Round 7: 3th Rally d'Italia Sardegna 2006

Pictures of the Rally Italy 2006 here.

San Marino driver Mirco Baldacci guided his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX through a trouble-free final leg of Rally Argentina to clinch a podium finish on the South American round of the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship. Today’s dry but cloudy and cool third leg included four stages, two to the west of Cordoba . the world-famous Mina Clavero and El Condor . and two in Cordoba stadium, which was also the venue for the rally finish. Mitsubishis had set the pace through the typically tough Argentine stages for much of the event, with Baldacci, Gabriel Pozzo and Sebastian Beltran all using their Lancer Evolutions to great effect to lead at some point. Eventually, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Leszek Kuzaj (driving Subarus) edged them out of the first two places, but Baldacci made third. Baldacci’s effort in Argentina means he moves into a podium spot in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship standings. The former JWRC frontrunner was pleased with his third place . which matches his third place on Corona Rally Mexico. "It’s been a very tough rally, I have to say," said Baldacci, who is co-driven by Giovanni Agnese. "I still don’t have so much experience of the Lancer, this is only my second event in the car . but it works well. The Mitsubishi is great to drive, but this event has been technically quite difficult. The weather made it really hard, too. The fog at the start of the second leg was incredible, so bad. You just couldn’t see anything at all. Then we had the rocks, uncovered by the cars ahead, it was hard to see where to go around them. After such a difficult rally, I am definitely happy to make the finish. It’s also very nice for me to be on the podium on both of my first two rallies . this is good." Beltran, who finished fifth in Production Car, said: "It’s a shame that we haven’t won this rally. That was possible for us in this Mitsubishi. The stages today have been fantastic, so exciting and such tough roads . really they are incredible. Now the Tango Rally Team has to focus on its next outing in the Production Car WRC and go there to try and win." Italian driver Stefano Marrini finished just behind Beltran in the Production standings, taking a solid top six finish in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. The outright speed of the Mitsubishi was demonstrated perfectly by local driver Federico Villagra. He and co-driver Diego Curletto realized one of their rallying dreams when they won the Group N category of their home round of the World Rally Championship. Villagra’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution ran without fault for the three days, allowing him to take a comfortable victory . ahead of all of the Production Car WRC runners. "It’s been such a good rally, the Mitsubishi has been perfect . no trouble at all. I was quite confident I could get this result, once we got out into the front. I was driving without pressure and I was able to take no risks," said Villagra. At the front of the field, Sebastien Loeb clinched his 24th World Rally Championship victory and his second Rally Argentina win in succession. The Citroen Xsara WRC driver was followed home by Subaru’s Petter Solberg, while Gigi Galli clinched third in his Peugeot 307 WRC.

PWRC FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Vehicle	Total Time	Diff Leader
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza	4:32:44.0	**:**.*
2	Leszek Kuzaj Maciek Szczepaniak	Subaru Impreza STI	4:34:14.4	+1:30.4
3	Mirco Baldacci Giovanni Agnese	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:46:52.2	+14:08.2
4	Nigel Heath Steve Lancaster	Subaru Impreza	4:55:10.2	+22:26.2
5	Sebastian Beltran Ricardo Rojas	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	4:55:12.2	+22:28.2
6	Marcos Ligato Ruben Garcia	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	5:03:36.7	+30:52.7
7	Stefano Marrini Tiziana Sandroni	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII	5:08:32.4	+35:48.4
8	Arai Toshi Tony Sircombe	Subaru Impreza STI	5:10:21.0	+37:37.0
9	Sergey Uspenskiy Dmitry Eremeev	Subaru Impreza STI	5:10:37.1	+37:53.1

OVERALL FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Vehicle	Grp Pos	Total Time	Diff Leader
1 M1	Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 1	4:06:51.3	**:**.*
2 M1	Petter Solberg Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC 2006	A 2	4:07:35.9	+44.6
3	Gigi Galli Giovanni Bernacchini	Peugeot 307 WRC	A 3	4:10:15.6	+3:24.3
4 M2	Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	A 4	4:10:31.3	+3:40.0
5	Daniel Sordo Marc Marti	Citroen Xsara	A 5	4:12:31.5	+5:40.2
6 M1	Chris Atkinson Glenn Macneall	Subaru Impreza WRC 2006	A 6	4:12:35.1	+5:43.8
7 M2	Henning Solberg Cato Menkerud	Peugeot 307 WRC	A 7	4:16:20.0	+9:28.7
8 M2	Matthew Wilson Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	A 8	4:17:25.9	+10:34.6
9 M2	Luis Perez Companc Jose Maria Volta	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	A 9	4:17:43.6	+10:52.3
10 M1	Marcus Gronholm Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	A 10	4:21:00.0	+14:08.7
11	Gareth MacHale Paul Nagle	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	A 11	4:23:11.7	+16:20.4
12	Federico Villagra Diego Curletto	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 1	4:29:41.1	+22:49.8
13	Eduardo Yoma Omar Santiago Garcia	Subaru Impreza	N 2	4:30:56.6	+24:05.3
14	Claudio Menzi Miguel Vera	Subaru Impreza	N 3	4:32:20.1	+25:28.8
15 P	Nasser Al-Attiyah Chris Patterson	Subaru Impreza	N 4	4:32:44.0	+25:52.7
16 P	Leszek Kuzaj Maciek Szczepaniak	Subaru Impreza STI	N 5	4:34:14.4	+27:23.1
17 M1	Xavier Pons Carlos Del Barrio	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 12	4:34:22.5	+27:31.2
18	Nicolas Madero Guillermo Piazzano	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 6	4:42:43.5	+35:52.2
19 J	Guy Wilks Phil Pugh	Suzuki Swift S1600	A 13	4:44:46.9	+37:55.6
20	Marco Gomez Pascual Julia	Subaru Impreza	N 7	4:45:30.8	+38:39.5
../
21 P	Mirco Baldacci Giovanni Agnese	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	N 8	4:46:52.2	+40:00.9
24 P	Sebastian Beltran Ricardo Rojas	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	N 10	4:55:12.2	+48:20.9
26	Daniel Marrocchi Carlos Chioli	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	N 12	4:57:37.8	+50:46.5
28 P	Marcos Ligato Ruben Garcia	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	N 14	5:03:36.7	+56:45.4
29 P	Stefano Marrini Tiziana Sandroni	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII	N 15	5:08:32.4	+1:01:41.1
32	Matias Sas Ricardo Kember	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 18	5:11:00.5	+1:04:09.2
33	Michael Kahlfuss Ronald Bauer	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	N 19	5:13:01.4	+1:06:10.1
36	Gerardo Klus Cristian Ravaza	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 21	5:16:47.0	+1:09:55.7
38	Jose Luis Gonzalez Hugo Oropel	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	N 23	5:27:03.0	+1:20:11.7
39	Rodrigo Alenaz Laureano Grigera	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 24	5:28:16.6	+1:21:25.3
40	Jorge Marcheto Alejandro Elvira	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 25	5:32:30.5	+1:25:39.2
41	Diego Stroessner Fabrizio Cabello	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	N 26	5:33:16.0	+1:26:24.7
42	Paulo Nobre Paula Edu	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII	N 27	5:34:58.1	+1:28:06.8
43	Luis Barbery Paz Daniel Marcelo	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 28	5:35:24.7	+1:28:33.4
46	Luis Monteiro Diego Cagnotti	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 30	5:43:24.4	+1:36:33.1
51	Arturo Abella Nazar Roberto Bulacio	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI	N 33	6:27:27.5	+2:20:36.2
M1 = FIA WRC MANUFACTURERS 1 / M2 = FIA WRC MANUFACTURERS 2 P = FIA PWRC / J = FIA JWRC

(by mitsubishi-motors.com)