Pedersoli's
dream drive

The asphalt specialist is driving on gravel for the first time in more than a year and he’s never tackled Sardinia’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship before. To make things even more tricky, he’s spent much of the event running almost at the head of the field in a Citroen DS3 WRC he’s driving in competition for the first time on the back of a 50-kilomete test before the start.

Pedersoli’s drive came about through his sponsor, renowned electronics firm, Magneti Marelli. “I know that I can’t compete with the others here and our times aren’t quick,” said the Italian, who starts the final day in 11th place. “But this is exactly what I was expecting and today has been even harder because of our road position: I can really feel the car sliding a lot and I don’t have so much experience of this situation.”

The 41-year-old has plenty of experience driving Citroens though, as he is a regular in the Italian asphalt series - where he has won the national title twice - at the wheel of a Citroen C4 WRC. “We wanted to do something different, in the most visible rally in Italy for our sponsors, and that it why we ended up here: it wasn’t really to get a result,” he added. “I’m having an absolutely fantastic time though: this is a great car and I’m loving every second.”

Pedersoli is targeting more world championship outings with Citroen in the future, but first of all he has to convince his sponsors that it’s a good idea. If he carries on like this though, he could even end up scoring points - and that would be the best possible start.