Cue the music. This is the end. Hold your breath and… Stop. It might not be the end. Dani Sordo might have one more round of the World Rally Championship in him yet.
When the amiable Spaniard arrived at the finish of the final stage of Rally Italia Sardegna, it seemed like the end of the road might have been reached. He didn’t know anything and didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, he was looking forward to his fourth Italian podium in six starts.
The harbour awaited (even if he was just a spectator this time).
With the celebration of Hyundai’s second consecutive double podium done, Sordo found time to talk with DirtFish. Is it 191 and out? He’s the third most experienced driver in the history of the sport (he was tied with Petter Solberg on 190 starts). Is that enough?
“I would like to do my last rally properly,” he said. “Not like this, like bam. Will I do more? I don’t know. I don’t know for sure. This year I have two: Portugal and here. But I stop then it would be nice to do something, after 20 years, it would be nice to make something special on the event.”
Sordo said he was more than ready to step in for more WRC outings this season, adding: “If I need to do more, I will do more. I will be happy to do, but if I don’t, I will be happy also. I just want to make the best for my team, to make the points and to help everybody be champion.”
WRC program manager Christian Loriaux admitted Hyundai had a lot to thank Sordo for after 11 seasons with the South Korean squad.
“Dani has been instrumental in Hyundai winning the world championship,” said the Belgian, “so, for sure, Hyundai owes him a lot. Will he drive again? We don’t know, we’re constantly reviewing. We are open, we’ll see. [For this year] We tried to pick the rally that suits Dani the best and these two [Portugal and Sardinia] were good – he did a good job. Let’s see.”
Sordo has been with Hyundai since 2014
Informed that Sordo would like a proper send off, Loriaux smiled and added: “Let’s agree on that one. We’ll have to find him one more.”
After 191 starts, 142 points-paying finishes (and 1,396 points), three wins, five powerstage wins, 229 stage wins, 57 podiums and one world drivers’ title (2005 Junior WRC), it’s probably fair to say Sordo’s earned himself that send off.
