Sardinia JRC: Citroen Sport - PreviewThe C2 Junior Experience breaks new ground at the third round of the FIA Junior Rally Championship in Sardinia. To mark the occasion, there will be a full house of Citroëns competing on the event, with three C2 Super 1600s and five C2-R2s.
Throughout the 348 competitive kilometres, the C2 Junior Experience drivers will discover (or in some cases, re-discover) the unique countryside of Sardinia.
The island event replaced Sanremo as Italy's round of the World Rally Championship four years ago, and the route takes in some spectacular scenery before the finish at Porto Cervo – a well-established haunt of the international jet set. Sardinia is the second gravel round of the Junior Championship to be held this year.
"The rally shouldn't be as rough as Portugal, but its specific characteristics mean that punctures are always a risk," explains Yves Matton, Citroën Sport's customer competitions manager.
"Some of our drivers are already used to this type of terrain: the key to finishing this rally and doing well will definitely be to avoid punctures," he underlined.
The Citroën C2-R2 drivers will welcome a new colleague into their midst in Sardinia, Bryan Bouffier. Having excelled in several of the junior rally formulae over the last eight years, the Frenchman will make his debut in the FIA Junior Championship with the PHSport team.
"We're very pleased that Bryan is joining us in the C2 Junior Experience with a Citroën C2-R2. He's a driver with a bit of experience now, as he has been a Peugeot factory driver four times. Sardinia will be his first World Championship rally, but he has plenty of gravel experience that will help him on this event. With that knowledge of both asphalt and gravel behind him, I think Bryan could be on for a very good performance," Yves Matton added.
"Once more, the C2 Junior Experience is accomplishing its main goal of taking young drivers into the World Championship. That's a source of great satisfaction to all of us here at Citroën Sport," Matton was pleased to say.
Sardinia will be a step into the unknown for Bryan Bouffier and also Raphaël Auquier, who was second in the R2 category in Portugal. Stefano Benoni and Gilles Schammel are competing on this rally for the second time, with their firm aim being to reach the finish in Porto Cervo. Shaun Gallagher is also competing in Sardinia for the second time: he is naturally keen to maintain his lead of the R2 category and to continue his progress in the Junior Championship.
"We're hoping for some good results in Sardinia," continued Yves Matton. "From Portugal, all of our young drivers have shown how keen and hungry they are to win. We know that they are all able to score points in the overall junior classification, like Shaun Gallagher did with his C2-R2. As for the drivers who will be using the C2 Super 1600, we would like to see them fighting for the class lead at the finish."
Conrad Rautenbach, Aaron Burkart and Martin Prokop, in the C2 Super 1600, know this rally well as they have all done it more than once. Rautenbach is the most experienced of them, having taken part in every one of Sardinia's World Championship rallies with a best result of second last year.
Yet with 52% of the route being brand new for this year, the race for the podium will be anything but straightforward.
Source Citroen Sport
