SS1/SS4 Monte Corvos (16.43km)
We start with a reverse direction stage from last year which is very narrow, bumpy and lots of mud. There are lots of trees that line the sides of the road so its very easy to slide off and into a tree or a tree stump at the very beginning of the rally, so we could see some casualties. It’s very, very twisty and complex before suddenly opening onto a flat out section along the main road for about two kilometres to finish.
SS2/SS5 Crastazza (33.96km)
The longest stage of the rally, about half is the same as last year. It starts very fast and flowing with a large jump before heading into the forest where it gets very tricky and we’ve seen lots of cars go off in the past. It’s really got everything, jumps, bumps, flat out bits, tight twisty corners and obstacles like narrow gates. The road surface is quite loose and rutted, it’s very long. About eight kilometres from the end we have what I can only describe as a rollercoaster. Massive speed, huge crests and dips for about two kilometres. It’s a very tricky piece of road.
SS3/SS6 Terranova (15.39km)
This is possibly the toughest stage of the rally, because when we went through on the recce it was full of mud. We’ve seen massive overnight rain this week, but here it can dry out in half a day if you get the wind and the temperature, but the mud ruts will be horrendous as they will just dry solid. Less than half the distance of Crastazza, Terranova still has everything: very twisty, very narrow, especially for the first half, huge mud and a downhill section where you can slide off even at walking speed. You can’t afford to go off here as there is no run-off and it’ll end your rally.
SS7/SS10 Punta Pianedda (18.53km)
The opener of day two starts and finishes in the same place. It starts with a new section for this year, which is very narrow and tricky, especially as we haven’t seen it before. It looks as though this year they’ve put in lots of tricky pieces in the midsection to keep the average speed down and removed a lot of the flat out section, although the stage ends with a four kilometre straight along the old gravel main road.
SS8/SS11 Monte Lerno (29.31km)
The second longest stage of the rally starts fast and flowing, then in the middle becomes medium twisty. We also have the famous big jump, 21 kilometres in, and unbelievably so this year they’ve re-graded the jump to make it even higher. I think they’ve gone a step too far though, and I don’t think you’ll actually see any cars jumping over it. We’ve written a double caution in our pace notes about it, and even then on the recce we took off. Too fast and you’ll just break the car in half. It finishes with a long downhill section to a flying finish.
SS9/SS12 Su Filigosu (19.46km)
Of the 19 kilometres total distance, this stage winds downhill for about ten kilometres. It’s very hard on the brakes as you use them pretty much the whole way – they’ll really take a pounding. We cross quite a deep river mid-way through, and then finish the last three kilometres with lots of junctions through a sort of parkland, with another big jump, although not as big as Monte Lerno.
SS13/SS15 Monte Olbia (19.28km)
It starts on open and difficult moorland, and the whole stage is very rough and bumpy. We have a very narrow forest section before the route parallels a deer fence for about eight kilometres. There are lots of hairpins, and lots of rocks on the inside of the corners which means we can’t cut any of them. We finish by passing through the middle of a timber yard before rejoining the main road. We saw a lot of cows on the road here in the recce but no deer. Animals aren’t really something you can afford to think about though. I mean we’ve seen kangaroos in Australia and even a bear in Japan, but it’s just one of those things that if you think too much about, you’ll never get anywhere. It’s a good stage but hard on the car.
SS14/SS16 Sorillis (18.66km)
Most of this stage is new, and on the recce it was very, very muddy. The first three kilometres especially were very tricky, although the surface may dry out quite quickly so it could be different by the rally. There’s another river crossing, but it was very different this time round. Last year we used the crossing and it was a trickle, this year we came to it and it was about two feet deep, and it was a bow wave over the bonnet. It’s a long crossing too, about 30 metres wide, so it’s all about judging the speed to not stall the car. It’ll be a crucial factor as someone is bound to get stuck.
SS17 Liscia Ruja (2.69km)
The final of the rally is a spectator stage that I think has been done for the scenery, as it’s beautiful along the beach. But, the whole road is one car width, you can’t slide the car anywhere, there’s not a junction in it and it’s actually not really a very good place to spectate as you’ve got this huge grass everywhere, what we call elephant grass. It’s ten feet tall or so in the scrubland before we reach the beach, so spectators on the ground won’t see a thing.
-swrt-
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