Sunday news briefs from Sardinia

Mikkelsen to bounce back from crash

Andreas Mikkelsen has vowed to bounce back from the “stupid mistake” that led to his retirement on Saturday’s opening stage of Rally d’Italia-Sardegna.

The 20-year-old Norwegian’s M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 left the road on a twisty left-hander and toppled down a small drop. Damage was largely cosmetic after the car rolled once but the incline meant Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene were unable to regain the road without the aid of a tow truck and were forced to retire from the leg.

“It was a very twisty section with lots of notes and I just forgot about the last one and realised too late,” said Mikkelsen. “It was a stupid mistake but it can happen.”

Prior to the accident, Mikkelsen said he’d had a “good feeling with the car”, adding: “I didn’t get a split [time] before I crashed but the road was cleaning a lot so it could have been good. Today I just try to find the rhythm and hopefully set some good times.”

Çetinkaya out to build IRC experience

Burcu Çetinkaya says she plans to build her experience of driving her Peugeot Sport Turkey 207 Super 2000 when she restarts Rally d’Italia-Sardegna this morning.

Çetinkaya and co-driver Çiçek Güney retired on the fifth stage of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier when a wheel worked loose on a straight.

“We felt the steering wheel go loose and realised there was a problem with the wheel so we had to stop,” said the 29-year-old Çetinkaya. “A bolt had broken in the suspension but it is fixed now and we must build our experience of this car – that is all we can do today.”

No restart for Al Rajhi in Sardinia

Yazeed Al Rajhi has elected not to restart on the final leg of Rally d’Italia-Sardegna.

The Saudi Arabian driver, making his Intercontinental Rally Challenge debut, crashed on Saturday’s second stage. Although his car has been repaired by his Kronos Racing team, Al Rajhi won’t be tackling any of today’s six gravel stages.

“Yazeed was too quick for a water splash so his car started to fly over and hit a bridge,” said Kronos team boss Marc van Dalen. “We needed to change the steering and the front-left wishbone.”

Al Rajhi, who is contesting the Middle East Rally Championship for Kronos this season, currently has no plans to contest further IRC events but will enter a national rally in Spain next weekend.

“It is important to do as many gravel rallies as possible so we look to some national events,” said van Dalen.