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San Remo Rally was situated in densely populated Liguarian coast with cities like Turin, Genoa and Milan in very close proximity with plenty of italian motorsport fans ready to hit the stages as soon as rally started. Over the years spectator congestation got worse as route was concentrated on smaller geographical area to comply with cloverleaf format required by the FIA. In the end that spelled the end for San Remo Rally when decision to move rally from San Remo to Sardinia was made by the FIA.
For decades, Costa Smeralda Rally has been one of the leading European Championship rallies and it was on these foundations that new WRC round was to be built upon. Curiously, if San Remo was geographically very close to Monte Carlo Rally, Costa Smeralda is next to Tour de Corse as it is based on northern tip of isle of Sardinia, just south of Corsica.
Rally itself is run over typical mediterranean gravel stages, not excessively rough but quite demanding and narrow. Stage surface is sandy and at times very soft with big stones right on the edge of the road, making precise driving very important. Not as slow as Cyprus but drivers ask for faster stages but unfortunately stages from Costa Smeralda Rally were not used, at least in 2004 edition.
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| 2004:
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Solberg, Petter
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Subaru Impreza WRC2004
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81.02 km/h
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| 2005:
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Loeb, Sebastien
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Citroen Xsara WRC
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85.18 km/h
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| 2006:
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Loeb, Sebastien
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Citroen Xsara WRC
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88.33 km/h
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| 2007:
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Gronholm, Marcus
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Ford Focus RS WRC 06
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89.95 km/h
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| 2008:
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Loeb, Sebastien
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Citroen C4 WRC
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87.17 km/h
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No room for error here: narrow roads with big stones very close to the road call for precise driving.
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Landing after a jump, Solberg demonstrates soft sandy nature of the sardinian stages.
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Terrain is typical mediterranean mountains, rocky and barren.
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Driver wins
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Loeb, Sebastien (3)
Gronholm, Marcus (1)
Solberg, Petter (1)
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Manufacturer wins
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Citroen (3)
Ford (1)
Subaru (1)
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