Rally d'Italia - Sardinia

Italy's round of the World Rally Championship has a new home this year, on the island of Sardinia. The all-new gravel event replaces the asphalt of Sanremo, and the 13th round of the World Championship is set to provide yet another fresh challenge for drivers, teams and tyre manufacturers. The event is based in the north of Sardinia, with the start and finish in Porto Cervo and a central service park in Olbia. The Sardinian stages take in a wide variety of surfaces and speeds, while the weather is expected to be generally warm - although rain is a possibility. Some of the stages are run on mountainous roads at high altitude where conditions are expected to be somewhat cooler. The stages are mostly composed of medium to soft gravel roads, which are slightly reminiscent of those of Argentina. Although the Rally d'Italia-Sardinia is a brand new event some sections of it are similar to the European Championship Costa Smeralda rally, where Pirelli has an excellent winning record. The base tyre for this event will be the latest evolution of the tried and trusted KM rubber, which contributed to momentous victories on the last two rallies in Japan and Great Britain. Pirells drivers will also have at their disposal the newest version of the KP tyre, which made a winning debut with Petter Solberg in New Zealand. Fiorenzo Brivio, Pirelli's rally manager, explains: "Sardinia is the third all-new gravel rally this year after Mexico and Japan, where we have always demonstrated our rapid ability to assimilate and analyze new situations. I believe that our new range of P Zero KM and KP tyres will give Petter and Subaru an excellent chance of fighting for their third consecutive win." Solberg comments: "I love new events: we were in leading in Mexico this year and we won in Japan. From what I can tell so far, Sardinia should be very suited to our car and our tyres, so there is no reason why we cannot fight to win. Our tests have been extremely positive, and I'm feeling very confident after victories on the last two rallies in Japan and Great Britain."