Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team face another tough gravel challenge this week at Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship.
After victories in the last three events in Kenya, Croatia and Portugal, the team are targeting another strong result on the Italian island of Sardinia, looking to fight back in the championship where they trail the leaders in the manufacturers’ standings by just four points.
Sébastien Ogier will contend for a third win from as many rounds in Sardinia, where he has triumphed four times previously – most recently with TGR-WRT in 2021. He’s joined in the line-up by Elfyn Evans, who finished second to his team-mate on that occasion, and Takamoto Katsuta, who has placed as high as fourth on the event previously.
It is 20 years since Sardinia first hosted Italy’s round of the WRC. This year it will debut a more condensed format that will pack the competitive action – totalling 165.5 miles – into 48 hours. While the event might be more compact, it should remain just as demanding: the fast but narrow and technical stages leave little margin for error, while the sandy surface is swept away by each passing car to expose a rocky and abrasive base. This can combine with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees centigrade to punish cars and tyres.
This year the service park returns to the historic city of Alghero on the island’s northwest coast. Ater shakedown on Friday morning at the nearby Ittiri rallycross circuit, the rally starts in the afternoon with two coastal stages to be driven twice. Saturday heads further east and features more than half of the competitive distance, with 92.5 miles to be driven without a midday service. Two stages will be run twice in the morning, before a tyre-fitting zone and another two stages are tackled twice in the afternoon. On Sunday there’s a return to two repeated stages along the northwest coast.
Welsh team driver Elfyn Evans said, “For us, Portugal was a difficult weekend, but it’s still quite early in the season and we just have to aim for some stronger rallies ahead.
“Every rally is important and we need to try and make the most of the opportunity in Sardinia. We definitely made some progress with the feeling in the car in Portugal and we’re working with the team to try and come up with some further improvements for Sardinia, even though it’s difficult with the limted testing we have. It’s quite a similar rally to Portugal in some ways and maybe trickier in others, but I’m sure we can turn things around and make it a better weekend.”
All eyes are on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia this week as the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship season approaches its midpoint at Rally Italia Sardegna, round six of 13.
This unique gravel event offers the first look at the WRC’s all-action sprint format, enhancing the appeal and spectacle of the WRC, featuring a Friday afternoon start and a more compact schedule.
The shortened route in no way lessens the challenge the Mediterranean stop throws at drivers and cars with it remaining one of the sternest tests on the calendar. Away from the rally’s idyllic seaside base in Alghero, crews will face scorching temperatures, rough roads lined with trees and rocks, and a soft sandy surface that becomes extremely slippery when wet.