Rally d’italia Sardegna, as it’s formally known, is the Italian WRC round held on the island of Sardinia. Round 6 of the championship was held just a few weeks ago and I was there to cover the event. This round is known for being a rough and slippery rally, highlighted here.
The event as with all WRC rounds started with a ceremonial start and Super Special Stage, held in the capital Calgiari. According to reports, only the WRC crews got to compete as crowds became unmanageable.. The organisers expected 10,000 fans, but 40,000 turned up! This made it difficult for the majority of competitors to make the 500km+ round trip.
Needless to say, Mikko Hirvonen came away on top with Neuville in second and Ogier following in third position. This would be one of three stages Hirvonnen would complete as disaster struck the M-Sport driver early on Friday morning.
Friday began quite late, with the first stage not starting til 11:35am. After the first two stages the Hyundai Motorsport WRT pair of Neuville and Hanninen had come first and second for the first two stages respectively.
Disaster struck Mikko after stage 3 on transport.. After changing his tyres and checking tyre pressures, the pair noticed smoke coming from the rear of the car. Within seconds, the entire car was engulfed in flames, and within a few minutes the million dollar machine was destroyed completely.
Mikko said: “We changed the tyres and checked the pressures as normal between stages and everything was okay. But then the car caught fire for no reason. When I was fighting the fire, the rear bumper was fine and sometimes that can break and catch on the exhaust which causes a fire. It’s strange.”
At the end of Heat 1 Latvala still led, Ogier had managed to move up the field and was only 22.4sec behind, with Ostberg a further 11.3sec behind Ogier.
Windmills, jumps, water splashes, accidents, burnt cars, 59km stage – that pretty much sums up Heat 2 at Rally Sardinia.
Teams headed 100km east of the Rally HQ in Alghero to compete in what is arguably the longest stage in the WRC calendar, Monte Lerno.
After the morning two stages Latvala still held his lead over Ogier, however the gap was closing, now down to 17.7sec. Ostberg was a further 53.1 seconds behind as they headed in to the second passes of the morning stages.
After the afternoon stage completions and in particular SS13 Monte Lerno 2, Latvala had lost his lead to Ogier and had dropped a further spot to third behind Ostberg. Ogier led Ostberg by 1m 40.2s, with Latvala a further 31.2s behind, and Mikkelson rounding out the top four.
The last day of Rally d’Italia Sardegna began with Ogier leading over Ostberg by over 90sec. With only four stages on this day with two very short stages, which included the Power Stage, Ogier would have to have a major incident for his lead to be squashed.
After the first two stages Ogier’s lead had been cut by 21sec, but only two stages remained, including the short 8km Power Stage. Ostberg still held a 21sec lead over Latvala, with Mikkelsen on his heels.
Going in to the Power Stage Ogier’s lead remained the same which pretty much confirmed the victory. Latvala pushed extremely hard and came within 9sec of Ostberg, giving VW a 1,2,4 finish yet again. Andreas Mikkelsen also took his maiden Power Stage win over Latvala by just 1sec, giving him the confidence he needs going in to further rounds of the championship.
A notable mention has to go to Hayden Paddon in his maiden Hyundai i20 drive. It was great to see the New Zealander competing and I cannot wait to see him with a few more rounds of experience in the car. I think he will be a top five contender in no time.
So that’s it.Rally d’Italia Sardegna is over for another year. The highlight for me would have to be the podium, set on the foreshore of the Alghero Marina with the beautiful harbour in the background with thousands of fans chanting the names of their heroes. It was a real party atmosphere and is undoubtedly one of the best podiums in the championship.
With round six now complete the results for the top five are as follows:
1. Ogier
2. Ostberg
3. Latvala
4. Mikkelsen
5. Evans
The overall championship points shows:
1. Ogier – 138
2. Latvala – 105
3. Ostberg – 66
4. Mikkelsen – 63
5. Hirvonnen – 40
Round 7 of the championship moves to Poland. My next WRC adventure may be sooner than I think, so stay tuned for more updates!
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