Rally d’Italia Sardegna review

Rally d’Italia Sardegna was always going to be special.

Not only was it to be the round of this years World Rally Championship in which we saw the highly anticipated return of Mini, with Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke at the helm, but it was also the weekend that Volkswagen officially announced that they will join the WRC in 2013 – much to the delight of rally fans around the world.

But the real action was on the stages and there was only word to describe it: carnage.

Despite running first on the road for all three days of the rally, and therefore effectively cleaning the road, it was Sébastien Loeb who dominated this weekend and stamped his authority over the rest of the field; eventually finishing 11.2 seconds ahead of second placed Mikko Hirvonen. Although Loeb admitted having to push hard and take a lot of risks during day two, he still finished with very few noticeable mistakes.

Team mate Sébastien Ogier made a steady start to the rally apparently finding it difficult to get into the rhythm of the tight and twisty Italian roads. Some bizarre slowing tactics at the end of day one dropped him down to 4th overall leading into day two and throughout the rest of the rally he battled hard with Hirvonen and Solberg. However he made a mistake (and hit a rock) during SS17 and he finished the rally in 4th.

Mikko Hirvonen took second place in the overall standings after a relatively tidy rally. One small moment during SS6 and a puncture in SS7 ensured he could never realistically challenge Loeb, however a power stage win on top of his second position gave him the best points score he could hope for.

Fellow factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala was the first of the front runners to suffer misfortune. An incorrectly called pace note from co-driver Miikka Anttila led Latvala to roll his Fiesta on the opening stage. And by stage two the extensive suspension damage had taken it’s toll and Latvala was forced to retire for the day.
However upon restarting he tallied up a total of 7 stage wins and came 2nd in the Power Stage to secure him 2 much needed points.

Turbo problems and a puncture for Petter Solberg still wasn’t enough to keep him off of the podium. However his brother Henning had a somewhat more disastrous rally.

The older Solberg brother hasn’t had the easiest of runs this year and as he crossed the line to complete SS3 his Fiesta caught alight leading him and Ilka Minor to make a hasty exit from the car. SS5 delivered him a broken drive shaft while SS7 brought an end to his rally.

Fellow Stobart team mates fared no better. P.G Andersson hit a rock on the opening day and suffered a broken steering arm while Østberg and Wilson both had issues with their brakes.

Mini’s first event was full of mixed results. Kris Meeke had two very costly problems in the form of a sticking throttle leading to an off on day one. And after restarting on day two a water leak lead him to pull up in SS10. He did manage some impressive stage times – a promising prospect for the other 5 rounds in which they will contest.
Sordo also experienced throttle problems however he battled hard and brought the car home in an incredible 6th position.

The final top 10 results are as follows:

1. Loeb 3:45:40.9
2. Hirvonen +11.2
3. Solberg +23.8
4. Ogier +1:31.5
5. Østberg +2:42.6
6. Sordo +3:27.6
7. Tanäk +7:10.9
8. Hänninen +7:37.6
9. Wilson +8:00.4
10. Prokop +11:28.2

The support championships led to equally exciting racing.

In the SWRC Ott Tanäk lead the event from the first stage and continued to dominate over the rest of the field. Although Juho Hänninen pushed him hard all the way it wasn’t enough to unsteady Tanäk. The Estonian driver leads the championship by 2 points over Karl Kruuda.

Hänninen and Al-Attiyah rounded off the podium positions although both experienced a myriad of problems. Hänninen with a puncture and brake issues while Al-Attiyah spun, had a puncture and caught fire. Both cars also experienced following in the dust of another car.

Martin Prokop had started the rally looking promising however an unfortunate three fires and a penalty dropped him well down the order. Prokop did well to recover to 4th position.

Gassner, Kruuda and Turán rounded off the finishers but it was not without their issues. Gassner broke his rear differential but was able to continue unlike Kruuda (clutch failure) and Turán (broken exhaust) who both had to restart during day two. The point finishing positions somewhat making the pill less bitter to swallow.

There were three non-finishers this weekend: Sousa who suffered alternator problems in his Ford Fiesta, Brynildsen had to retire with an engine failure and Llovera who rolled his car early on in the event.

The next round of the SWRC will be in Greece.

The SWRC results are as follows:

1. Tanäk 3:52:51.8
2. Hänninen +26.7
3. Prokop +4:17.3
4. Al Attiyah +5:22.9
5. Gassner +13:31.6
6. Kruuda +29:53.8
7. Turán +42:18.8

Egon Kaur has won the second round of the WRC Academy after an incredibly action-filled event.

Amazingly only 8 crews survived to the end and for many it was one stage in particular that caught them out.
SS4 caused problems for a total of 9 crews who all unfortunately managed to run into a large rock which no-one had factored into their pace-notes. Extensive sump damage for the majority of them brought their overall rally to an end, however after quick repair work overnight three of the stricken crews were able to continue.

Ward and Niinemäe both rolled on the opening day while a broken steering arm for Černý brought his day to an early end. Upon restarting day two he eventually finished 4th.

Alistair Fisher suffered from engine problems during SS1 and Brendan Reeves had an oil cooler issue. Reeves was able to restart day two, and although he could feel his engine giving up on him as the day drew to an end ,he still finished 5th overall.

Eventual rally winner Kaur had a disastrous start to his rally when he went the wrong way at a junction and spent 4 minutes digging his car out. Although this loss was huge Kaur was definitely the benefactor of everybody else’s misfortune, once again showing that taking risks isn’t always the way to win a rally.

Day two was just as drastic for many of the crews. It was SS10 that caused problems this time for Karyakin, Taylor and Brunello – all three suffered damage to their Fiestas after heavy landings over a jump, each driver with cars beyond repair.

Rounding off the podium finishers was Baldoni and Åhlin in 2nd and 3rd respectively, both also had their problems. Baldoni hit a rock early on in the rally while Åhlin was plagued with damaged steering on the opening morning.

The WRC Academy is really living up to expectations of being a truly exciting and unmissable support championship.

The final results are as follows:

1. Kaur 3:29:39.4
2. Baldoni +1:42.1
3. Åhlin +2:42.3
4. Černý +16:42.9
5. Reeves +17:23.1
6. Crugnola +17:33.9
7. Breen +20:54.2
8. Niinemäe +32:05.2