
Welcome to the RallyBuzz.com armchair guide for Rally d'Italia Sardegna, which takes place from 5-8 May 2011 and is round 5 of this year's World Rally Championship (WRC).
The rally returns to the WRC after a year's absence and brings with it new roads for next Friday's opening leg close to the island's west coast. Described as technical and tricky, they will require pinpoint accuracy in the preparation of pace notes by drivers, who can make only two slow-speed passes over the stages before driving them flat out.
This adds to the excitement of the title battle which so far has seen three different winners in four events, and where the Citroen DS3 WRC and the Ford Fiesta WRC are proving to be quite equal. In the manufacturers' championship Citroen and Ford are joint leaders with 130 points, while in the drivers' series the four works drivers of the two teams are enclosed in just eight points. Loeb is leading with 74 points, followed by Hirvonen with 72, Ogier with 69 and Latvala with 66, followed in fifth place by privateer Petter Solberg with 31.
New for the weekend will be the debut of the MINI WRC team with the John Cooper Works WRC driven by Kris Meeke from Northern Ireland, who will be co-driven by Paul Nagle from the Republic of Ireland in car number 52, and Dani Sordo, with fellow Spaniard Carlos del Barrio co-driving, in car number 37.
Another important announcement to be made in Olbia on Thursday, May 5th, will be that of Volkswagen which will unveil in Sardinia its programme for the 2012 World Rally Championship.
The FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship and WRC Academy will also feature in Sardinia. Martin Prokop, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Juho Hanninen and the championship leader, Estonian Karl Kruuda, will all be at the start amongst the Super 2000 entrants. Among the WRC Academy drivers another Estonian, Egon Kaur, after his victory in Portugal, will have to defend himself from the attacks of Irishman Craig Breen and Spaniard Yeray Lemes.
Source: www.rallyitaliasardegna.com
Fact file
Round: 5/13
Base: Olbia
Service park: Isola Bianca � Olbia
Surface: gravel
Weather: temperatures ranging from 13 to 24�C
Sunrise and sunset: 0501 / 1914
Local time: UTC+1 (summer time) or the same time as Paris
Currency: The local currency is the Euro
Website: www.rallyitaliasardegna.com
Technical information: Spare parts (front and rear subframes, steering racks, turbochargers, gearboxes, front and rear differentials) are sealed and shared with the Rally of Greece. From this rally onwards, only two engines per car will be allowed up to the end of the 2011 season.
Tyres: 30 Michelin hard compound gravel tyres will be available
Reconnaissance: Tuesday 3 May 0800 to Wednesday 4 May 2000
Shakedown: Thursday 5 May from 0800 to 1200 at Monte Pinu � Olbia on a 2.06 km stage 16 km from the service area.
Start ceremony: Thursday 5 May at 2000 at Molo Brin - Olbia
Start: Friday 6 May at 0700, service park exit
Itinerary: 1183.52 km, of which 339.70 km are competitive. There is a total of 18 special stages (10 different stages)
Podium: Sunday 8 May at 1310, Molo Brin, Olbia
Where the Citro�n people hangout�
It's Sardinia in the month of May: two good reasons to think about a trip to the beach. There are two good beachfront places close to the service park: "sulla spiaggia di Pittulungu" as they say in Italy. For a seafood-based lunch or dinner, check out the Trattoria Rossi (www.trattoriarossi.it) run by Antonio and Roberto. For a slightly more festive atmosphere, try Mama Beach (www.mamabeach.com) where you can eat, drink and dance the night away.

Itinerary
Thursday 5 May: Ceremonial start
Start Molo Brin, Olbia 20.00
Friday 6 May: Day 1 Olbia
?SS1 Lago Omodeo 10.21km 09.33
?SS2 Monte Grighini Nord 21.32km 10.25 ?
SS3 Alta Marmilla 14.34km 11.26
?SS4 Monte Grighini Sud 19.66km 12.09 ?
Serv A Siamanna (15 mins) 13.02 ?
SS5 Monte Grighini Nord 21.32km 13.46
?SS6 Alta Marmilla 14.34km 14.47
?SS7 Monte Grighini Sud 19.66km 15.30 ?
SS8 Lago Omodeo 10.21km 17.04 ?
Serv B Olbia (45 mins) 20.00
?Finish Olbia 20.45
Total 131.06km
Saturday 7 May: Day 2 Olbia
Serv C Olbia (15 mins) 08.00 ?
SS9 Coiluna 29.35km 09.29 ?
SS10 Monte Lerno 27.97km 10.36
?SS11 Su Filigosu 14.21km 11.15 ?
Serv D Olbia (30 mins) 12.55
?SS12 Coiluna 29.35km 14.39 ?
SS13 Monte Lerno 27.97km 15.46
?SS14 Su Filigosu 14.21km 16.25 ?
Serv E Olbia (45 mins) 17.45
?Finish Olbia 18.30
Total 143.06km
Sunday 8 May: Day 3 Olbia
Serv F Olbia (15 mins) 06.00 ?
SS15 Gallura 8.24km 06.50 ?
SS16 Monte Olia 24.50km 08.03
?SS17 Terranova 24.60km 08.41
?Serv G Olbia (30 mins) 10.49 ?
SS18 Gallura 8.24km 12.00 ?
Serv H Olbia (10 mins) 13.00
?Finish Molo Brin, Olbia 13.10 ?
?Total 65.58km ?Rally total 339.70km
photo: mini motorsport


