Carlos Garcia Fessman was delighted to pass through all eight of Saturdays stages successfully and guide his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X safely to the finish of Ralliart Italys home event Rally dItalia Sardegna. One of only five Mitsubishis to survive the tough Sardinian gravel, Fessman was very happy with the experience he gained on Day Two. Now he is looking forward to widening his horizons later in the season as he hopes to take on more European rounds of the 2013 WRC Calendar.
After a premature end to his Day One outing when he suffered turbo problems en route to SS2, forcing him to retire from the day, Fessman was pleased to get back out this morning. He took SS9 carefully, but found a better rhythm on SS10 and SS11 as he began to learn how to handle his Lancer. He remained cautious on the unfamiliar roads and approached the afternoon loop steadily to avoid falling foul of the increasingly worn stages, focused on making it to the end of the tricky event.
He had one small moment on SS13, when he clipped the right rear of his Mitsubishi on a rock. Fessman bent a rim and had to stop on the tight 1.3km road section to SS14 to change the tyre. He was unfortunately delayed by five minutes checking in to the next Time Control, leaving him with a 15 second penalty. However, he was relieved not to have done more damage and to be able to continue unscathed to finish the rally 35th overall.
Fessman was pleased with his Rally dItalia experience and cant wait to get back out on the WRC stages: Rally dItalia is a fantastic event. I enjoyed the driving, but also the whole experience. Victor and I really enjoyed working with the team and getting an insight into the WRC. Our Lancer was great and we feel we made a big improvement during the event. Now we want to build on that experience and take her out in Finland.
Team Manager Bruno De Pianto was pleased with Fessmans European debut: It was a pleasure to work with Carlos and Victor here in Sardinia. Carlos already had a good feeling with the car, because he drives a Mitsubishi in his regional Championship. However, now hes learning new terrain and wants to put in a pre-event test to ensure he is as comfortable as possible before his next WRC round. We hope to see him flying on the fast Finnish gravel! Wed also like to thank Venezuela and their Ministry of Sport for their cooperation and are looking forward to seeing Carlos fly the flag for them at the finish this evening!
