After the ceremonial start in the old harbour area of Porto Cervo on Thursday 17 May, the action begins with the 31km Crastazza stage at 0943hrs on Friday morning. There are six timed sections on each of the three days, and the winning car is scheduled to cross the finish line back in Porto Cervo at 1430hrs on Sunday 20 May.
The legs on Friday and Saturday are quite similar to those used in previous years. The first day takes competitors through the State Property Forest of Castrazza, in the province of Nuoro. For day two the action shifts to Terranova, and mixes familiar roads with new sections, before the final day includes one test that is completely new: Monte Nuragone.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb extended his lead in the 2007 FIA World Rally drivers' championship following his third win in succession on the Rally Argentina. Loeb now has 48 points, three more than Marcus Gronholm, who remains second.
Mikko Hirvonen lies third, with 36 points, 9 behind his team-mate.
In the Manufacturers' championship there was no change at the top - although the
BP Ford WRT did increase their lead over
Citroen, albeit by only 1 point, from 8 points to 9.
The big news during the gap between Argentina and Sardinia was the announcement that Xavier Pons has joined the
Subaru World Rally Team. Pons, will drive a third Subaru Impreza WRC2007 for the last eight rallies of this year - starting with Rally Finland on August 3-5 - as a precursor to a full campaign in 2008, when the team will continue fielding three cars.
In other news,
Francois Duval looks almost certain to compete on the Acropolis Rally in two weeks time, after First Motorsport confirmed that they have resolved the issues which have delayed their programme until now.
