Sixth round of the World Rally Championship kicked off with the first special stage in the afternoon and now eight tests will complete the first leg on Friday
Alghero (SS), June 9, 2016. First leaders of 2016 Rally Italia Sardegna are Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia on their Volkswagen Polo R WRC. Sixth round of the World Rally Championship kicked off with the 2.0 km Ittiri Arena Show super special stage held in front of an enthusiastic crowd not so far from Alghero and the high quarter of the event, north-west of Sardinia. French reigning World Champion, who also topped the shakedown standings this morning, was fastest with the time of 2’00”4. Second ex aequo by only 3 tenths are his Finn teammate Jari-Matti Latvala and Estonian Ott Tanak on the first Ford Fiesta RS WRC. The third Polo R WRC of Andreas Mikkelsen and the Hyundai i20 WRC of Abbring are following, both with 2’01”0, in a very close first classification of the event. In the WRC 2 competition Finn driver Teemu Sunin and his Skoda Fabia R5 set the fastest time covering the Ittiri Arena layout in 2’02”3, while with 2’23”0 the ACI Team Italia driver Fabio Andolfi was the fastest among the WRC 3 contenders on his Peugeot 208 R2.
Rally will restart on Friday June 10th with eight stages (four to be repeated twice) in the Logudoro and Anglona areas, for a total of 102.86 km. Following Ardara-Ozieri (km 7.50) and the completely new Tula (km 15), drivers will face the Castelsardo stage (km 14.02) and Tergu-Osilo (km 14.91) before heading back to Alghero for the mid-day service park. Crews will challenge the four stages again in the afternoon also passing through Sassari city center before closing the day back in Alghero at 19:00hrs.
Saturday, June 11 will be the longest day of the 2016 World Rally Championship so far featuring six tests for a total competitive distance of 177.70 km. This leg will be entirely located in the Monte Acuto region. It will start from the Monti di Alà special stage (km 22.20), followed by Coiluna-Loelle (km 22.39) and by the classic Monte Lerno test, that, once again, will be the longest one with its 44.26 km. A second loop on the same stages will follow the mid-day service park in Alghero before ending the day at 20:40hrs. Final leg of the rally will take place on Sunday, June 12. It will feature 40.26 competitive kilometers, split in four stages: two passages through Cala Flumini (km 14.06) and two through the new stage of Sassari-Argentiera (km 6.07) which is also the new final Power Stage with worldwide live coverage. Podium Ceremony will end the event at 13:45hrs in the harbour area of Alghero.
WRC Promoter intends to boost Italian distribuition of WRC +, the service that keeps fans updated with the World Rally Championship through its website and live streaming of several special stages. All Italian fans will have this application free for a month simply subscribing a new account at https://plus.wrc.com/ using the promo code IT2016 .
Top-10 standings: 1. Ogier-Ingrassia (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) 2’00”4; 2. Tanak-Molder (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) Latvala-Anttila (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) a 0”3; 4. Abbring-Marshall (Hyundai i20 WRC) Mikkelsen-Yaeger (Volkswagen Polo R WRC) a 0”6; 6. Neuville-Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 New Generation WRC) Paddon-Kennard (Hyundai i20 New Generation WRC) a 1”3; 8. Sordo-Marti (Hyundai i20 New Generation WRC) a 1”6. 9. Suninen-Markkula (Skoda Fabia R5) Ostberg-Floene (Ford Fiesta RS WRC) a 1”9.
WRC 2016 Calendar: jan 21-24 Rallye Monte-Carlo – snow/asphalt; feb 11-14 – Rally Sweden – snow; mar 3-6 Rally México – gravel; apr 21-24 Rally Argentina – gravel; may 19-22 Rally de Portugal – gravel ; june 9-12 – 13º Rally Italia Sardegna – gravel ; june 30-july 3 Rally Poland – gravel; july 28-31 Rally Finland – gravel; aug 18-21 Rallye Deutschland – asphalt ; sept. 8-11 Rally China – asphalt; sept-29-oct.2 Tour de Corse – asphal; oct. 13-16 Rally RACC Catalunya – asphalt/gravel; oct. 27-30 Wales Rally GB – gravel; nov. 17-20 Rally Australia – gravel.
