"I am glad to be back in Europe now. And in particular Italy. It's a great place and the rally is one of my favourites behind the likes of Sweden and Finland. 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."
Of the rest, in addition to the 17 JWRC runners, another 23 runners will also take in the round, including eleven set to battle it out for Group N honours and six for the N3 class victory.
Route:
The base remains in Olbia, with the single service park in the town's port, but organisers have maintained their policy of ringing the changes with 29 per cent of the stages new and some competitive distance used in the opposite direction to previous years.
The exclusive coastal resort of Porto Cervo again hosts both the start and finish ceremonies. Much of the new distance is covered on the opening day which nevertheless returns to traditional territory south of Olbia in the Nuoro region.
The second leg is similar to last year, covering more inland tests in Gallura and including the spectacular Monte Lerno jump.
The final day moves away from Tempio Pausania and Arzachena for tests south of Olbia before a short, final stage just south of Porto Cervo in the famous Cala di Volpe gulf. Drivers tackle 17 stages covering 344.73 kilometres in a route of 1040.35 kilometres.
Last year:
Marcus Gronholm won the Rally d'Italia Sardegna last year, inheriting the victory on the final day when
Sebastien Loeb went off the road and got stuck in a ditch, squandering a 36.5 second lead.
Mikko Hirvonen meanwhile came through to take the runners-up spot, 30 seconds behind, while
Daniel Sordo took the final place on the podium, 14.8 seconds up on
Henning Solberg.
Petter Solberg was fifth, followed by
Toni Gardemeister, Juho Hanninen and Manfred Stohl.
