Although it had been about six months since his last WRC event on gravel, the 41-year-old Sordo was in fine form. On Friday, he even managed to set a few fastest times. Sordo could have been in contention for a podium finish, but with his teammate Thierry Neuville, who is competing in the full championship, ahead of him, the Cantabrian had to ease off the gas during the crucial moments on Saturday.
This upcoming weekend, Sordo faces one of his favourite events as the WRC continues on the island of Sardinia. Sordo has won the event twice, in 2019 and 2020.
“Sardinia is a very similar surface to Portugal, but a bit more slippery in places. Portugal gave me good preparation for the event; I completed some good gravel kilometres at the last round,” Sordo says.
“This year’s event is a lot more condensed, so we need a really fast start to get us the best possible road position for Saturday onwards.”
Sordo is a master at optimizing the advantage of a good starting position in gravel rallies. In Sardinia, he again has excellent starting conditions on Friday, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him near or even at the top after the opening day.
“It’s an event where road position is really important, so we will see what we can do to optimise that,” Sordo reflects.
“We need a lot of precision in the car because some passes are really narrow, meaning even more grip is needed to get the car through each pass safely.”
In Portugal, Sordo’s podium remained a dream, but in Sardinia, the only goal is to be on the podium on Sunday.
“The target is definitely to finish on the podium, but it would be really nice to go one step further and fight for the victory.”
Rally Sardinia starts on Friday morning with a shakedown stage. The event will feature a total of 16 special stages, covering around 266 kilometres.
