Hayden Paddon has taken the lead of Rally Italia Sardegna after Friday’s morning loop of stages, the Kiwi driver claiming the advantage after Kris Meeke rolled his C3 WRC into retirement. Back on form, Paddon sits 4.3 seconds ahead of lead Toyota driver Juho Hänninen with Mads Ostberg third in a Fiesta WRC.

The seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship got underway last night in the tourist resort of Alghero and was immediately followed by a super special stage en route to the overnight halt in Olbia. Thierry Neuville took honours in the stage but it was Meeke who hit the front first thing this morning. The Northern Irishman then briefly lost out to Hanninen in the second stage before regaining his lead after the penultimate test of the loop.

In SS5, however, the right rear of the C3 WRC clipped a bank, pitching it into a roll. “Up to that point everything felt good,” said Meeke. “I was settled, it felt okay, I wasn’t trying to do anything silly. But yes, that’s the way it is – not good enough.” While able to get back to service, Citroen then confirmed the roll cage was too damaged for the crew to continue. 

Paddon, who feels back to his old self, therefore takes the advantage into the afternoon stages, but he is in the thick of a battle with both Hänninen and Østberg, the trio split by just 4.4 seconds. Ott Tänak heads M-Sport’s charge and the Estonian is another 10.3 seconds adrift but happy with his performance.

Thierry Neuville, fifth, suffered with hanging dust early this morning and then briefly went off in the second stage, losing around five seconds. His road position isn’t helping his challenge but he remains in a battle with Jari-Matti Latvala, the rivals separated by only 2.2 seconds at the mid-leg service. The Finn lost some time this morning being over cautious but is ahead of Championship leader Sébastien Ogier, who admitted running first on the road had been tougher than expected. 

Former Volkswagen driver Andreas Mikkelsen returns to the WRC with Citroën and the Norwegian holds eighth for the team. He is measuring his pace while learning the car in the heat of competition but is happy the feeling is getting better stage by stage. He is now the sole remaining runner for the French multiple World Champions, Craig Breen joining Meeke on the side-lines. The Irishman damaged the gearbox housing after landing heavily on the front-end of the car and while he was able to continue, a loss of oil ultimately forced him out of the day.  

Dani Sordo had been running as high as fifth until suffering an engine problem; he is now ninth with Esapekka Lappi 10th, the Finn setting his first-ever fastest time in a World Rally Car. Elfyn Evans also joined the list of retirees; he went off the road in SS4.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship, Jan Kopecky heads the pack and is 24 seconds ahead of fellow Škoda driver Ole Christian Veiby. The fight in the Junior WRC Championship is however intense with Nil Solans leading Terry Folb by just 1.4 seconds. 

WRC top class returnee Andreas Mikkelsen has imposed no targets on himself for his championship comeback in Italy this weekend.3

The former Volkswagen driver returns to frontline action at Rally Italia Sardegna in a Citroen C3 WRC. It is his first competitive outing in a new-generation 2017 World Rally Car after losing a full-time drive at the end of last season.
After less than 300km in the car during a single day’s test in southern France, Mikkelsen is making no predictions ahead of the hot weather, rough road encounter which is one of the toughest of the year.
“I’ve not been driving these cars for a long time so it’s hard to know what to expect resultswise. I just will drive with my feeling and we’ll see where we are at the end. If I feel comfortable, then normally we are going at a good speed,” he said.
The Norwegian has been without a full-time drive since Volkswagen Motorsport’s decision to step back from the WRC last year. Although he finished third in the 2016 points and won the final round at Kennards Hire Rally Australia, he missed out on a topline seat for 2017.
Mikkelsen helped develop Volkswagen’s redundant 2017 Polo and also tested Hyundai’s i20 Coupe before agreeing a one-off deal with Citroen Racing.
“So far it’s only this rally and hopefully we can do a good rally and maybe there will be more. Nobody from the team really expects me to deliver a great result here.
“I’ve had one day in the car which at this level isn’t much. The level is really high now in the WRC and if you want to fight at the front, you really have to know your car. You must know what’s going to happen in every situation to go really flat out,” he added.
Mikkelsen feels he has nothing to demonstrate on his return after finishing third in the championship for the last three seasons.
“Being on the podium three years in a row, I don’t feel I need to prove I have the speed. The last round of the WRC we did, we won. For me it’s to get the mileage in the car and bringing my experience to the team and hopefully improve everything.
“One day testing is not a lot but the feeling was quite good. I got comfortable quite quickly, but I’m still discovering it,” he added.

Thierry Neuville was the early leader of rally italia sardegna after winning thursday evening’s opening speed test.

The Belgian, driving a Hyundai i20 Coupe, defeated arch-rival Sébastien Ogier in the headline heat at Ittiri motocross arena to grab a 0.2sec lead.

“I enjoyed that quite a lot,” he said. “The car was working well but the stage was abrasive and the tyres suffered a bit, but I don’t care! A good crowd and a great atmosphere,” said Neuville.

Ott Tänak was second after beating Jari-Matti Latvala, despite a scare in the watersplash when the windscreen wipers on his Ford Fiesta jammed. “We were lucky!” said the Estonian.

Dani Sordo reported a similar problem in his i20 en route to third, after edging Elfyn Evans by a tenth of a second in their heat. The Welshman was fourth with Hayden Paddon and Ogier tying for fifth.

Several drivers clipped straw bales lining the course. The worst affected was Juho Hänninen who picked up minor damage to his Toyota Yaris’ rear left spoiler.

After an overnight halt in the east coast town of Olbia, the rally continues early on Friday with the first of two loops of four gravel stages. After lunchtime service in Alghero, the quartet is repeated, making a total of 125.46km of competition.

Souce: WRC.com

Ott Tanak believes he can carry forward the momentum from his Rally-leading performance in Portugal as he aims to break his WRC duck in italy this week.

He was on course for a maiden win at Rally de Portugal until he damaged his Ford Fiesta’s suspension against a bank, allowing team-mate Sebastien Ogier to claim his second success of the season.

The Estonian, who is fourth in the points as the series reaches its midpoint at Rally Italia Sardegna (8 - 11 June), is confident heading into the rough and hot Mediterranean island encounter.

“I feel as though we’re getting better all the time and learning more about the car every time we get behind the wheel. We had a great set-up in Portugal, the best we’ve had all year, and another test means that we go to Sardinia in a positive mood,” he said.

Sardinia holds special memories for the M-Sport World Rally Team pilot who secured his first podium there in 2012.

“We’ll be aiming to at least equal that. We’ll need to be fully focused from the start as there are so many things to consider on an event as tricky as this one.

“The stages are very narrow, but also quite fast in places. There is always something to catch you out, so you need to keep that margin.

“We’ll also be experiencing the highest temperatures of the year which could mean more tyre wear and a need to manage the situation. We got an idea of what to expect at the test, and we hope to be in a position to challenge for another strong result,” said Tänak.