Italian Rally Championship leader and official Pirelli test driver Paolo Andreucci and co-driver Anna Andreucci (Peugeot Italia 207 S2000) are to taken on the Costa Smeralda Rally this weekend for Round Three of the Italian series.
The 30th Costa Smeralda Rally is based in Olbia on the island of Sardinia, and follows directly behind the Rally d’Italia World Championship event this weekend. This poses a brand new challenge for the Italian Championship crews, as they will compete on roads that have been affected by the passage of all the World Rally Championship competitors.
The Sardinian stages are characterized by soft and sandy gravel, which clean rapidly to reveal some sharp rocks and stones. This makes repeated runs through the stages particularly treacherous and a big test for tyres. Andreucci, who runs his car on Pirelli control tyres as used in the WRC, will enjoy this: the puncture rate of the control tyres supplied to the World Rally Championship between 2008 and 2010 was equivalent to less than 0.02%.
“It’s going to be an extremely difficult event, but I can’t wait to get started,” said Andreucci, the winner of the first two rounds of the Italian Championship this year. “Costa Smeralda is going to be quite different to the other rallies we have done so far though. For a start it’s on gravel, but the gravel conditions are going to be harder than those that we normally face, as we are running five minutes behind the entire World Rally Championship field. This is bound to have a very big effect on the roads. The Costa Smeralda stages are normally much rougher the second time through anyway, but this year will probably be the biggest challenge that we have ever seen in Sardinia.”
Nonetheless, Andreucci has an enviable history in Sardinia with four victories there to his name, in 2001, 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Other leading runners on the rally include Alessandro Perico, driving a similar Peugeot 207 S2000 to Andreucci. The Costa Smeralda Rally takes place over eight stages and comprises a total of 138.58 competitive kilometers.
Former winners of the prestigious Italian event include Markku Alen, Attilio Bettega, Henri Toivonen, Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol.