 1 1 11 Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRTHyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:22:59.0 0.0 25 2 2 2 1 Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3:23:39.3 +40.3 18 1 3 3 33 Elfyn Evans Scott Martin M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 3:24:05.6 +1:06.6 15 0 4 4 6 Dani Sordo Carlos del Barrio Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:24:17.4 +1:18.4 12 0 5 5 3 Teemu Suninen Marko Salminen M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC 3:24:23.6 +1:24.6 10 3 6 6 8 Ott Tänak Martin JärveojaToyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:24:39.0 +1:40.0 8 4 7 7 4 Esapekka Lappi Janne Ferm Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC 3:25:08.1 +2:09.1 6 0 8 8 19 Sébastien Loeb Daniel Elena Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 3:26:38.2 +3:39.2 4 0 9 9 5 Kris Meeke Sebastian Marshall Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:28:05.3 +5:06.3 2 5 10 10 10 Jari-Matti Latvala Miikka Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC 3:29:43.6 +6:44.6 1 0
Special stages Date No. Stage name Distance Winners Car Time Class leaders 28 March —Sorbo Ocagnano [Shakedown] 5.39 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 3:46.7 29 March SS1 Bavella 1 17.60 km Evans / Martin Ford Fiesta WRC 10:20.6 Evans / Martin SS2 Valinco 1 25.94 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 14:23.6 Tänak / Järveoja SS3 Alta-Rocca 1 17.37 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 10:05.2 SS4 Bavella 2 17.60 km Evans / Martin Ford Fiesta WRC 10:17.5 Evans / Martin SS5 Valinco 2 25.94 km Evans / Martin Ford Fiesta WRC 14:23.2 SS6 Alta-Rocca 2 17.37 km Neuville / GilsoulHyundai i20 Coupe WRC 10:02.3 30 March SS7 Cap Corse 1 25.62 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 15:50.6 SS8 Désert des Agriates 1 14.45 km Tänak / Järveoja Toyota Yaris WRC 7:55.8 SS9 Castagniccia 1 47.18 km Sordo / del Barrio Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 29:45.0 Tänak / Järveoja SS10 Cap Corse 2 25.62 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 15:52.3 SS11 Désert des Agriates 2 14.45 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 7:57.6 Evans / Martin SS12 Castagniccia 2 47.18 km Neuville / Gilsoul Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 29:24.4 Neuville / Gilsoul 31 March SS13 Eaux de Zilia 31.85 km Evans / Martin Ford Fiesta WRC 15:47.2 Evans / Martin SS14 Calvi [Power Stage] 19.34 km Meeke / Marshall Toyota Yaris WRC 9:54.0 Neuville / Gilsoul
Championship standings