We are ready!   Tomorrow is the beginning of the mean business of competitive rallying. In the morning, engines will start for Shakedown on the Monte Plebi track and it will be the first opportunity for times to be recorded. Later, the starting ceremony will be held at 8pm surrounded by the charming scenery of Marina Vecchia at Porto Cervo. The start flag will wave on Rally d’Italia Sardegna! It will be the fourth consecutive time world rally cars have contested on the amazing gravel roads of the Island.
The Service Park will come alive with colour, the team’s motor-homes and equipment running the seventh round of the World Rally Championship, and the third round of the Junior Rally Championship. The set up is complete and the teams and their crews are ready for the challenge of the season over the next three days.
From tomorrow, the best drivers in the world will challenge on the Gallura gravel roads, and contest this rally that will be more gripping, more demanding, and therefore more entertaining than other sporting challenge.
Drivers of the calibre of Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Gronholm, Mikko Hirvonen, Daniel Sordo, Petter Solberg, and Chris Atkinson, as well as many the other entrants, already know the characteristics of the Sardinian gravel roads and have often conducted testing sessions here. They have now recce’d the route together with the stars of the Junior Rally Championship. The Juniors, in their two-wheel-drive cars, are ready to challenge the spectacular race which is set to leave a permanent footprint in every spectator’s memory.
There are many Italian drivers contesting the rally, many young up-and-coming drivers. Andrea Cortinovis from Bergamo is the star of the Junior Rally Championship, Simone Campedelli from Romagna, and Alessandro Bettega from Trentino. They are all talented drivers able to be the stars of the road.
With them, always present, always ready to show their talent and take advantage of their local knowledge of the roads are 11 Sardinian crews. They want to make their home crowd proud of them. Eleven is an important number which shows the Sardinian passion for the rally. Introducing, in strict alphabetical order: Caragliu, Catania, Cellino, Dettori, Marrone, Mela, Pileri, Pinna, Pistis, Pitalis, e Pranzoni. This will be an exciting race within a race!
There are two Manufacturer’s trophy challenges: The Fiesta sporting trophy and the Subaru Cup. They are promising spectacular duels, because both series will challenge drivers young and old, experienced and inexperienced. These are the key elements of the Rally d’Italia Sardegna. The fans can follow it in total and complete safety. From the brightest stars to the last car that will start, they will be fighting for vital seconds and to give their all promising moments of great sport.