Precision will be the key for the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi when he negotiates his latest World Rally Championship test of the season in Sardinia next week.
Known as one of the most demanding events on the WRC calendar, the Rally d’Italia Sardegna,
presents a formidable examination for the Emirati driver when he tackles the seventh round of the 2013 series alongside British co-driver Scott Martin in their Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team DS3 WRC.
After his roll in the recent Acropolis Rally when he had been on course for his best WRC result of the year, Al Qassimi is taking a realistic view of an event which lived up to its reputation as one of the most punishing in the world on two of his previous three visits to the Sardinia.
Looking forward to his return to the Mediterranean island, he said: “The main things I remember are that the stages are very narrow – a lot narrower than in the Acropolis. The surface is mostly compact with loose gravel, so it’s slippery like in Jordan, and there are a lot of rocks on the side of the road.
“One year I was unlucky to hit a rock and broke the front steering arm, and another year I damaged the back of the car. You really have to be very precise on those stages. Being too careful can cost you a lot of time, but on the other hand if you take too many risks you can have much bigger problems.”
Added Al Qassimi: “I crashed in Greece and I haven’t driven a rally car since, so to begin with I want to clear my mind of what happened in the Acropolis and get back into it gradually.
“I’ll need to get my feeling back, and so it won’t be easy to begin with, but after testing and doing the recce, I should be fine.”
After travelling to Sardinia for a day of testing next Monday, Al Qassimi is optimistic that the expertise which has carried Citroën Racing to eight successive WRC manufacturers’ titles can have his Abu Dhabi DS3 in prime condition for another rugged examination.
“I wasn’t happy with the way the car felt in Greece, so we’re going to make changes to the way it’s set up,” he said. “There isn’t much time for testing after we’ve made the changes, but we’re hopeful that we can make some improvements.”
“It’s fantastic to be part of a team like this, which has so much experience. I was with a factory team before, but as soon as I joined Citroën I could see the difference, and I knew I had made the right choice.”
Al Qassimi faces a variety of challenges in Sardinia, where the 16 predominantly fast and narrow stages are run over a mixture of flat open areas and undulating tracks through woodland, with the route also featuring a number of water splashes and spectacular jumps.
After a two-day recce next Tuesday and Wednesday, the 56 entries negotiate a 3.86km qualifying stage the following morning to decide the starting positions for the first of eight special stages on Friday, with eight more stages leading to the finish on Saturday.