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09.05.2008
Conrad Rautenbach - Welcome to: Rally d'Italia Sardegna Rally d'Italia Sardegna FIA World Rally Championship, round 6/15 Olbia, Sardinia Preview Italy has long had a round of the World Rally Championship; Sardinia, however, has not. Italy's WRC qualifier moved to the island for the first time in 2004. The gravel roads surrounding the host town of Olbia were preferred by the sport's governing body to the asphalt mountain passes found in the hills above Sanremo. Since 2004, Sardinia has become well-loved by the travelling WRC family. The glamour of the ceremonial start in Porto Cervo – home to the rich and famous – provides the perfect backdrop for the start and finish of one of Sardinia's most appealing annual events. Away from the super-yachts and the beautiful people, this event is one of the most testing and arduous on the calendar. Temperatures in the 30s (degrees Celsius) are to be expected and the roads are a fascinating mixture of the super-quick and the exceptionally technical. And, lying in wait at the side of all of the stages are rocks which are either sharp enough to slash the sidewalls out of the tyres or savage enough to clobber the suspension into submission. Either way, Sardinia is a place for inch-perfect driving. Conrad Rautenbach is in a confident mood ahead of his visit to next week's sixth round of the World Rally Championship. For the first time in three events, the 23-year-old can focus his attentions firmly on driving the Citroen C4 WRC rather than having to learn another new rally. Rautenbach has only ever tackled six rallies in a World Rally Car, but on the last three of those he has been in the deepest of deep ends, getting to grips with the car which won the World Rally Championship last season; a cutting-edge Citroen C4 WRC. Learning the car is one thing, and certainly not the work of a moment, but going to Mexico, Argentina and Jordan for the first time made that job even tougher. Now, though, Conrad's back in Europe and raring to go. He's spent more time in the gym in his new hometown of London (having moved to England's capital city from northern France shortly before Jordan Rally) and is feeling fitter and readier than ever to take on the sky-high temperatures of the WRC's Mediterranean tour of Sardinia, Greece and Turkey. Conrad's column* It goes without saying that the last rally in Jordan didn't go the way I had hoped or expected; round five came as something of a wake-up call after the high of finishing fourth in Argentina. That said, I did take positives from Jordan – particularly the time I spent in the car on the Sunday. Saturday [in Jordan] and the crash with Sebastien Loeb was a bit of a nightmare. There's no getting away from that, but as soon as it had happened, I was looking to get back out in the car straight away. All I want, right now, is time in the Citroen. It's such a great car to drive, and I feel I'm understanding more about what makes it tick. Sunday was the longest day of the event, I was really pleased PH Sport managed to get our C4 WRC ready. Given that I'm using the same car [in Sardinia] I drove in Jordan, it's good for me to know that the set-up of the C4 WRC was spot-on on Sunday afternoon. We'd had a few issues on the Sunday morning, but I wasn't sure if that was me or the car. When we got back to service we had a look at the data and made some changes. After that, the car was great and Sunday afternoon's stages were a blast. I am glad to be back in Europe, though. And in particular Italy. And not just because of the event, either. I'm a big fan of Italian food… and the girls! It's a great place and the rally is one of my favourites behind the likes of Sweden and Finland. I like hot rallies, they remind me of driving at home in Africa; I like the rallies which tend to cut up and get a bit rougher for the same reason. Sardinia is usually a bit of both of those. Having done this event for a while now, the last three with David [Senior, co-driver] I've got some good notes for the first day and a half of the route – which are the stages we've done before. I can't tell you how good it will feel to come back to familiar territory. The last couple of rallies have been really quite tough. It's one thing having to learn a completely new car, but it's another when you're trying to make new notes and learn new rallies – like I have been doing for the last three rallies. I feel good about the first day in Sardinia. We've got a good seeding on the road and that, combined with the notes, gives me a good bit of confidence to push on and have a real go. Obviously, not having had a test, we'll need to see how the car is running, but given that it should be the same as we left it in Jordan – and that we'll have had a couple of runs at shakedown – it should be great. Last time out: Jordan Rally (24.04.08 – 27.04.08) Conrad Rautenbach retired from the last round of the FIA World Rally Championship on days one and two in Jordan. The first problem surrounded the clutch on the Citroen C4 WRC, which expired following the last stage on Friday. Without the aid of the clutch, Rautenbach was unable to get the car up the hill and away from the stage end. The second day's retirement came on their way to SS11, when they were involved in a road accident with another competitor. Rautenbach returned for the third, final and longest day of the WRC's first visit to the Middle East and set impressive times, belying the tough time he'd been through on the previous two days. Having incurred 45 minutes of penalties for not finishing days one and two, any hopes of Rautenbach backing up his fourth place in Argentina went out of the window; he was classified 26th. The full facts: Conrad Rautenbach Age: 23 Nationality: Zimbabwean Car: Citroen C4 WRC WRC debut: Monte Carlo 2004 WRC starts: 34 Rally d'Italia Sardegna starts: 4 FIA championships won: 1 (2007 FIA African Rally Championship) Best WRC finish: 4th (Rally Argentina, 2008) Co-driver: David Senior The full facts: Rally d'Italia Sardegna Start: Porto Cervo, 2000** Thursday May 15 Day one: 6 stages 131.56km Day two: 6 stages 134.60km Day three: 5 stages 78.57km Finish: Porto Cervo, 1430** Sunday May 18
- CR Media
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Friday, 09.05.2008 - 01:07 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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