Rally d'Italia Sardegna Leg 3 Report

Rally d'Italia Sardegna - Leg three
21 May 2006

SS13: 0750 S. Giacomo 1 (13.46km)
After leaving Olbia parc fermé crews headed north for the sandy, narrow S. Giacomo stage, which featured a watersplash 11.5km from the start. Subaru’s Petter Solberg started the morning in the best possible way with the first stage win, just under a second quicker than overnight leader Sébastien Loeb. Petter’s time moved him to one second of seventh position overall. Team-mate Chris Atkinson also started well with fourth best time to consolidate fifth position. Skoda’s Harri Rovanpera broke a differential through the pass and lost over one minute, while François Duval stalled his engine on the startline and took over 10secs to get it restarted.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 10:09.3

Sebastien Loeb wins again, Daniel Elena sets record wins

SS14: 0841 La Prugnola 1(9.59km)
Chris Atkinson demonstrated the pace of the Subaru Impreza WRC2006 as he secured his first stage win of the 2006 season. The Australian had an excellent drive through the 9.5km La Prugnola speed test to finish over four seconds faster than reigning world champion Loeb. Chris’ Subaru team-mate Petter Solberg also had a successful stage as he vaulted into seventh ahead of Finn Kristian Sohlberg. Second overall Mikko Hirvonen set the third fastest time through the shortest stage of the rally, however his effort was over a second slower than Loeb and the Frenchman extended his lead to over two minutes 20secs with four stages left to run.
Fastest Time: Atkinson (Subaru) 4:46.0

Dani Sordo, 3rd place, first podium

SS15: 0920 Campovaglio 1 (15.92km)
The final stage of the morning’s loop of stages was Campovaglio, located to the north west of Olbia. The stage had never been used in the rally and ran through the middle of a quarry. Dust was kicked up by the first cars and many drivers, including Hirvonen and Solberg, reported massively reduced visibility. Loeb posted his first stage win of the day, with Subaru duo Atkinson and Solberg continuing their promising morning performance with the second and third fastest times respectively. Petter closed the gap to sixth-placed Jussi Valimaki by more than 10secs to just under 25secs.
Fastest Time: Loeb (Citroen) 10:53.4

Jussi VÄLIMÄKI, 5th place, 4 points

SS16: 1051 La Prugnola 2 (9.59km)
After a 15 minute regroup in the town of Arzachena, the field headed back north for a further run through the morning's three stages. Petter Solberg started the second loop as he had the first – with a stage win. Crucially, Petter’s time closed him to within 18secs of Valimaki in sixth overall. In a very closely matched battle, the top three stage finishers recorded times within half a second of each other. Hirvonen and Atkinson were second and third respectively, with Loeb recording the fourth quickest time and Duval rounding off the top five.
Fastest Time: Solberg (Subaru) 4:50.5

SS17: 1128 Campovaglio 2 (15.92km)
Petter Solberg’s hunt for sixth place continued in the penultimate stage of Rally d’Italia Sardegna. The Norwegian carved a further seven seconds from Valimaki’s advantage with the second quickest time through Campovaglio and the gap between the pair closed to 10.7secs. Loeb was fastest through the dusty 15km speed test to extend his lead of the rally to nearly three minutes from Mikko Hirvonen. Subaru’s Australian driver Atkinson was again third quickest, with Sordo fourth and Kopecky fifth. The result was the Czech driver’s highest finish of the rally.
Fastest Time: Loeb (Citroen) 10:40.1

SS18: 1235 S.Giacomo 2 (13.46km)
Jan Kopecky scored his first-ever win on the last stage of the 2006 Rally d’Italia Sardegna. Subaru’s Petter Solberg collected a bent steering arm in the first half of the stage, but pressed on at a safe speed for the remainder of the pass. He lost over three minutes to Kopecky and dropped to ninth overall. Team-mate Chris Atkinson went off the road midway through the speed test after he was distracted by dust in the cockpit of his car and missed his braking point for a corner. The impact damaged his Impreza’s front-left suspension and Atkinson stopped by the side of the road. Under FIA regulations, the Australian was awarded a five minute penalty for failing to finish the stage and fell to tenth overall. Sébastien Loeb secured his fifth consecutive win of 2006 with the result making co-driver Daniel Elena the most successful co-driver in history with 25 WRC victories. Hirvonen finished second overall with Sordo in third, the Spaniard’s first-ever gravel podium.
Fastest Time: Kopecky (Skoda) 10:09.2

Final Result - Rally d'Italia Sardegna

Pos.	Driver	Vehicle	Time	Diff Ldr	Diff Prev
1	LOEB	CITROEN	03:54:18.9
2	HIRVONEN	FORD	03:57:00.3	02:41.4	02:41.4
3	SORDO	CITROEN	03:57:46.6	03:27.7	46.3
4	PONS	CITROEN	03:59:47.2	05:28.3	02:00.6
5	VÄLIMÄKI	MITSUBISHI	04:01:27.7	07:08.8	01:40.5
6	SOHLBERG	SUBARU	04:01:55.8	07:36.9	28.1
7	STOHL	PEUGEOT	04:02:37.3	08:18.4	41.5
8	DUVAL	SKODA	04:04:04.7	09:45.8	01:27.4