Rnd6 Rally Sardinia June9-11
Official Website: rallyitaliasardegna.com/en/
Listen Live: wrc.com/live_popup_radio
WRC+ : Live Stages/Live Maps/Onboard Action/Full Highlights plus.wrc.com/
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Shakedown
Sebastien Ogier edged Mads Ostberg by a tenth of a second to set fastest time in Thursday morning’s shakedown for Rally Italia Sardegna.
The Frenchman topped the times through the 3.00km Olmedo test on his fourth and final run in his Volkswagen Polo R. Ostberg almost pipped him with the last of his five runs but fell just short in his Ford Fiesta RS.
Estonia’s Ott Tanak was quickest in the first two passes in his Fiesta RS, using soft tyres to their full benefit on the short gravel stage, before ending 0.7sec behind Ogier in third.
Ogier tested different tyre options in a quest to find the optimum combination that might offset the disadvantage of opening the roads for the first two days, cleaning small stones to leave more grip for his rivals behind.
He was coy about what worked best but undoubtedly mixed hard and soft compound rubber in a bid to find a combination that could offer improved grip.
“I started with soft and finished with hard,” he said. “Tyre choice is something that we play with against the other drivers so I can’t say too much. But we know the softs can suffer a lot here sometimes with the temperature and the abrasive ground.
“Let’s see if we can play a bit with that but with our road position we have to take more risks because otherwise we will lose time. We have to think a bit more about it and hopefully we are going to make the perfect choice. I just know it would be a great achievement to finish on the podium,” he added.
Hyundai i20s filled the rest of the top six places. Thierry Neuville was a tenth of a second adrift of T?nak in fourth, with Hayden Paddon a further 0.5sec behind and Kevin Abbring rounding off the top half dozen in his 2015-specification car.
click: wrc.com/sardinia-shakedown
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Thursday evening:
SS1 ITTIRI ARENA SHOW (2.00 km)
Sebastien Ogier won Thursday evening’s opening speed test at Rally Italia Sardegna after defeating Hayden Paddon in the final heat at Ittiri Arena.
The FIA World Rally Championship leader completed the 2.00km test three-tenths of a second faster than Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala, who both won their heats, in his Volkswagen Polo R.
“It’s always good to be fastest, especially here,” said the Frenchman. “It’s great to see such an atmosphere and so many enthusiastic fans.”
An estimated 10,000 people packed the former autocross arena and they watched Ford Fiesta RS driver T?nak beat Thierry Neuville, while Latvala overcame Dani Sordo’s Hyundai i20 in their respective heats.
Kevin Abbring and Andreas Mikkelsen were tied for fourth place, 0.6sec off Ogier’s pace, with Hyundai team-mates Neuville and Paddon level in sixth.
Valeriy Gorban spun his Mini John Cooper Works at the first two corners and was overtaken by Abbring. The Ukraine driver suspected a differential or driveshaft broke before the start.
Martin Prokop started the rally with a five minute penalty for breaking the seal on a rear differential to carry out repairs following last month’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
After an overnight halt in the rally base of Alghero, the rally continues tomorrow with a morning loop of four rough-road gravel stages north-east of the town, which is repeated in the afternoon after service. The eight stages cover 102.86km.
click: wrc.com/italy-ss1
...
Official Website: rallyitaliasardegna.com/en/
Listen Live: wrc.com/live_popup_radio
WRC+ : Live Stages/Live Maps/Onboard Action/Full Highlights plus.wrc.com/
...
------------------------
Shakedown
Sebastien Ogier edged Mads Ostberg by a tenth of a second to set fastest time in Thursday morning’s shakedown for Rally Italia Sardegna.
The Frenchman topped the times through the 3.00km Olmedo test on his fourth and final run in his Volkswagen Polo R. Ostberg almost pipped him with the last of his five runs but fell just short in his Ford Fiesta RS.
Estonia’s Ott Tanak was quickest in the first two passes in his Fiesta RS, using soft tyres to their full benefit on the short gravel stage, before ending 0.7sec behind Ogier in third.
Ogier tested different tyre options in a quest to find the optimum combination that might offset the disadvantage of opening the roads for the first two days, cleaning small stones to leave more grip for his rivals behind.
He was coy about what worked best but undoubtedly mixed hard and soft compound rubber in a bid to find a combination that could offer improved grip.
“I started with soft and finished with hard,” he said. “Tyre choice is something that we play with against the other drivers so I can’t say too much. But we know the softs can suffer a lot here sometimes with the temperature and the abrasive ground.
“Let’s see if we can play a bit with that but with our road position we have to take more risks because otherwise we will lose time. We have to think a bit more about it and hopefully we are going to make the perfect choice. I just know it would be a great achievement to finish on the podium,” he added.
Hyundai i20s filled the rest of the top six places. Thierry Neuville was a tenth of a second adrift of T?nak in fourth, with Hayden Paddon a further 0.5sec behind and Kevin Abbring rounding off the top half dozen in his 2015-specification car.
click: wrc.com/sardinia-shakedown
-----------------------------------
Thursday evening:
SS1 ITTIRI ARENA SHOW (2.00 km)
Sebastien Ogier won Thursday evening’s opening speed test at Rally Italia Sardegna after defeating Hayden Paddon in the final heat at Ittiri Arena.
The FIA World Rally Championship leader completed the 2.00km test three-tenths of a second faster than Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala, who both won their heats, in his Volkswagen Polo R.
“It’s always good to be fastest, especially here,” said the Frenchman. “It’s great to see such an atmosphere and so many enthusiastic fans.”
An estimated 10,000 people packed the former autocross arena and they watched Ford Fiesta RS driver T?nak beat Thierry Neuville, while Latvala overcame Dani Sordo’s Hyundai i20 in their respective heats.
Kevin Abbring and Andreas Mikkelsen were tied for fourth place, 0.6sec off Ogier’s pace, with Hyundai team-mates Neuville and Paddon level in sixth.
Valeriy Gorban spun his Mini John Cooper Works at the first two corners and was overtaken by Abbring. The Ukraine driver suspected a differential or driveshaft broke before the start.
Martin Prokop started the rally with a five minute penalty for breaking the seal on a rear differential to carry out repairs following last month’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal.
After an overnight halt in the rally base of Alghero, the rally continues tomorrow with a morning loop of four rough-road gravel stages north-east of the town, which is repeated in the afternoon after service. The eight stages cover 102.86km.
click: wrc.com/italy-ss1
...