A total of 49 crews entered edition 2016 of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the World Rally Championship that will also be valid for Wrc 2 and Wrc 3. The event organized by Automobile Club d’Italia with the support of Regione Sardegna is at the thirteenth edition that will be run from 9 to 12 June in an articulated itinerary located in the north part of the island. This year’s edition confirmed a good number of entered crews, considering also that Team Citroen will not take part in the race due to logistic reasons, and that the race does not have validity for the Junior World Championship nor for the DMack trophy, which would have increased the number of cars by about thirty units.
A total number of 21 countries will be represented (Italy, France, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, Austria Estonia, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Holland, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Ukraine, Argentina, Paraguay, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland), which confirms the international nature of the event and highlights the promotion of Sardinia all around the world.
A numerous presence of 16 Italian drivers (6 of which from Sardinia) is to top the amount of French racers, 6, as Norwegians follow with 4 and then all the others.
A total of 15 Wrc cars will be present at the start (3 Volkswagen Polo Wrc, 4 Hyundai i20 Wrc, 6 Ford Fiesta Wrc, 1 Mini BMW and 1 Citroen Ds3 Wrc), as 17 drivers entered the sixth round of Wrc 2, and 4 will compete in Wrc 3.
THE PROTAGONISTS. All the main crews partaking in the World Rally Championship will be present, starting from the three Volkswagen works drivers: three times world champion and classification leader Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen. Four drivers will compete on the Hyunday works challengers, namely Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo, Hayden Paddon and Kevin Abbring. The Ukrainian Gorban will race on Mini Cooper Wrc, Mads Ostberg and Eric Camilli on the two Ford Fiesta Wrc run by Msport, while Ott Tanak, Martin Prokop, Henning Solberg and our Lorenzo Bertelli will be present on four other Ford Fiesta. In Wrc 2, the works Skoda Fabias R5 will be driven by the Finn Esapekka Lappi and by the Czech Jan Kopecky, that will be joined by those of the German Armin Kremer, of the Finn Teemu Suninen and of our Umberto Scandola. The Ford Fiestas R5 of Team DMack will be driven by the Norwegian Aasen and by the Estonian Parn, as the Hungarian Turan will compete on anotther Fiesta R5. Two Citroen Ds3 R5 will be present with the French Gilbert and Giordano at the wheel, while the Polish Ptaszek and the Spanish Suarez will be on two Peugeots 208 T16. Three Italian drivers will also be present out of the 4 entered in Wrc 3. These are Aci Team Italia’s Fabio Andolfi and Damiano De Tommaso, and Enrico Brazzoli (all on 208 R2), as 6 drivers from Sardinia will be at the start (Francesco Marrone, Giovanni Bitti, Giuseppe Dettori, Gianluca Leoni, Alessandro Leoni and Davide Catania).
THE RACE. Edition 2016 of the Rally Italia Sardegna is scheduled for 9 – 12 June and will unfold in an itinerary embracing 323,32 km timed split in 19 stages. Algero will house headquarters again, as service park and the press room of the event. The shakedown will kick off the programme on Thursday June 9th in Olmedo at 7.30. In the evening, the 2 km long super stage “Ittiri Arena Show” will open the race. On 10,11,12 June the gravel roads of Mount Acuto, Sasari and Nurra will stage the three legs of the race that will reach its conclusion on Sunday June 12th in the Alghero city harbour with the prize ceremony scheduled in the early afternoon.
