The Rally Italia Sardegna will start this afternoon with the first 4 special stages of the sixth round of the 2024 WRC, but this morning a tasty appetizer for fans took place, namely the Shakedown held on the 2.08 kilometer long Ittiri route.
A very short test which allowed the drivers to understand where and whether to make changes to their respective cars in view of the first stage of a new, shortened and experimental format to understand if this is the path to take in the future of the category.
The fastest time of the special test was Thierry Neuville. The world championship leader, at the wheel of the first Hyundai i20 N Rally1, signed the reference time on the second of his two passes in 2’13″7, half a second ahead of the first Toyota, that of the 8-time world champion Sébastien Ogier .
Neuville, however, will not have to get used to seeing his name at the top of the ranking, because this weekend too he will have to open the tests for the first stage and, on a surface like the Sardinian one, he will be greatly penalized by the surface he will clear with his passage for riders who enter after him and will find greater grip.
Neuville and Ogier are currently the most successful drivers in Sardinia among those currently active, but immediately behind them is the third most successful driver on the island: Dani Sordo. The Iberian from Hyundai did half a second worse than Ogier, but 2 tenths better than his teammate Ott Tanak, fourth in the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1.
For the Korean company, the Rally Italia Sardegna is an almost impregnable fiefdom and it expects to bring home what would be its third victory of the season to increase its advantage over Toyota in the Manufacturers’ World Championship.
The Rally1 quintet at the top is completed by Takamoto Katsuta’s Toyota Yaris Rally1, 4 tenths behind Tanak’s Hyundai, while behind him is the first surprise of this test, the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of an old acquaintance of M -Sport: PIerre-Louis Loubet.
The morphology of the test helped the Rally2s a lot, as they were very close to the Rally1s. Adrien Fourmaux is seventh with the first Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid, ahead of the Toyota of an ELfyn EVans who will have to change gear if he wants to try to recover points and ground against Neuville in the Drivers’ World Championship.
Excellent performance by Fabrizio Zaldivar in the second Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, ninth overall, ahead of Teemu Suninen’s Hyundai i20 N Rally2. The Finn closes the Top 10 and is third in the WRC2 ranking.
Speaking of the cadet class, we must take note of Oliver Solberg’s withdrawal which arrived yesterday due to an allergic reaction which led doctors to advise the Norwegian to stop and not take part in the event.
The Rally Italia Sardegna will start this afternoon with Special Stage 1, the Osilo – Tergu 1 of 25.65 kilometres. The Hyundai i20 N Rally1 of Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe, the world championship leaders, will enter testing at 2.33pm.
#WRC #Rally #Italia #Sardinia #Shakedown #Neuville #ahead #Ogier
