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THE RALLY
D’ITALIA SARDEGNA 2009 KICKS OFF THIS
EVENING
The start with a ceremony in the centre
of Olbia. From tomorrow to Sunday the
best drivers of world rallying will
fight on the gravel roads of the Italian
round of the World Rally Championship.
Olbia May 21st
2009 - The Rally d’Italia Sardegna 2009
will start this evening at 19.00 from
Corso Umberto in Olbia with the Official
Start Ceremony: The event organised by
the Automobile Club d’Italia counts as
the sixth round of the World Rally
Championship and as the fifth of both
the Production and Junior World Rally
Championships. The event will really
kick off tomorrow with the first of the
three days of the race. Competitors will
face an event route of 1,263 km
comprising 17 special stages for a total
of 347 km, all on gravel roads. A
particularly demanding course which will
put to the test both crews and their
cars.
The stakes are all
for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena and
their Citroen C4 of the Citroen Total
WRC team, winners of the first five
events of this year’s championship.
Amongst the main rivals of the World
Champion, winner of the last five
editions of the World Rally Championship,
the two drivers of the BP Ford Abu Dhabi
World Rally Team, finnish Mikko Hirvonen
and Jari-Matti Latvala. The first was
the only one to show that he could keep
the World Champion’s pace in the first
part of the season, while the latter has
the occasion to make it up after a bad
start to the year. These three will not
be the only ones to target a victory.
Other drivers have shown in the first
rounds of the season to be able to aim
for success. Amongst these is Spanish
Daniel Sordo, Loeb’s team mate, and
Norwegian Petter Solberg, driving a
2006-spec Citroen Xsara WRC, winner of
the first Sardinian edition of the Rally
d’Italia. Amongst others, to be followed
in particular the UAE driver Khalid Al
Qassimi, driving a Focus of the Bp Ford
Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Englishman
Matthew Wilson and Norwegian Henning
Solberg again on Focus Wrc from the
Stobart VK M-Sport Team, Argentina’s
Federico Villagra with a Ford Focus Wrc
from Munchi’s Team, and the three
Citroen Junior Team drivers, with three
C4 Wrc, young Russian Evgeny Novikov,
Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach and rising
French star Sébastien Ogier. Other World
Rally Cars will be driven by young
Norwegian Mads Ostberg (Subaru Impreza)
and Italian Peter Zanchi (Subaru Impreza).
The Milan-born driver, with a great
experience of gravel roads, is able to
perform well in the event.
Amongst the
starters is 22-year old German driver
Mark Wallenwein, guest of the Automobile
Club d’Italia thanks to an exchange
which will see an Italian driver be
guest of the Adac, the German Automobile
Club, with a free entry for Rally
Deutschland. In the sixty entries there
also are nine participants in the Junior
World Rally Championship, and thirteen
in the Production World Rally
Championships, both series of which
Sardinia counts as the fifth round of
the series. Amongst JWRC drivers, three
Italian drivers will be aiming for a
victory: Alessandro Bettega , Simone
Bertolotti and Luca Griotti. In PWRC the
locals are Giovanni Bernacchini,
codriver of Qatari driver Nasser
Al-Attiyah currently second in the
standings, Simone Campedelli, who does
not hide his aims to success, and
Gianluca Linari. Also at the start five
crews taking part in Pirelli Star
Driver. A championship inside another
which allows some young drivers to take
part in some events of the World series.
Amongst the other Italians entered are
Manfrinato-Pisano (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
IX), Bentivogli-Cecchi (Subaru Impreza),
and 9 Sardinian crews, led by
Dettori-Corda (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX),
Marrone-Piga (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX),
Liceri-Atzei (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX),
Catania-Pescali (Subaru Impreza Sti),
Pisano-Cozzula and Serra-Serra
(Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX).
The shakedown, the test for cars in race
setup, took place this morning. The best
time was set by Sébastien Loeb , Citroen
C4 Wrc, who beat Henning Solberg , Ford
Focus Wrc , and Petter Solberg , Citroen
Xsara Wrc.
The fastest stage
times are as follows
1. Sebastien Loeb
in 3’15”0; 2. Henning Solberg in 3’16”1;
3. Petter Solberg in 3’18”2; 4. Dani
Sordo 3’18”9; 5. Hirvonen and Latvala
3’19”4; 7.Wilson 3’20”5
DRIVERS’ QUOTES
“My intention
is to win here in Sardinia – claims
Sébastien Loeb – also because this is
an event I like, the stages have
improved year after year and are very
technical and demanding. The most
difficult stages are Fiorentini, which
is very technical and could create
important gaps, and number 7, Sa Linea,
is full of rocks and very slippery”.
“We found the correct set-up for the car
– commented Mikko Hirvonen –
improving a lot of small details,
beginning with the differentials and
going on to dampers and suspension. The
car is fine, I am satisfied with our
work. I am here to win, that is our only
goal, as we need to steer the
championship in another direction”.
“ I had a difficult start to the season
– says Jari-Matti Latvala – and
in Portugal I also had a bad accident,
fortunately without consequences. I
honestly would like to finish on the
podium again, the fight here will be
between Mikko and Sébastien, and I
believe that my team mate Mikko Hirvonen
must this time beat Loeb at any cost to
keep the championship open”.
Amongst the awaited actors is also
Petter Solberg “ I am here with an
upgraded car – commented the Norwegian
driver – from the one which I used in
the previous events of the WRC. My goal
is to finish on the third step of the
podium, if the car responds accordingly
and is faster I could do even better”.
World Championship standings after five
events
Drivers
1.Loeb ( Citroen ) 50 points; 2. Sordo
(Citroen) 31; 3. Hirvonen (Ford) 30; 4.
Solberg H. (Ford) 20; 5. Solberg P.
(Citroen) 14; 6. Wilson (Ford) 12; 7.
Latvala (Ford) e Villagra (Ford) 9; 9.
Ogier (Citroen) 5; 10. Atkinson
(Citroen) 4; 11. Rautembach (Citroen) ,
Ostberg (Subaru) and Al Qassimi (Ford)
3; 14. Aava (Ford) and Al Attiyah
(Subaru) 1
Manufacturers
1. Citroen Total
World Rally Team 82 points; 2. Bp Ford
Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 43; 3.
Stobart Vk M-Sport World Rally Team 37;
4. Citroen Junior Team 13; 5. Munchi’s
Ford World Rally Team 12
Junior Wrc standings after four events:
1. Kosciuszko
(Suzuki) 28 points; 2. Burkart (Suzuki)
24; 3. Prokop (Citroen) 18; 4. Abbring
(Renault) 12; 5. Bettega (Renault) 10;
6. Bertolotti (Suzuki) 9; 7. Griotti (
Renault) 8; 8. Weijs (Citroen) 6; 9.
Bonato (Suzuki) 5
Production Wrc standings after four
events:
1. Araujo
(Mitsubishi) 23; 2. Al Attiyah (Subaru)
21; 3. Sandell (Skoda Fabia) 20; 4.
Brynildsen (Mitsubishi) 18; 5. Prokop
(Mitsubishi) 14; 6. Arai (Subaru) 11; 7.
Neiksans (Mitsubishi) and Ligato
(Mitsubishi) 8; 9. Pavdiles (Subaru) 5;
10. Tapper (Mitsubishi) and Mayer
(Subaru) 4; 12. Linari, (Subaru),
Tarabus (Grande Punto Abarth), Sauvan
(Mitsubishi) and Timotheu (Subaru) 3,
16. Flodin (Subaru) and Gill ( Subaru)
2; 18. Semerad (Mitsubishi) 1
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