Rallye d’Italia-Sardinia is based at the port of Olbia in the north-east of the island where tourists gather to enjoy the stunning scenery, restaurants and boutiques. The 2005 rally – taking place just six months after the WRC’s first visit to the island, begins in the evening of Thursday April 28 with a ceremonial start on the picturesque harbour front at Porto Rotondo, about 17kms north of Olbia.

On Friday there are six stages (139.70kms) run as two groups of three. On Saturday there are five more tests including two runs over the longest stage of the event, the 38.77kms Tandalo stage (leg total 144.01kms). After two days in the mountains south and south west of Olbia Sunday’s short final leg is run to the west with six stages (66.32kms) before the event finishes in Porto Rotondo at 2.30pm.

Rally Italia Sardinia Preview

The 2005 FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe next week when crews start the fifth round of the 16-event series, Rally Italia Sardinia. Previously hosted in the Italian Riviera town of Sanremo, last year the event moved to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia where sandy gravel tracks replaced twisty, asphalt stages. Commencing on Friday 29 April, it will be the first of four consecutive hot gravel rallies.

In 2005 Rally d'Italia undergoes another change as it moves from an autumn date to spring. Run in the spectacular mountain landscape of the north east of the island, the character of the rally will remain largely the same, featuring technical, medium width roads covered with fine, almost sandy, gravel. Weather conditions are expected to be mild, but with some stages taking crews to altitudes of more than 800 metres above sea level, some rain is likely.

The rally is again based around Olbia, in the north-east of the island, with the stages in the wild mountains to the west and south.  But in an effort to use wider and faster roads, organisers have made sweeping changes and 78% of the route is new.  Ten of the 17 stages are new and only one is broadly the same as 2004.  The luxury resort of Porto Rotondo, on the beautiful Costa Smeralda coastline, will host the ceremonial start on Thursday evening and Sunday's finish.  The rest of the event will revolve around a new service park in the heart of Olbia. The opening leg takes competitors south to the slopes of Monte Tepilora and Punta sa Donna and the natural park of Monte Olia.  The bulk of the second day is located further west in the hills of Monte Lerno and is the longest at 144.01km.  It includes two passes over the 38.77km Tandalo, the longest test of the rally.  The final leg is all new, most of it based around the historic town of Tempio Pausania.  All but one test are used twice and drivers will tackle 350.03km of stages in a route of 1192.28km.

Citroen

Back in Europe after its successful trip to New Zealand, World Champions Citroën and Sébastien Loeb will aim for their third win of the season in Sardinia and the Italian round of the world rally Championship this weekend (April 28 - 1 May 2005), but despite a podium finish last year, the team is taking nothing for granted.

Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena: "In our chase for the championship, second place was sufficient last year," says Loeb. "This is just as well because at the time it didn't seem possible to do any better! Petter was unassailable. This year, we don't yet know what the profile of the rally is going to be. Following the general disappointment expressed by the drivers last year, the majority of the stages are new. We all hope the new roads will be good, and there apparently are some good roads in the region. But whatever they're like, we will give it our best effort. The Xsara has shown that it continues to progress and the new Michelin tyre is a valuable asset for us. I hope all that will enable us to be up there with the best of them."

Francois Duval / Stephane Prevot: "I wasn't a big fan of what we saw in 2004. Slippery stages aren't a problem. so long as you have room to slide and that wasn't the case with last year's narrow stages which had stones either side of the road. I was glad to hear that much of the route has been changed and I am curious to see what the organisers have found. After that, it's up to us to do our best. As in the opening rallies of the season, I hope our times will enable me to join in the fight for the podium and that all our work will pay off as it did in New Zealand."

Subaru

Subaru will take a three-car team to Sardinia. The latest specification Impreza WRC2005's will be driven by Petter Solberg (co-driven by Phil Mills), Chris Atkinson (co-driven by Glenn MacNeall) and Stéphane Sarrazin (co-driven by Denis Giraudet). After winning two of the first four rounds of the 2005 FIA WRC, Petter Solberg leads the 2005 drivers' series. Last year, he and Phil dominated the Italian event and were fastest on 13 of the rally's 19 stages to finish 2 minutes 7.9 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Petter will be looking to achieve another strong podium finish on this year's event. Driving the second nominated Subaru car will be Australian, Chris Atkinson, while Frenchman Stéphane Sarrazin will be seeking to gain experience at the wheel of his Subaru Impreza WRC2005 on his first WRC gravel event with the team.

Petter Solberg / Phil Mills: New Zealand was a good rally for us and, although we struggled a little on the second pass through the stages, I'm pleased with the final result. Sardinia should be a very good event and I think we have a strong chance of winning it if everything works out well. It's a different rally to New Zealand as it's more narrow and twisty and that, along with the temperatures, is better for the tyres. I'll be running first on the road again, but that's the price you pay for leading the championship so I'm not complaining!

Chris Atkinson/Glen Macneall: "It was good to get a couple of stage wins in New Zealand this early on in my WRC career. Although we didn't maintain the speed all weekend, I think we learned a lot and made some changes that will help us in the future. The stages in Sardinia are a lot slower and narrower than those in New Zealand and that means it'll be even more important not to make mistakes. Narrower stages mean it can be easier to go off the driving line, hit a rock and take a wheel off. But it's a rally where Petter and the team worked well last year, so that's promising. We're aiming to run at a consistent pace all weekend and, if we can reach the same speed that we did on the first day in New Zealand, to keep that up all weekend. That way the end result could be good. Between rallies we're evaluating lessons that we've learned on each event and using that information to move forward before the start of the next, it's going well."

Stéphane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet : "I've spent some time testing the car on gravel and the feeling is very good. It was my first time on a loose surface and I'm happy with what we've achieved in a short time. It's good grip on gravel - better than I thought, and things seem positive. The driving style is only slightly different to tarmac, so I'm not modifying things too much. I'm just thinking about starting the recce next week and am planning to give my maximum. It's the first gravel rally for me so I'm going to be concentrating on learning, progressing and getting experience. I have a very good car, but it's all still very new to me."

Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen and team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Možný face a steep learning curve as Sardinia's gravel roads signal the FIA World Rally Championship's return to Europe after two flyaway rounds.  However, their lack of experience there should not prove a great handicap as organisers of the Rally Italia Sardinia (28 April - 1 May) have introduced major changes to the route following last year's inaugural event.

Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: Gardemeister lies equal fourth in the drivers' standings in his Castrol-backed Focus RS after four of the 16 rounds.  The Finn has scored on all rounds to date but admits he doesn't know what to expect of the upcoming event.  "My experience there is small," he said.  "I learned something about the roads last year when I came back to do SupeRally on the second day, but I had problems so the benefits weren't great.  If you drive special stages in the same area then it gives a feeling for their characteristics, but it's never the same as driving the exact roads. "There are so many new stages this year that nobody is going to have a big advantage.  Last year's roads were narrow with a lot of stones on the edge.  I think this year's rally will be faster but we won't really know until we practise the stages on Tuesday and Wednesday," he added.

Roman Kresta/Jan Mozny: Kresta's confidence was knocked by his pre-event crash in New Zealand but the 28-year-old Czech quickly overcame that problem in testing.  "I drove cautiously during the first morning but I soon found a good feeling with the Focus and I've had three days of good work which have left me feeling confident.  I've wiped the crash from my memory," he said. "I spent one day trying different suspension set-ups, one day working with differential settings and one day testing Michelin's tyres.  I covered 72km on one set of tyres with no problems which is encouraging for the rally.  It's difficult to know what the best settings are because I've never driven here, but I feel that I now have an understanding of the kind of roads I can expect." "As it's a new rally to me, my aim will be to learn about the stages.  I will take no risks and concentrate on improving my knowledge.  The more experience I can get of the stages, the more it will benefit me for the future, but I'm still keen to collect points for BP-Ford," he added.

Peugeot

Round 5 of the 2005 World Rally Championship's sixteen qualifying events takes crews to Sardinia for the first in a sequence of four rough gravel events which all take place in Mediterranean rim countries. Marcus Grönholm and Markko Märtin go into the first of these encounters in a strong position in the Drivers' championship, while Peugeot tops the current Manufacturers' standings. The entire team will be looking to profit from the coming rounds to continue building on its recent progress. The first part of the 2005 season has been quite positive for Peugeot Sport. With a 12-point advantage over Citroën and a gap of 15 points over Subaru, the French squad today enjoys a useful lead in the provisional Manufacturers' championship standings. Its objective to add a fifth world crown to its record before focusing its sporting activities in other areas from 2006 would therefore appear to be a realistic goal.

Marcus Gronhölm / Timo Rautiainen: "I was delighted to come away from New Zealand with more valuable points, although I was a little disappointed of course not to have won there again. We will be able to count on our car's excellent reliability. We simply lacked a little 'plus' in New Zealand to be able to fight for victory. I am looking forward to seeing how competitive we will be in Italy where the stages will be very different to what we found in New Zealand. We will have done more work on the car since then too."

Markko Martin/Michael Park: "The rally takes place at a different time of year now and some of the stages are new. We will see how it goes when we get there. One thing is certain: Pirelli tyres were competitive last year and that's encouraging. Personally, I will be out to score as many points as possible of course while continuing to adapt the car's set-up to my driving style. I changed the way I drove on the final day in New Zealand and that was a little better. Our aim is to continue making progress and to defend as best we can the positions we and the team currently hold in the two championships."

Mitsubishi

After the long haul to México and New Zealand, the FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe for the first of four events hosted in the Mediterranean. Rally Italia is hosted on the diverse south-westerly island of Sardinia, immediately south of Corsica where the teams will head for the 14th round of the series.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietiläinen: "The roads there are not so bad and there are many spectators, which gives the rally a good atmosphere. We've had a long test in Spain since New Zealand, which was okay, but we had heavy rain which loses you time, some ideas and how to compare things. I couldn't believe it; of the three gravel tests I have done it has rained each time! But, we found some ideas and solutions on the damper side and there is more coming up for the summer".

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: "As always I need to work out my strategy with the team, but I don't think things really change especially as this rally is going to be tough this year", said Gigi of his home event. "But, if I am honest, my dream is to get to the finish inside the top five; I want to do this for everyone, but particularly my people: the Italians, my fans and the passion they have for our sport". "The first two days of the rally will be particularly tough, and long, and I think we have to be very careful. Many crews had problems last year and I think it's important to concentrate, take care and understand what is happening around us, as well as to the car. I know the event has changed a lot since last year and hopefully the stages will be faster, but the weather will be a very difficult thing. At this time it's easy to find bad weather in Sardinia and that will add something else to the event. But, I am ready to fight, improve the car and make a good result, with Guido, for the team and especially for Italy".

Skoda

Rallye d'Italia-Sardinia (April 28-May 2) again sees the Fabia WRC 05 being driven by Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha and Janne Tuohino/Mikko Markkula. Armin Schwarz led the Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team here last year although a severe dose of 'flu ensured that it was not a happy experience for the German driver. Janne Tuohino is making his Sardinia debut and is looking forward to this event.

Janne Tuohino/Mikko Markkula: "Since New Zealand we had a good test in Sardinia, quite close to Olbia, and I did about 300kms which was important for me to learn about this soft and sandy surface. I have never done this event before but the roads are quite narrow and technical which is good for my driving style. I used to be quite sideways which was good for the fans but not for the times! It certainly wouldn't work here."

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: "We discovered last year that this new event wasn't like the old Sardinia Rally. The roads are narrow and twisty with a lot of loose gravel on the surface. But running the rally earlier in the year might make a big difference. We didn't have good weather in the pre-rally test so maybe this will be the first wet event of the season. Either way it is important to try and be fast from the start."

Event Statistics

- The total route length of the 2nd Rally Italia Sardinia is 1,192.28 km, including 350.03 km divided into 17 stages (9 different).

- In the light of remarks concerning last year's stages, the organisers have kept a mere 23% (40.20 km) of the tests used in 2004. Some 77% (137.32 km) of the 177.52 km competitors will recce is accordingly new.

- Recce is scheduled for Tuesday April 26th (08:00 until 19:00) and Wednesday April 27th (08:00 until 19:00).

- Like last year, the rally is based in Olbia which is located approximately 30 km south of Porto Cervo. The service park (Molo Brin) will this year be opposite the Archaeological Museum (Isolotto Peddone) which also houses the HQ and the Media Centre.

- The 4.31 km shakedown test (Thursday April 28th, 08:00 until 11:00) is in La Crucitta, Sant'Antonio di Gallura (approximately 30 km west of the Olbia service park).

- The start and finish ceremonies (Thursday, 20.00 and Sunday 14.30) are set in Porto Rotondo.

- Tyres: as in Sweden, a single type of tread pattern is authorised. On April 22nd, the teams communicated the 50 bar-code references corresponding to their drivers' individual choices. In the course of the rally, drivers may use 35 tyres from their quota.

Event Timetable

Thursday 28 April: Ceremonial Start

Start  Porto Rotondo                  20.00

Friday 29 April: Leg 1 Olbia - Olbia

Start  Olbia                          08.00
SS1    Terranova              29.82km 08.53
SS2    Crastazza              21.46km 10.09
SS3    Mamone                  18.57km 10.48
Serv A  Olbia (30 mins)                13.01
SS4    Terranova              29.82km 14.24
SS5    Crastazza              21.46km 15.40
SS6    Mamone                  18.57km 16.19
Serv B  Olbia (flexi 45 mins)          18.12
Finish  Olbia                          18.57

Saturday 30 April: Leg 2 Olbia - Olbia

Serv C  Olbia (10 mins)                08.00
SS7    Loelle                  30.73km 09.38
SS8    Tandaló                38.77km 10.34
Serv D  Olbia (30 mins)                12.49
SS9    Lovia Avra              5.01km  14.09
SS10    Loelle                  30.73km 15.51
SS11    Tandaló                38.77km 16.47
Serv E  Olbia (flexi 45 mins)          18.42
Finish  Olbia                          19.27

Sunday 1 May: Leg 3 Olbia - Porto Rotondo

Serv F  Olbia (10 mins)                06.30
SS12    S. Giacomo              12.70km 07.16 
SS13    S. Bachisio            9.41km  08.29
SS14    Bortigiadas            11.05km 09.02 
SS15    S. Bachisio            9.41km  10.36
SS16    Bortigiadas            11.05km 11.09
SS17    S. Giacomo              12.70km 12.52 
Serv G  Olbia (20 mins)                13.34         
Finish  Porto Rotondo                  14.30

Total                          66.32km
Rally Total                    350.03km

Positions after Leg One:

1.  S Loeb/D Elena            Citroen Xsara    1hr 34min 51.3sec
2.  P Solberg/P Mills        Subaru Impreza    1hr 35min 23.0sec
3.  M Hirvonen/J Lehtinen    Ford Focus RS    1hr 35min 50.3sec
4.  H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer 1hr 36min 09.0sec
5.  T Gardemeister/J Honkanen Ford Focus RS    1hr 36min 25.1sec
6.  M Märtin/M Park          Peugeot 307      1hr 36min 25.8sec
7.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen  Peugeot 307      1hr 37min 03.2sec
8.  A Schwarz/K Wicha        Skoda Fabia      1hr 37min 07.6sec
9.  J Pykalisto/M Ovaskainen  Citroen Xsara    1hr 37min 13.1sec
10  M Stohl/I Minor          Citroen Xsara    1hr 37min 19.4sec
__________________________________________________________________

Leg One News

Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) took an early lead but the Finn rolled on the third stage and dropped 1min 45sec.  However, he recovered well and is seventh.  Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) moved to the front after stiffening his suspension settings following the first stage and ended the day with a 31.7sec lead.  He set four fastest times.  François Duval was on course to give the French team a one-two until he rolled midway through stage five and retired.  Petter Solberg (Subaru) slid off briefly on both the opening two stages but climbed back from sixth to second. Front punctures on the second and third stages slowed Harri Rovanperä
(Mitsubishi) but he recovered to fourth behind Hirvonen.  Markko Märtin
(Peugeot) rounded off the top six, despite a poor tyre choice this morning.  Chris Atkinson (Subaru) ran as high as third but hit a rock and ripped off the right rear wheel 7km from the finish and retired.  A broken rear brake pipe hampered Gigi Galli (Mitsubishi) in the second stage but worse was to come as broken rear suspension sidelined the Italian in the fifth stage. 

Following last night's ceremonial start in the exclusive resort of Porto Rotondo, 66 competitors started Rally Italia Sardinia at 0800hrs this morning

Leg one included a group of three stages, which were then repeated. Located south of Olbia within the Monte Acuto region, the six stages comprised 139.70 competitive kilometres

Conditions were bright and sunny throughout the day. The air temperature was 18°C in the morning, rising to 25°C by the afternoon. Stages were dry gravel

The second leg is the longest of the rally and is based south-west of Olbia.  After re-starting at 08.00, the day begins with the longest two tests of the rally.  After service, competitors face a short stage which will be broadcast live on television before a second pass over the morning tests.  The five stages cover 144.01km and the drivers return to Olbia at 18.42.

Citroen

It's never over until the finish line has been crossed, and that adage proved true once again today when Citroën's hopes of a close formation finish in Sardinia were dashed in a matter of seconds on SS5 ('Crastazza 2'). Minutes previously, the team's two Xsara WRCs had held the top two positions, with Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena leading François Duval/Stéphane Prévot by 9.1s and everything seemed to be running smoothly.

Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena: "It only took a couple of corners for me to realise that the suspension settings were a bit too soft since the rear had tended to float about too much. Also, in the trees, I was hampered by the dust thrown up by Petter [Solberg]. Between SS1 and SS2, I adjusted the front and rear shock absorber settings by a number of clicks and immediately knew on SS2 that we had gone in the right direction, as revealed by our splits and fastest times over the last two stages of the first loop!"

Francois Duval / Stephane Prevot: The end of SS5 unfortunately François Duval was to leave Loeb alone at the top of the field. "I turned in a little too late over a crest noted '80 right'," explained the Belgian. "I went wide into the rocks which sent the car into a roll. I think we rolled twice and the car eventually came to a stop on its right side. It didn't take long to get it back on its wheels and get started again but we saw almost at once that we had lost the rear left wheel and we had to stop."

Subaru

Subaru driver Petter Solberg holds second place on Rally Italia Sardinia tonight after a gruelling day of competition. Despite running first on the road, the Norwegian delivered a string of competitive times aboard his Subaru Impreza WRC2005 to end the day 31 seconds behind the leader, Sebastien Loeb. Chris Atkinson quickly found his pace in his Impreza WRC2005 and traded times with drivers with far more experience to climb as high as third overall. On his first ever gravel rally, Stéphane Sarrazin concentrated on gaining experience of the loose surface conditions. Increasing in confidence throughout the day, he ended the Leg well inside the top-20 and intent on further improvement throughout the weekend.

Petter Solberg / Phil Mills: I'm very pleased to finish today in second place. Sebastien has done a good job and I've been working very hard out there, let me tell you. First on the road here is a very tough place to be, it is so slippery and I had a couple of spins in the morning. Since then, we've had a few things to contend with like no brakes for some of SS4 and a very difficult road surface for our tyres, but that's how it is in rallying and we just have to deal with it. In the past the Pirellis have been so strong in these conditions, but we can see now that the competition has taken a big step forward. I must say I have enormous respect for both tyre companies; their battle is as fierce as the ones between the drivers and the manufacturers. In some particular conditions it seems the competition is ahead just now, but with the work that Pirelli are doing, I'm 100 per cent sure we will get a better tyre. This rally isn't over yet though, it's very rough and easy to make a mistake. I think we'll see a good fight over the next couple of days.

Chris Atkinson/Glen Macneall: Obviously it's disappointing not to able to finish the day, but I guess we found out just how rough these stages are. The rock that took the wheel off had been getting gradually more and more uncovered as every car drove over it, in the end ours was just one of the three cars that caught it at the wrong time. There have been plenty of positives about the day too. This morning went very well, we set some good times in some very tricky road conditions. In the afternoon we tried a harder compound tyre, in hindsight that wasn't the right thing to do, but we got some useful comparison information. The car's not badly damaged, so I'm expecting that we'll get back out there again tomorrow and learn some more.

Stéphane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet : Very good, I'm feeling very positive about today. The start was perhaps a little too cautious, especially on the first stage, but then I pushed a little harder and I'm able to swap times with people like Kresta, Galli and Tuohino who have far more experience. Of course it is just my first day on a gravel rally, so I am taking care not to push too hard, but it is very encouraging and I am really looking forward to driving the car again tomorrow.

Ford

Two Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars held top five positions after a dramatic first day of the Rally Italia Sardinia.  BP-Ford World Rally Team's Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen staged a tremendous fightback up the leaderboard after delays this morning to end the leg in fifth.  But the surprise of the rally was the performance of private entrants Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who took full advantage of improved road conditions further down the start order to claim third.

Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: "I hit the rock with the right front wheel less than 1km after the start of the stage," said 30-year-old Gardemeister.  "The handling was bad for the rest of the stage.  After the finish I checked the damage and the steering arm was bent like a banana.  I used a rock to try to straighten it.  That worked a little, but not enough.  For the next two stages I just had to drive steadily and concentrate on keeping the car on the road.  I couldn't attack.  It was quite a big impact with the rock but Michelin's ATS mousse system worked well and kept the tyre inflated until the end."

Roman Kresta/Jan Možný: "It was a difficult morning and I had to concentrate hard," said Kresta.  "It was rough with many ruts and all I could do was stay in the tracks and drive in them.  I had one small incident on the second stage when I overshot a junction and used the handbrake to spin the car round.  I made the spring settings slightly harder this afternoon and things were much better.  But about 2km after the start of stage four I had a problem with the gearchange.  The semi-automatic system wasn't working properly so I switched to the back-up manual system.  That meant I had no handbrake, and I stalled a few times at tight hairpins when I really needed the handbrake to bring the car around."

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen : "The car is easy to drive, exactly how I wanted it," said Hirvonen.  "I gained an awful lot from my road position this morning.  I had a few lucky escapes but I tried to drive neatly through the corners and then flat out everywhere else, even over all the rocks and the rough sections.  I will try to keep the same pace tomorrow but I'm sure Toni will trying just as hard to catch me."

Peugeot

Marcus Gronholm, who picked hard tyres, surprised all his rivals by setting the quickest time over the opening stage which was nearly 30 kilometres long. His compatriot Harri Rovanpera, who set second fastest time, was 9 seconds behind followed by Petter Solberg and Sebastien Loeb, 10 and 20 seconds off Marcus's benchmark respectively! Marcus set second-fastest time on the following stage but unfortunately he was caught out by the third stage. The Finn was surprised by a sudden hairpin bend after a flat left, and could not avoid going off the road, rolling down a hillside. Marcus ended up with the car on its side on the road below. Some spectators pushed him back onto his wheels and a minute and a half later Marcus was away again, having clearly lost the lead of the rally.

Marcus Gronhölm / Timo Rautiainen: It's not been an easy day for us, but without the roll in the morning I think I could have been in the lead. I rolled the car because there was a little bit of asphalt road in the middle of the stage, and I did not have as much grip as I thought. In the afternoon it was more difficult, and I struggled quite a bit. But we have set two fastest times today which shows what the car is capable of. After the accident it did not feel completely right, so I think with a perfect car I would have gone even quicker.

Markko Martin/Michael Park: It's not been an exceptional day, and I have ended up with sixth overnight. I've still got a lot to learn about the tyre range here in Sardinia, and it was difficult to know how to make the right choice. The stages were very rough - even more than I expected
- so it was mostly a question of staying out of trouble. The car was perfect mechanically, and I hope we can move further up the leader board tomorrow.

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC05 crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen hold a fine fourth overall at the end of the opening leg of Rally Italia Sardinia, round five of the FIA World Rally Championship. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido D'Amore were on the pace from the outset of the event, but the Italians were forced onto the sidelines after stage five with broken rear suspension.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietiläinen: "Our first day result is good and we've had no technical problems", said the Finn back in Olbia this evening. "The feeling with the car is okay, but the roads are very bumpy and rough and generally it's much hotter than we expected. It's a very difficult rally and although we're pushing hard, it's not so easy. We ran a harder specification damper this afternoon and maybe the car was more stable, especially in the fast corners. But we have to wait and see what happens tomorrow with the tires, as maybe this will be an issue".

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: "We didn't hit anything but the suspension suddenly broke and the rear wheel came off", said a disappointed Gigi. "There seems to be a cloud hanging over our car on each rally at the moment. But, we have the opportunity to run in SUPERally tomorrow and hopefully we can continue to show a good pace and gain more experience and understanding of the conditions. On the positive side, there is a big improvement with the dampers; I think our time and Harri's this morning say that for themselves".

Skoda

Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Armin Schwarz and Janne Tuohino hold eighth and 15th places respectively after the opening day of Rally Italia-Sardinia, the fifth round of the 2005 World Rally Championship. Today's opening leg was run under clear blue skies and in temperatures of close to 30 degrees at times. Over today's six stages run to the south of the rally base at Olbia (including one that used roads within a prison complex) Armin set top 10 times on four stages. Janne suffered a gear selection problem this morning but climbed the leaderboard this afternoon and also got into the top 10 times.

Janne Tuohino/Mikko Markkula: This morning I had trouble with the gear-shift system and so it was tough to fight back this afternoon. I had hoped to finish just outside the top 15 but the other drivers were able to adjust their pace and it means I must start first on the road tomorrow which will not be so easy, especially in the morning. In the afternoon there should be more grip but the roads will be rougher

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: It has generally been a very good day for me. We found a good set-up in our pre-rally test and that has been right for today's stages. The roads are incredibly narrow and rough with deep ruts that you can not escape from. I've got a lot of confidence in the car's handling but I lost some time this afternoon with punctures. I think we can maintain our performance tomorrow.

Unofficial Positions after Leg Two:

1.  S Loeb/D Elena            Citroen Xsara    3hr 13min 44.7sec
2.  P Solberg/P Mills        Subaru Impreza    3hr 14min 39.9sec
3.  H Rovanperä/R Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer 3hr 16min 46.1sec
4.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen  Peugeot 307      3hr 16min 59.3sec
5.  M Märtin/M Park          Peugeot 307      3hr 17min 05.2sec
6.  M Higgins/T Agnew        Ford Focus RS    3hr 21min 08.5sec
7.  R Kresta/J Možný          Ford Focus RS    3hr 21min 22.3sec
8.  T Gardemeister/J Honkanen Ford Focus RS    3hr 21min 33.7sec
9.  J Pykalisto/M Ovaskainen  Citroen Xsara    3hr 22min 08.6sec
10  A Warmbold/M Orr          Ford Focus RS    3hr 22min 19.1sec
__________________________________________________________________

Unofficial Leg Two News

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) controlled his advantage over Petter Solberg
(Subaru) at the head of the field and last night's gap scarcely varied. However, the Frenchman then set a blistering time to win the final test by almost 20sec to increase his lead over the Norwegian to 55.2sec. Harri Rovanperä (Mitsubishi) leads the fight for third, 13.2sec ahead of Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot), who has recovered superbly from yesterday's roll.  Markko Märtin (Peugeot) is 5.9sec behind.  Gigi Galli (Mitsubishi) dropped 45 minutes in stage eight when an engine sensor failed and forced him to make emergency roadside repairs.  He lost more time on the last stage when the semi-automatic gearchange system failed and he had to switch to the manual back-up system.  Chris Atkinson (Subaru) retired for the second consecutive day after hitting a rock near the finish of stage eight.  The impact broke his car's front right suspension.  Team-mate Stéphane Sarrazin was also sidelined with a broken clutch just 7km from the end of the final stage.  A broken clutch early in stage 10 also stopped ninth-placed Armin Schwarz (Skoda).

Sixty-five of the original 66 competitors left Olbia parc ferme at 0800hrs this morning

Leg two included five stages, two of which were repeated, and a total competitive distance of 144km. The stages were based west and south west of the service park in Olbia, in the Monte Acuto region

Conditions were bright and sunny throughout the day. The air temperature was 20°C in the morning, rising to 28°C in the afternoon. Stages were dry gravel

Citroen

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena succeeded in controlling from in front throughout Leg 2 and their efforts have seen them extend their cushion over Petter Solberg from 31.7s this morning to 55.2s tonight. Meanwhile, François Duval and Stéphane Prévot were able to re-start today thanks to the remarkable work of their mechanics who put their Xsara back into perfect shape. The objective of the Belgian pair is now to try and score Manufacturers' points for the team.

Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena: "By the time it was my turn to tackle them, the stages had obviously been swept clear," said Sébastien, who was fifteenth on the road. "But they were also badly cut up with a lot of rocks thrown up by the first cars through. You really had to stay concentrated all the time. I pushed quite hard while trying to drive as cleanly as possible. This is the sort of event where you can end up losing time if you try too hard and you risk hitting trouble."

Francois Duval / Stephane Prevot: -No Quote available- François Duval wanted to move back up the leaderboard today, while at the same time endeavouring to keep clear of further trouble. The young Belgian accordingly chose a fast yet safe pace. Helped by the various incidents that marked the day, this allowed him to climb from 22nd to 12th position despite being awarded a far from favourable notional time for SS7 and in spite of a puncture on SS9 which forced him to fit his spare wheel after the stage. and finish the loop with caution. The question now is whether he will succeed in securing valuable extra Manufacturers' points? It is still too early to say since that will depend on the ability of certain of his rivals to re-start on Sunday morning.

Subaru

Subaru's Petter Solberg consolidated his second place overall on Rally Italia Sardinia today. Taking a stage win, the Norwegian increased his lead over the third placed driver by more than 90 seconds and is on course for a strong points finish tomorrow. Contesting his first ever gravel event, Stéphane Sarrazin traded stage times with drivers with far more experience, while his team-mate Chris Atkinson gained more valuable event knowledge at the wheel of his Impreza WRC2005. Although both new drivers were unable to complete the Leg, both will restart in the morning.

Petter Solberg / Phil Mills: Overall I think today has been a good day. We have had no major problems. I'm happy with my own performance, and when you look at how fast Sebastien is going, we have to be pleased with where we are. That's just how it is sometimes. I pushed as hard as I could, but clearly we have some work still to do. But still, this rally isn't over yet. With six more stages and no service tomorrow, a lot of things can happen. You can be sure I'll push as hard as I can right until the end.

Chris Atkinson/Glen Macneall: There's not really much to say after just thirty stage kilometres! We arrived at the start line of SS7 just as it was cancelled, and when the front suspension-arm broke after 30kms of SS8, our day was over. Up until that point I was very happy with the car, we were using the same set-up as yesterday and it was working well. So far on this rally I seem to be learning a lot about the mechanical elements of rallying - hopefully I'll get more driving experience tomorrow!

Stéphane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet : It's been very good today and overall I'm happy. I had a problem with the clutch on the last three stages and I lost my good position overall, but that's how it is. I've come here to learn and I'm definitely doing that. My times have been improving throughout the weekend, it's a good feeling in the car and I'm hoping we can restart and have another good day tomorrow.

Ford

Four Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars are on the leaderboard of the Rally Italia Sardinia tonight after another gruelling day's competition on the Mediterranean island.  BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Roman Kresta and Jan Možný and private entrants Mark Higgins and Trevor Agnew both hold points scoring positions in seventh and sixth respectively, with one day remaining of this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. BP-Ford team-mates Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen spent today's second leg in a furious four-car battle for third in their Castrol-branded Focus RS.  However, an oil pressure warning light flashed on near the finish of the last speed test and they stopped for fear of damaging the engine.  The five minute penalty for not completing the test relegated the Finns to eighth, but still in the points.  Antony Warmbold and Michael Orr complete the Focus quartet in 10th.

Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: "The first stage went well," said Gardemeister.  "It was so good I attacked even more in the next test, but I pushed too hard.  I overshot a junction and had to reverse back onto the road.  Because I was pushing too much, the car was sliding and I picked up a puncture.  The road was so sandy that it was like driving on a beach."

Roman Kresta/Jan Možný: "I was fifth in the start order and there was much more loose gravel on the roads than I experienced yesterday.  I opted for Michelin's hard compound tyres with full cuts to combat the gravel.  It was a safe choice, and it paid off because there was so much soft gravel that the grip wasn't good.  We did a lot of sliding and it felt like driving on ice.  It's easy to make a mistake in those
conditions." 

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen : "I lost the brakes just 1km after the start and had to scrub off speed in the corners.  But near the finish I hit a stone and damaged the steering.  I continued but 1km later I went off the road and lost the wheel.  I also found the engine had lost its oil," said Hirvonen.

Peugeot

On the evening of leg two of the Rally d'Italia-Sardinia, the two Peugeot drivers took one more step towards the podium finishes they both hope to achieve tomorrow. Marcus Gronholm ends the day in fourth place, having started the leg in seventh just behind his team mate Markko Martin, who ends today fifth. Marcus made a massive fightback throughout the day, taking 50 seconds out of his compatriot Harri Rovanpera in the Mitsubishi in front of him. Both Marcus and Markko did an excellent job to look after their tyres and exploit their capabilities to the maximum under difficult conditions.

Marcus Gronhölm / Timo Rautiainen: "It's been a good day, and I hope it will get even better tomorrow. I've had a good feeling with the car and the tyres, although these stages do not get any easier! The car has been entirely reliable and I have had enough confidence to push hard. In many ways this makes me regret my accident of yesterday: without that I think we could have been pushing for victory. But a podium finish is still a good result and that will be my aim."

Markko Martin/Michael Park: "I tried some new set-ups today which seemed to work well, by adjusting the shock absorbers and the ride height. I've learnt a lot about the car and they tyres today and the fight with Marcus is certainly looking interesting! The key to this rally has been staying out of trouble: so far we have managed to achieve that but we have to keep maximum concentration tomorrow."

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports WRC crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen have enjoyed a great day of competition in the second leg of Rally Italia Sardinia, the fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The Lancer WRC05 crew hold third position and are set for a titanic battle over tomorrow's closing stages. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido D'Amore have experienced a problematic day, but set fastest time during one of the stages.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietiläinen: These two days have been the best of the season", said Harri. "I'm very happy and fighting hard like this is very nice. Marcus and Markko are pushing hard but we see what happens tomorrow; it's another long day. Today has been great and the car is better; the small changes we made from the test seem to be helping us in rougher conditions. The last stage was really good for me; I was pushing like crazy and we had one big moment off line, but if you keep pushing, keep the car in shape and can be lucky over the rocks, then you get a good time.

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: I am tired. quite tired today!" said Gigi at the end of the leg. "But, despite our problems, I decided I was really going for it in the short stage - that one was ours before we even started it! I drove like mad because after a day like today I needed that. Winning was very satisfying and we continue to make more kilometers, so there is always something positive

Skoda

Škoda Motorsport World Rally Team drivers Janne Tuohino and Armin Schwarz retired from day two of Rally Italia-Sardinia although, under the 2005 regulations, they remain classified in 12th and 16th places respectively this evening and Janne is still in the championship points positions. Over today's first three stages Armin maintained his overnight position and was comfortably inside the championship points when he was forced to stop 8kms into SS10. Janne was forced to run first on the slippery and sandy roads today and initially slipped down the order before climbing back up the leaderboard when the stages were used for the second time. However he left the road 2kms from the end of SS11 and decided it was better to stop rather than lose more time by trying to regain the road and complete the stage.

Janne Tuohino/Mikko Markkula: The car felt very nervous all through the final stage so maybe something was broken. We spun off near the start and lost a lot of time because the spectators wouldn't help. When it happened again near the end we decided that we would lose less time by stopping. You can't believe how slippery the roads are for the first car
- it's like trying to drive on a sandy beach.

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: We had a problem with the gearshift on SS9 but it seemed OK at the start of the next stage although it seemed to be taking longer to make changes. After 6kms the clutch started to slip and one kilometre later it caught fire and we had to stop. I'm really disappointed that we had to retire but overall I'm happy with the progress we've made here. Hopefully we can continue tomorrow - I'm really up for it but we will have to decide after we get the car back to Olbia.

Unofficial Positions after Leg Three:

1.  S Loeb/D Elena            Citroen Xsara  4hr 06min 33.7sec
2.  P Solberg/P Mills        Subaru Impreza  4hr 07min 33.3sec
3.  M Grönholm/T Rautiainen  Peugeot 307    4hr 09min 41.0sec
4.  M Märtin/M Park          Peugeot 307    4hr 10min 46.0sec
5.  T Gardemeister/J Honkanen Ford Focus RS  4hr 15min 03.0sec
6.  R Kresta/J Možný          Ford Focus RS  4hr 16min 02.9sec
7.  A Warmbold/M Orr          Ford Focus RS  4hr 16min 33.5sec
8.  J Pykalisto/M Ovaskainen  Citroen Xsara  4hr 16min 54.9sec
9.  M Stohl/I Minor          Citroen Xsara  4hr 17min 09.3sec
10  M Higgins/T Agnew        Ford Focus RS  4hr 18min 54.8sec
__________________________________________________________________

Unofficial Leg Three News

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) took no risks to claim his third win of the season and move into the lead of the driver's championship.  His winning margin over Petter Solberg (Subaru) was 59.6sec and he now holds a one point advantage over the Norwegian.  Marcus Grönholm (Peugeot) completed a superb recovery from his first day roll to finish third, comfortably seeing off team-mate Markko Märtin.  Private entrant Juuso Pykälisto took the final drivers' point in eighth.  François Duval (Citroen), who rolled on the first day, and Janne Tuohino (Skoda), who went off the road on the second leg, returned under the SupeRally rules to finish 11th and 13th respectively and take the final manufacturers' points. Harri Rovanperä (Mitsubishi) started the day in the final podium position but a broken front right compression strut ended his rally after stage 13.  Team-mate Gigi Galli's (Mitsubishi) troubled rally ended after the opening stage with a broken gearbox.  Armin Schwarz (Skoda), due to restart under the SupeRally rules, was excluded late last night for receiving outside assistance shortly after yesterday's early morning service.

Fifty-eight of the original 66 competitors left Olbia parc ferme at 0630hrs this morning

The third and final Leg included six stages and 66.32 competitive kilometres. Based in the region of Limbara, the stages were located to the north and north west of the service park in Olbia

Conditions were bright and sunny throughout the day, with an air temperature that started at 15°C and rose to 25°C by mid-afternoon. Stages were dry gravel

Citroen

Sébastien Loeb dominated the Italian round of the World Rally Championship at the weekend (29 April - 1 May), guiding their Citroen Xsara to victory over Petter Solberg by nearly a minute and in the process taking over the lead in the World Rally Championship from the Subaru driver. Loeb's domination of the rally of Sardinia - he lead from stage three to the end of the event and scored twice as many stage wins as his nearest rival - was achieved through the reliability of his Citroen Xsara, an excellent choice of tyres and a skilful and well paced drive from the Frenchman. Team mate François Duval managed to score manufacturers points despite a first-day roll off the track into the bush that left his Xsara on its side and minus a rear wheel. Following repairs and a re-start, he went on to finish in 11th place.

Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena: "There was no wind and, like everyone else, I was hampered by the fairly thick cloud of dust thrown up by the preceding cars," said the reigning World Champion at the finish. "I therefore lifted each time I had to and pushed hard as soon as the conditions allowed. The car was perfect. In the following stages, I was careful not to make any mistakes while keeping a close eye on the times of my closest chaser, Petter Solberg. Winning back to back in New Zealand and here in Sardinia has put us back in the lead of the championship and promises some exciting battles to come!"

Francois Duval / Stephane Prevot: Retired

Subaru

Subaru's Petter Solberg finished Rally Italia Sardinia in second place today, more than two minutes ahead of third-placed Marcus Gronholm. Taking a total of three stage wins, the Norwegian overcame the disadvantage of running first on the road during Leg one to collect eight points in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championship. Both Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Sarrazin fulfilled their objectives of gaining experience aboard their Subaru Impreza WRC2005s. Clinching a stage win, Chris moved up six places on the overall leaderboard today, while Stéphane completed an excellent gravel rally debut.

Petter Solberg / Phil Mills: I am very happy actually. In the circumstances it's good to take second place and I'd like to thank everyone in the team for their hard work. It's been a good fight with Sebastien, but of course I'd hoped it would be a lot closer. But, it didn't happen like that and so I've got the best result I could. At this point in the Championship it's still very close and I think it's going to be a very interesting year. The key thing we have to do is work harder to find some more performance, but we have a good plan and I'm 100 per cent confident that we will succeed.

Chris Atkinson/Glen Macneall: We had another good day out there today, I'll always be happy to get a fastest stage time. Overall I'm pleased with what we've learned here in Sardinia. We've found a good pace and a car set-up that I'm comfortable with. It's a good basis to build upon and the rally has been useful preparation for the new few events. I'm looking forward to them.

Stéphane Sarrazin/Denis Giraudet: Very good, I'm very happy and think I've improved over the weekend massively. I've made positive steps all the time and I'm happy because I've been fighting with Kresta, Henning Solberg, Higgins and many drivers that have done this a lot more than I have. It's been a good weekend's work, no crashes. I didn't take too many risks because I'm still not confident enough, but it's a very good start before the next gravel rally. One week ago, I had never driven on gravel, but now I feel I'm starting to be a good driver on a range of surfaces.

Ford

BP-Ford World Rally Team drivers Toni Gardemeister and Jakke Honkanen and team-mates Roman Kresta and Jan Možný both secured points finishes today after a gruelling Rally Italia Sardinia.  Their Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars headed a quartet of Focus cars on the leaderboard of this fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, which produced an extraordinarily high rate of attrition.

Toni Gardemeister/Jakke Honkanen: "I've been cruising today, driving at a pace which ensured I would finish," said 30-year-old Gardemeister. "Considering I wasn't pushing, I was happy with my stage times.  We scored good points and when I was throwing stones for five hours in the dark in the woods last night waiting for the team to come and collect our car, I didn't think that would be possible.  It's been a tough weekend but one which turned out well.  My pre-event test helped establish a good set-up for the Focus, and although I'm not 100 per cent there yet, everything is heading in the right direction."

Roman Kresta/Jan Možný: "I can't believe it!" said the overjoyed Czech. "It was vital for both me and the team to finish this rally.  Just being here at the end was my primary target.  I've driven very, very carefully and it paid off.  Not only did I finish, but I finished in the points and took my best result.  The first stage this morning was so dusty it was like driving in fog but otherwise all has gone well today."

Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen: Retired

Peugeot

Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm has been able to rise to the magnificent challenge of moving from the bottom of the field to third place overall on the Rally d'Italia-Sardinia. On a tense final day, he pressured the Mitsubishi of his key rival Harri Rovanpera into making a mistake. The other Peugeot 307WRC of Markko Martin finished just behind in fourth, crowning an excellent day for Peugeot. This result means that Peugeot has maintained its lead of the constructors championship, with an 11-point gap to Citroen.

Marcus Gronhölm / Timo Rautiainen: "I really wasn't sure if I would be able to pass Harri, especially when I saw that he was fast on the first stage today. I thought my only chance would be to keep him under pressure, and this tactic must have worked because he went off on the following stage. It's been a tough rally - maybe the toughest of the year - but the car has once more been perfectly reliable which is very encouraging. Now I would like to find a bit more speed."

Markko Martin/Michael Park: "There was not a lot I could do today apart from try and drive safely to the finish. That still required the maximum concentration, because the conditions and the stages were extremely difficult. But I've learnt a lot on this event about the car and the tyres, which will be very useful for the three rough and hot rallies coming up in Cyprus, Turkey and Greece."

Mitsubishi

The Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports crew of Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen enjoyed their best outing of the season in Rally Italia Sardinia, the Lancer WRC05 crew 4th at the end of the first leg and 3rd overall last night. However, they were forced into retirement from 3rd position after hitting a rock and breaking the suspension in today's second stage. Team-mates "Gigi" Galli and Guido D'Amore have endured a difficult event and retired with gearbox failure.

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietiläinen: "We hit a rock and broke one of the front right suspension components", said Harri. "We didn't have a spare in the car and tried to fix it using tools and clips, but we only managed to get another three or four kilometers before it broke again. Okay, it's disappointing but we agreed we would go for it today and these things can happen; it's better to be fighting for the podium position. We proved we can push in these conditions and that both cars, with a clean run, can be very competitive. Hopefully we can carry this through to Cyprus".

Gigi Galli/Guido D'Amore: Four corners into the stage I lost three gears", said Gigi. "In 100 rallies I don't think I can remember an event where I have had so many problems. Obviously it's a big disappointment for me, the team and my Italian fans, but it is my attitude to always look on the positive side. When we had a clean run we were really able to fight and setting one fastest time was very satisfying. It's a tough event but we are making progress, experience and kilometers all the time. Every rally I take something positive home".

Skoda

Janne Tuohino claimed a hard-fought manufacturers' points-scoring finish on his first visit to Sardinia with the Škoda Fabia WRC 05. His overall position was compromised by a problem with the automatic gearshift system during the first three stages of the event that led to him having to run first on the road throughout Saturday and third on Sunday. A thick layer of loose gravel ensured that he was unable to match his rivals' times for the last two days but he ended the fifth round of the WRC in 13th place.

Janne Tuohino/Mikko Markkula: I lost my chance of a good result in the first few stages of this rally and once we had to run first on the road for Saturday I could only try to be at the finish. We have come away from Sardinia with a point for the team but we all know that it could have been better because the Fabia has been improved a lot in our recent testing.

Armin Schwarz/Klaus Wicha: Armin Schwarz was excluded by the stewards on Saturday evening after it was discovered that he had been handed a bottle of oil outside of a permitted service zone. The mistake occurred during a confused first service of the day after Armin's Fabia WRC 05 had needed some last minute work to prevent a possible transmission problem. The team decided not to appeal the stewards' decision. On Friday Armin had run as high as sixth on a day when he was able to demonstrate the agility of the Fabia WRC 05 on Sardinia's tight and twisty stages.