The 20th edition of Rally Italia Sardegna, sixth round of the 2023 WRC, kicked off this evening with the first of 19 special stages, the PS1 on a mixed surface (asphalt-dirt) Olbia – Cabu Abbas of 3.20 kilometres.
A short stage, show, created to attract many people to enjoy the WRC show. For this reason, the gaps were very limited in the Top 10, but in general between WRC and WRC2 drivers. Suffice it to say that from first to 20th the gap is 9″4.
Esapekka Lappi achieved the best time. The Finnish of Hyundai Motorsport, already author of the best time in this morning’s Shakedown, stopped the clock in 2’24″9, resulting the fastest in the opening stage of the event.
An excellent start for Lappi, who will also race tomorrow with a brand new suspension configuration to try to understand if it could be the right way to further close the gap from the Toyotas, the cars to beat until now.
Behind Esapekka here is Ott Tanak with the first Ford Puma Rally1 just 2 tenths behind the leader. For M-Sport Ford, the Rally Italia Sardegna will be the first real test bench for the new suspensions created following Tanak’s requests. The start looks promising, but tomorrow will probably be the first challenging day for the advanced machine.
Hyundai has placed another of its drivers in the Top 3. Thierry Neuville is half a second slower than Lappi. After losing third place in Portugal due to a turbo failure, the Belgian is looking for his first success of the season and Sardinia – weather permitting – could be a good opportunity for him.
The Toyotas started off without fireworks: fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth time for the GR Yaris Rally1, even if Takamoto Katsuta amazes. The Japanese was the Japanese manufacturer’s fastest rider, 9 tenths behind Lappi. Behind him Kalle Rovanpera, 3 tenths slower, and Sébastien Ogier, 4 tenths behind the first of his teammates.
Elfyn Evans, on the other hand, will have to redeem Portugal’s zero after the terrible accident in which he was the protagonist. For now, her start has been cautious, 2 seconds slower than the reference time. The Welshman was preceded by the third Hyundai i20 N Rally1, while Pierre-Louis Loubet closed the Rally1 standings with the second Ford Puma.
As for the WRC2, good performance by Oliver Solberg with the first Skoda Fabia RS Rally1. The Norwegian-Swede preceded his compatriot and teammate Andreas Mikkelsen by half a second. Third place for Kajetan Kajetanowicz, still at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia. The dominance of the cars from Mlada Boleslav continued thanks to the fourth place of the reigning world champion in the category, Emil Lindholm, but was then broken by Adrien Fourmaux’s Ford Fiesta Rally2.
The first stage of Rally Italia Sardegna 2023 will continue tomorrow with the PS2, the 10.71-kilometre Tantariles 20Ris 1. The first car, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 of Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen, will enter practice at 08.40.
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