Mikko looking forward to the Sardinian gravel
Last updated 19:37, Thursday, 15 May 2008
THE FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe for the first time since February this weekend with the Rally d'Italia Sardegna.
The event, on Sardinia, is the first of three Mediterranean rallies in five weekends which take the series to the summer break.
Although this is round six of the 15-event championship, the speed tests on Italy's sun-kissed holiday island mark the first occasion in which Ford's WRC gladiators will taste European gravel this season.
The industrial town of Olbia, below the shimmering Costa Smeralda coastline in the north-east of the island, provides the rally base while Porto Cervo, one of Europe's most luxurious resorts, hosts the start and finish ceremonies.
A key characteristic of Sardinia's speed tests is their narrowness and drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila know mistakes can be punished as rocks line the edge of the tracks, waiting to batter a car's suspension or attack its tyres.
A sandy surface masks a hard base below and roads can be rutted and rocky during the second pass, demanding strength from the team's Focus RS World Rally Cars and durability from Pirelli's Scorpion tyres.
Hirvonen's first win of the season, in Jordan, helped Ford extend its manufacturers' series lead to seven points and took him back to the top of the drivers' table with a five point advantage.
Hirvonen finished second in Sardinia in 2006 and 2007 so knows what it takes to be successful on this challenging event.
He said: “The stages are narrow but fast and although there are rough sections it's by no means the roughest rally of the season.
“It's the first hot gravel rally in Europe but we have good knowledge of how Pirelli's tyres work in those conditions from Mexico and Jordan.
“The roads are probably rougher than either of those events but they're not too harsh on tyres and I have no concerns about that.
"Because I lead the championship, I'm first in the start order on Friday. That's never the best place on a dry gravel rally because the first car cleans the loose stones and those behind have a better driving line.”
Latvala's best result from two starts in Sardinia is ninth last year but the 23-year-old Finn is eager to use his sparkling pace on gravel to better that.
Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi will start in Sardinia for the first time, partnered by experienced co-driver Michael Orr.
Al Qassimi said: "It's going to be a completely new terrain so the recce will be important. The most important thing is the learning.”
Six other Focus RS cars will start the rally - the highest representation so far this season.
Gigi Galli and Matthew Wilson will be racing for Stobart VK M-Sport team while Federico Villagra and Henning Solberg go with the Munchi's Ford World Rally Team.
Ford Italy is a major partner of the rally and is providing 20 of Ford's new Kuga cars to the organisers and 50 C-MAX vehicles.
The rally began yesterday and ends on Sunday.
n Hirvonen and Lehtinen will attend the Champions League soccer final between Manchester Utd and Chelsea in Moscow on May 21 as guests of Ford of Europe. Ford is a major partner of the Champions League. Sadly for the Finns, both are fans of beaten semi-finalists Liverpool.
