The Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the 2024 WRC, is now upon us. Next weekend it will host the halfway point of the World Rally Championship and will do so by hosting the protagonists in the splendid Service Park in Alghero.
The 21st edition of the Sardinian event will perhaps be one of the most important for the present and future of the WRC, because it will host the short format. This is a more compact race which will act as a test for the organizers of the world championship, in order to understand if this could be a path to follow for the future.
Tiziano Siviero also designed this edition of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the 21st of this event which returns to Alghero after a year. Miki Biasion’s former navigator has prepared the race route for the 2024 Rally Italia Sardegna and shows us what the main innovations of the race will be. The rally program includes a route made up of 16 special stages divided into three stages for a total of 266.12 timed km.
Rally Italia Sardinia 2024: more compact race
“This year we start from Alghero – commented Siviero – and therefore we have basically returned to the classic route pattern of previous years, with the classic special stages close to the Alghero area especially in the final stage, and there is little Gallura. Compared to the past, the race has a more compact format, it is an experiment that we adopted at the request of the FIA and the WRC Promoter on the basis of an exemption that Sardinia obtained, to run and test a more concentrated event format, which could become an option for other organizers in the near future, under the new FIA regulations being introduced.”
Ittiri Shakedown (2.08 km). “In practice – continued Siviero – given the unavailability of the Olmedo stage as it was not possible to have the permits to access the disused quarry, and given the terrible conditions of the Putifigari special, we chose this year to have the shakedown with an online route in the Ittiri Arena, where the public will have easy access, and where spectators will be able to see 90% of the race route of a shakedown for the first time in history, an interesting novelty”.
The first stage (77.82 timed km)
Osilo-Tergu (25.65 km): “The first special is a lengthened and new version of the classic Osilo-Tergu test, in which it will be fundamental to know how to manage the use of the tyres. It is a time trial which, as we know, is characterized by ‘start from an abrasive surface, while in the new part that was used in the past for the “Monday Test”, the surface changes and is demanding in which there could be some surprises, also because this is the first special of the competition”.
Sedini-Castelsardo (13.26 km): “The second special stage is the classic time trial which ends with the beautiful image from above with Castelsardo in the background, an identical stage to that of last year. It is the special stage with the most access of the entire race, in which the public is spoiled for choice as to what to choose to see, given that there is everything.”
The second stage (149 km timed)
Pausanias Temple (12.03 km). “It has the same version as the first three times we played it from 2020 to 2022, with a therefore different ending from last year because the last stretch will again be hosted in the very narrow stretch between the cork oak groves of the Molinas cork factory. in practice it is a very demanding time trial which, as Neuville recalled, has at least 15 points in the final stretch where you can detach a wheel. A stage where you really have to keep an eye out, where in 2020 Ford with Suninen had surprisingly made the difference. , and in which Lappi went off the road two years ago”.
Tula-Erula (22.61 km). “This year it has a more complete and longer version which has made it, in my opinion, the most difficult test of the entire race. It will be the one that will make the most difference of all, it could be the decisive test of the entire race, because presents continuous changes of pace, with car-rattling sections followed by wider and faster sections, with the classic passage of Erula between the wind turbines always present, much appreciated by the public”.
Monte Lerno-Monti di Alà (25.33 km). “In practice we have put together the best of last year’s 50 km test. In essence we have combined using the most beautiful dirt roads at our disposal, the classic Monte Lerno jump positioned at the beginning of the test with the final part, all obtained in the setting of the new Arena in Alà. Obviously we expect a lot of spectators both at the jump and in the Arena”.
Coiluna-Loelle (14.53 km). “It will be the TV test, basically for the first time we will see the first 18 points of Saturday assigned live at a special end. It is a test that everyone knows, done and re-done, as always very fast, with the classic long jump of Crastazza and a finale that features a new ford and a section created on an old rallycross track, and with the last special section that ends right at the Loelle nuraghe”.
Third and final stage (39.30 km timed)
Cala Flumini (12.55 km). “The final stage is identical to that of two years ago, with the first special stage of Cala Flumini which has few access points for spectators, but which is very nice to ride given that as in 2022 it will have fewer km but more land, given that the asphalt cuts have been eliminated.”
Sassari-Argentiera (7.10 km). “The power stage is identical to those of two years ago, and as then it will have an early start of a few hundred meters. As always there will be many spectators in this special, which with its sandy surface and its pitfalls has become a great classic of this race, thanks also to its final stretch by the sea”.
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