WRC - Rally Italia Sardegna - Preview

Sport news With little time to relax after an eventful round in Portugal, the FIA World Rally Championship contenders are preparing for another hot, dry and dusty gravel encounter on round eight of the 2019 season, Rally Italia Sardegna (13-16 June).
The sunny Mediterranean island of Sardinia has hosted the Italian stop of the series since 2004, and the historic harbour in the town of Alghero will once again provide a picturesque setting for the WRC service park. Beside the scorching heat, the crews will face the challenge of fast but narrow stages that are lined with rocks and bushes.
With the season now at the halfway point, the championship battle remains extremely close, with the top three drivers – each representing a different manufacturer – separated by only 10 points. As the championship leader, Sébastien Ogier is tasked with opening the sand-covered roads on Friday in his C3 WRC. The Frenchman only has a fragile two-point advantage over Toyota’s Ott Tänak, who could make it a hat-trick on his 100th FIA WRC career start after back-to-back wins in Chile and Portugal. Thierry Neuville is third for Hyundai, just eight points behind Tänak.
Alongside the four factory teams, the World Rally car line-up will be swelled by a fourth Toyota Yaris, with Juho Hänninen making his competitive return in an additional Tommi Mäkinen Racing entry.
Four cars are entered for FIA WRC 2 Pro: Kalle Rovanperä and Jan Kopecký for ŠKODA, Mads Østberg for Citroën and M-Sport’s Gus Greensmith, who will return back behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5 after his maiden test in a World Rally car in Portugal last week. A large 94-car entry for the event also features a high-level FIA WRC 2 field and the return of the FIA Junior WRC crews for the third round of 2019 in two-wheel drive cars.
 
THE 2019 ROUTE
While the itinerary is almost identical to 2018, a number of small modifications to familiar stages have been added to create just over 20 kilometres of new roads. A super special stage around the Ittiri motocross circuit near Alghero kicks off the action on Thursday night before two loops of four stages will be held to the north-east of the island on Friday. Saturday’s three stages (each run twice) to the east will include Monte Lerno and its iconic Micky’s Jump. Sunday consists of two repeated stages near the coast north of Alghero.
 
MEDIA ACCREDITATION
The Accreditation Centre is located in the Media Center at the Rally HQ, Lu Qualté, Alghero
The opening hours are: Tuesday 11 June: 14:00 - 20:00 Wednesday 12 June: 08:00 - 21:00 Thursday 13 June: 07:00 - 21:00 Friday 14 June: 06:30 - 14:00
 
RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA  



Wednesday 12 June
 


Mandatory media safety briefing, Photographers’ Room, Media Center
17:00 hrs


 
 


Thursday 13 June 
 


Mandatory shakedown for P1 & P2P, Olmedo
09:00 - 10:30 hrs


Shakedown for P1, P2P, P2 & P3, Olmedo
10:30 - 12:30 hrs


Shakedown (others), Olmedo
12:30 - 14:00 hrs


‘Meet the Crews’ Top 3 Shakedown, WRC stage at Rally SP, Alghero
13:00 hrs


Photo-shoot “family photo” P1 crews, WRC stage at Rally SP, Alghero
13:30


FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Rally HQ Lu Qualté, Algh.
13:45 hrs


Start of the rally (section 1), Bastioni Magellano, Alghero
16:00 hrs


Autograph session for P1 crews, + Rovanperä/Halttunen (P2P)
 


& Anfolfi/Scattolin (P2), WRC stage at Rally SP, Alghero
17:40 – 18:20


 
 


Friday 14 June
 


First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Rally SP, Alghero
11:54 hrs


First car arrives for regroup, media zone & final service, Rally SP, Alghero
18:33 hrs


‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 1, WRC stage at Rally SP, Alghero
During the 45’ service


 
 


Saturday 15 June
 


First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Rally SP, Alghero
12:35 hrs


First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Rally SP, Alghero
20:35 hrs


‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 2, WRC stage at Rally SP, Alghero
During the 45’ service


 
 


Sunday 16 June
 


Regroup, La Pedraia
08:36 hrs


Regroup, Porto Torres
09:56 hrs


Regroup before Power Stage, La Pedraia
11:36 hrs


Rally finish, Largo Bousquets
13:25 hrs


Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Bastioni Magellano, Alghero
15:00 hrs


FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Rally HQ Lu Qualté, Algh
16:00 hrs







 
FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE



Thursday 13 June
FIA WRC 


 
Thierry Neuville (BEL), Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team


 
Kris Meeke (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 


 
Teemu Suninen (FIN), M-Sport Ford World Rally Team


 
Esapekka Lappi (FIN), Citroën Total World Rally Team


 
FIA WRC 2 PRO 


 
Kalle Rovanperä (FIN), Škoda Motorsport


 
Mads Østberg (NOR), Citroën Total


 
FIA WRC 2


 
Fabio Andolfi (ITA)


 
Nikolay Gryazin (RUS)


 
FIA JUNIOR WRC


 
Julius Tannert (DEU)


 
Enrico Oldrati (ITA)


 
 


Sunday 16 June
Winning FIA WRC 2 Pro Championship crew


 
Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew


 
Winning FIA Junior WRC Championship crew


 
Top three crews in the overall classification


 
Representative of the winning manufacturer







 
MANUFACTURER WRC ENTRIES, 2019 WRC RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA



Citroën Total WRT
Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1)


 
Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (#4)


 
 


Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT
Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11)


 
Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger-Amland (#89)


 
Dani Sordo / Carlos Del Barrio (#6)


 
 


M-Sport Ford WRT
Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (#33)


 
Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (#3)


 
 


Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8)


 
Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (#5)


 
Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (#10)







 
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS
The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link: https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings


Video of WRC - 2019 Rally of Italy- Preview

World Rally Championship
Rally Italia Sardegna WRC SEASON 2019 Sport Rallies 1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2019Rally Italia Sardegna01 Friday, June 7, 2019 - 3:20pm Friday, June 7, 2019 - 3:20pm