Fifty-seven crews to line up in Sardinia

Fifty-seven cars have been entered for next month’s Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Fifteen cars are listed in the headline World Rally Car category. Hayden Paddon will make his debut in Hyundai’s i20, while Khalid Al Qassimi and Henning Solberg return in a Citroen DS3 and Ford Fiesta RS respectively after missing last weekend’s Rally Argentina.

Also back for his first outing since the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo is Slovakian Jaroslav Melicharek who will drive a Fiesta RS.

The WRC 2 category features its strongest entry of the season with 26 crews lined up, including the top four in the standings – Yuriy Protasov, Lorenzo Bertelli, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Karl Kruuda.

The new R5 cars from Citroen and Peugeot will appear in WRC 2 for the first time. Reigning WRC 3 champion Sébastien Chardonnet will debut Citroen’s new DS3 R5 while Kruuda will switch from a Fiesta S2000 to a Peugeot 208 T16.

The 5 - 8 June event starts in Cagliari, in the south of the Mediterranean island, and is based in Alghero. It covers 17 stages and 371.94km.