Aussie photographer, Michael Vettas, continues his trip through Europe, and has stopped in to catch all the action of Italy's round of the World Rally Championship.
Well, it’s Rally Sardinia (Italy) time, held in the city of Alghero, which is 200km north of the capital Cagliari, Italy. Sardinia is a tourist destination, there is no mistaking it, Italians to Germans and English and others thrown in the mix.
A sample of the rough and slippery surfaces in Rally Sardinia.I have just come from spending two weeks driving around mainland Italy, so am feeling fresh (even though I managed to get bronchitis while away) and ready to get in to rally mode.
The rally was originally held in the city of Olbia, however, after recent floods the main hub for the rally was moved to Alghero, which a few insiders tell me, had a lot to do with money.
Anyway, let’s get straight in to it. As I sit here in the media centre writing this, I reflect on the past two days of recce.
I cannot recall a more rough and slippery surface in all my rallies. At some points quite scary, I had no control over the car and at others it felt like the car was going to fall apart from all the bumps. It was quite challenging, but needless to say both myself and the car made it through.
The rally began this morning with Shakedown, a very technical, rough and dusty 3.5km stage. Robert Kubica surprised the lot with the fastest time, a mere 0.1s ahead of Ogier and 0.4s ahead of Latvala.
Tonight the teams head south to the capital Cagliari for the first Super Special Stage, a purpose built stage on the foreshore of Cagliari Harbour. The drama behind this, though, is that it’s a 250km drive for a 1.3km stage and run once at 10pm, with a 5am alarm for tomorrow and a 3 hour drive back. Unfortunately I won’t be making the trip.
The next few days are set to be exciting, fast, technical in some places, rough and, of course, dusty. Friday and Saturday’s stages are set 150km east of Alghero, while the Sunday stages are relatively close.
I also managed to go through the service park before all the mayhem begins. As this is a European round the teams bring out the big guns. The Hyundai dealership is quite impressive - stay tuned tomorrow for an inside look at their structure.
So stay glued to RSM for daily recaps.
CLICK HERE to view Michael Vettas' photos from recce and shakedown at Rally Sardinia.
WRC photographers catpure the action at shakedown in Italy. 
NZ's Hayden Paddon is making his debut for the Hyundai team.
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