Finnish driver Emil Lindholm and co-driver Reeta Hämäläinen will start the gravel competition in a Hyundai Rally2 car, which will be run in a slightly unusual format. The shakedown stage is scheduled for Friday morning, and the first special stages will be driven on Friday afternoon.
In practice, the competition will be completed within 48 hours. Thus, one day has been cut from the rally week. Altogether, the rally includes 16 special stages, totaling 266 kilometers.
Lindholm approves of the new trial.
“The new format means we have less time to work with our notes. I believe this format is a welcome direction for WRC rally week scheduling. And I think we will see more WRC rallies like this in the future,” says Lindholm, who competes in the WRC2 category.
According to Lindholm, he managed to get a good pre-test for the competition. Lindholm is aware of the challenges of the Rally Sardinia and knows that a tough race lies ahead. In the previous two events, Lindholm’s rally on the Mediterranean island ended due to suspension failures.
“Sardinia is a beautiful island where adapting speed to difficult driving conditions is a challenging task. It’s a bit like the Acropolis Rally in Greece, which is actually one of my favorite rallies.”
“Competing in Sardinia is more about strategic play than absolute speed. The roads here are also technical. No one knows how many and what size stones will rise from the gravel tracks this year. You have to be careful. Tyres and the car need to be preserved,” Lindholm points out.
Lindholm has not achieved top results in his two WRC rallies this season, but he approaches the Sardinian round with confidence.
“We aim to do our best. We will do what we can to achieve a good position,” Lindholm promises.
