Kubica cruises to second WRC-2 win

Robert Kubica secured his second victory in the WRC-2 championship today, dominating the second day of Rally Italia Sardegna to win by a comfortable 4min 17sec from Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari.

Three weeks after securing his maiden WRC-2 victory in Greece, the ex Formula 1 driver was dominant throughout in his Citroen DS3 RRC, taking the lead on the opening stage and going fastest on all but two of the event’s 16 tests.

The Pole carried a lead of 1min 11sec into Saturday’s competition and extended that with every stage to secure another maximum 25 points haul.

“It’s never easy to win, but it has been good weekend,” acknowledged Kubica. “We had some problems with visibility in the dust and an intercom problem but we never lost our concentration. Where we were not sure of our pace we took care to finish the rally.

“Actually, on today’s first loop we were driving so carefully that we were not learning anything, so I tried to push some more in the afternoon – of course taking care not to do too much. I still have much to learn.”

Kubica now lies fourth in the WRC-2 standings, but has contested less rallies than any of the drivers ahead of him.

Nonetheless, Ford Fiesta RRC driver Al-Kuwari was delighted to add another 18 points to his impressive season tally for second place.

“It’s a good result after a tough rally,” said the Qatari. “We’ve extended our championship lead and now I’ll let the European drivers fight it out in Finland and Germany. We expect to be back in Australia.”

Italian driver Lorenzo Bertelli finished third, 2min 01sec behind Al-Kuwari on his first rally in a Ford Fiesta RRC. “It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve had our problems, but I knew we could be here in this position. Third is great and I’m really happy – finally,” he said.

The top five in WRC-2 were unchanged during Saturday’s competition, and Nicolas Fuchs brought his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X home in fourth, 2min 29sec behind Bertelli. It was the Peruvian driver’s fifth consecutive win in the Production Cup.

Fifth place went to Germany’s Armin Kremer, the Subaru Impreza STi driver finishing 1min 53sec behind Fuchs.

Juan Carlos Alonso, Ala’a Rasheed and Marco Vallario were the only other finishers in WRC-2.