Slow start for Pedder on Rally Italia Sardegna

Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt have made a slow and steady start to this weekend’s Rally Italia Sardegna on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, completing the spectator friendly Super Special Stage in the harbour Capital of Cagliari.
 

Starting in 23rd position in the ultra-competitive WRC2 category, Pedder was able to move up two places despite admitting to two mistakes on the 2.5km tarmac stage in front of an estimated 30,000 spectators.
 
“I made what I’d call a totally rookie mistake on a very tight junction, unfortunately on the second lap I made the exact same mistake at the same corner!” Scott said. “My experience in the car is minimal on gravel, but it’s absolutely zero on tarmac. I probably need to spend some time in a big tarmac car park just practising to prepare for these Super Special Stages.”
 
The stage though will have little relevancy to the weekend ahead, with co-driver Moscatt describing the stages he and Scott experienced during reconnaissance as some of the roughest he’s ever seen. “Dale turned to me during recce and said ‘these roads are rougher than the Acropolis’,” Scott explained.
 
“I’ve never seen anything like them! I thought parts of Portugal were rough, but this is a completely different level again. The entire course isn’t like this, but the bits that are ok are pretty minimal compared to the rough sections, especially some of the downhill roads that are just littered with rocks.”
 
Scott has said that between the length of the rally, which is set to be the longest of the year, combined with the road conditions and the heat it will definitely prove to be a rally of survival.
 
“It’s going to be an incredibly tricky rally,” he commented. “There is going to be a really high level of attrition and drivers will only be focused on getting to the end over driving flat out. My focus is that if I can get to the end with no problems at a reasonable pace then we’ll be looking at a very good result.”
 
Preparation for the weekend was slightly blunted when Pedder was unable to complete recce on this morning’s shakedown stage, the one and only chance for him to test his Ford Fiesta R5 ahead of the weekend.
 
“The final section of the stage was really loose gravel uphill. We were one of a bunch of recce cars that just couldn’t get up the hill and we had to be towed out. Unfortunately that meant we couldn’t partake in shakedown, having said that the top drivers did the minimal runs and then packed up and about 15 drivers all hit the same tree! So maybe running wasn’t such a bad idea!” he laughed.
 
Tomorrow’s opening Leg takes drivers from the overnight halt in Cagliari up the West coast of Sardinia towards the town of Oristano and then onwards to the rally base in Alghero for service. Nine stages await totaling 133.50km with Pedder singling out the 14.41km Montiferru stage, run both in the morning and afternoon, as the toughest of the day.
 
“That’s one of the roughest stages, so it’s going to be one to watch out for!” he added.

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