09.05.2023 - There are 74 crews entered in the twentieth edition of Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship 2023, scheduled from June 1st to 4th, also valid for WRC2, WRC3, and Junior World Rally Championship. The twentieth edition of the rally will therefore see an interesting number of entries for the event organized by Automobile Club d’Italia with the support of Regione Sardegna, which confirms the results achieved in the previous years. There will be a total of 27 different nationalities represented (Italy, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, Japan, Great Britain, Principality of Monaco, France, Spain, Norway, Luxembourg, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Czech Republic, Poland, Paraguay, Germany, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Qatar, Turkey, Kenya, and Croatia), a new record for the event confirming its international nature, and as evidence of how the WRC is an important showcase that promotes Sardinia, spreading its image worldwide. There will be a strong representation of 18 Italian crews (8 of them are from Sardinia), followed by the Finns with 7 entries, 5 from France, 4 from Spain and Estonia, and then from all the other countries.

THE NAMES. Ogier, Tanak, and Rovanpera - three world champions - will be at the start in Sardinia with the other main drivers taking part in the 2023 World Championship. There will be 9 hybrid Rally 1 cars on the road, entrusted to the official Toyota drivers (Ogier, Rovanpera, Evans, and Katsuta), the Hyundai ones (Neuville, Lappi, and Sordo), and the Ford MSport ones (Tanak and Loubet). In WRC2, there are 39 entries, including Gus Greensmith, Oliver Solberg, Andreas Mikkelsen, Sami Pajari, and Nikolay Gryazin aboard the Toksport Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. There will also be the Finnish driver Teemu Suninen in the Hyundai i20 Rally 2, the Frenchman Yohan Rossel in the Citroen C3 Rally 2, and the other Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin in the VW Polo GTI Rally 2. Martin Prokop (Skoda) will be at the start of the Italian rally - at his 18th participation - so will Adrien Fourmaux (Ford Fiesta Rally 2) and the Polish drivers Kajetanowicz and Marczyk (both in the Skoda Fabia). The reigning WRC 2 Masters champion Mauro Miele, joined by Luca Beltrame, will also be in Sardinia and face the competition with Armin Kremer, Keferboch, and Laszlo (all in the Skoda Fabia Rally2). Matteo Gamba and the Sardinian drivers Giuseppe Dettori and Nicola Tali (all in the Skoda) entered WRC2, as did Francesco Tali in the Ford Fiesta Rally 2. The WRC 2 Junior champion Emil Lindholm will be in the race (not entered for the WRC2) in the Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2. 8 drivers entered the Junior World Rally Championship aboard the Ford Fiesta Rally 3 managed by MSport Poland: Creighton, Pellier, Dominguez, and Rensonnet. In WRC 3 Korhonen, Turkkan, and Kohn are all entered with Ford Fiesta Rally 3. There are 8 Sardinian crews: Francesco Marrone, with Francesco Fresu in a Peugeot 208 T16. He is the only driver who took part in all the 20 editions. In addition to Dettori-Pisano and N.Tali-Frau, there will also be Stefano Marrone-Mele, Schirru-Salis, and Biancu-Pittalis (all in Peugeot 208 Rally 4), and Mara-V.Cottu and Liceri-Mendola in the Peugeot 208. Two sons of rally drivers also entered, Fabio Schwarz (son of Armin) with a Ford Fiesta Rally 3 and Matteo Fontana (son of Corrado) with the Peugeot 208.

THE RACE. The 2023 edition of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship, will take place from June 1st to 4th, with its base set in Olbia. The rally consists of three legs and 19 stages totaling 322.75 competitive kilometers.