In the race also the ex World Rally Champion Petter Solberg, co-driven by Andreas Mikkelsen
A total of 64 crews entered edition 2020 of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the World Rally Championship that will take place on 8-11th October, the race is valid also for WRC2, WRC3 and World Rally Junior Championship. The event organized by Automobile Club d’Italia with the support of Regione Sardegna features positive figures, considered the particular moment connected to the COVID-19 situation.
The entries at this rally is higher than the 60 cars entered in Rally Estonia at the beginning of September. A total of 23 different countries will be represented (namely, Italy, France, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Germany, Latvia, Chile, United States and Switzerland), which equals a previous record scored by this event and confirms its international nature. This global visibility will provide a great chance for promoting the image of Sardinia all over the world.
A large group of Italian drivers, 25, will also be present (3 of which from Sardinia). The second most represented country is France with 6 drivers, while 5 drivers are from Finland, 4 from Great Britain, Norway and Argentina.
THE PROTAGONISTS. All the main crews entered in the Rally World Championship will be present for a total of 13 WRC Plus cars. The big novelty is the presence of a Citroen C3 WRC featuring Pirelli colors a new crew made by the former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg and Andreas Mikklesen, that will also have the possibility to test the new Scorpion KX WRC tyres – that will be used in the next season – on the Sardinian gravel.
The Pirelli test driver Andreas Mikkelsen will in fact run the shakedown in Olmedo on Thursday 8th together with some invited journalists, while Petter Solberg will be the first on the road on the power stage in Argentiera on Sunday 11th with Mikklesen at the pace notes. This is going to be a much welcomed comeback to WRC cars for the former World Champion after 9 seasons of absence.
The WRC Plus cars that will run this event will be driven by the three official drivers of Toyota (Evans, Ogier and Rovanpera), Hyundai (Neuville, Tanak and Sordo) and Ford M-Sport (Lappi, Greensmith and Suninen). They will be joined by a fourth Yaris WRC Plus driven by Takamoto Katsuta and by a fourth Hyundai i20 Plus by Pierre Louis Loubet, while Martin Prokop will also compete in a Ford Fiesta WRC.
Six drivers entered WRC2: Ostberg (Citroen C3 R5), Tidemand and Brynildsen in the Skoda Fabia R5 Evo, Fourmaux (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII), while the two Hyundai i20 R5 will be driven by Gryazin and Veiby.
Sixteen cars will compete in WRC 3. Among these, the top five of the provisional standings: Bulacia (Citroen C3 R5), Huttunen (Hyundai i20 R5), Kajetanowicz and Oliver Solberg in the Skoda Fabia R5 Evo, Camilli and Ciamin will be on the Citroen C3 R5, and the Italians Scandola, Cobbe and Battistolli in the Skoda Fabia R5 Evo and “Pedro” (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII).
Finally, eight drivers will challenge each other in the Junior championship. The classification leaders Sesks, Pajari and Kristensson, will be challenged by Oldrati and by ACI Team Italia’s Marco Pollara and Fabio Andolfi.
Only 3 crews come from Sardinia this time: Marrone-Fresu (Peugeot 208 T16), Lambroni-Taras (Renault Clio) and Donadio-Curedda (Citroen Ds3 R3T).
THE RALLY. Edition 2020 of the Rally Italia Sardegna – the sixth round of the World Rally Championship – will take place from October 8th to 11th and will be based in Alghero. The race will be run on three days for a total of 16 special stages and 238,84 timed kilometers.