Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala has continued his strong pace from Rally Greece by winning the qualifying stage at Rally Italia Sardegna – Round 7 of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Winning the qualifying stage gave Latvala the choice of road position for Friday’s opening special stage of which the Finn has elected to start last (13th) on the road to avoid the job of sweeping the dust strewn Sardinian stages
In fact, the entire field will see a ‘reverse grid’ effect with the fastest in today’s qualifying stage running last on the road and the slowest to run first on the loose gravel.
Second fastest on the qualifying stage was the ever impressive Russian Evgeny Novikov driving a Qatar M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC.
Third was current Championship leader Sebastian Ogier who continues to produce a dominate pace during his Volkswagen Motorsport team’s debut season.
Mikko Hirvonen was the quickest Citroen heading home fourth fastest with Ford driver Thierry Neuville rounding out the top five.
Qualifying Stage Times:
| Pos | Driver | Time |
| 1 | Jari-Matti Latvala | 3:12.655 |
| 2 | Evgeny Novikov | +0.690 |
| 3 | Sebastien Ogier | +1.571 |
| 4 | Mikko Hirvonen | +1.742 |
| 5 | Thierry Neuville | +1.847 |
| 6 | Mads Ostberg | +2.366 |
| 7 | Dani Sordo | +2.741 |
| 8 | Andreas Mikkelsen | +3.779 |
| 9 | Martin Prokop | +4.997 |
| 10 | Per-Gunnar Andersson | +6.922 |
| 11 | Elfyn Evans | +10.689 |
| 12 | Michal Kosciuszko | +12.380 |
| 13 | Khalid Al-Qassimi | +14.817 |
Leg 1 starting order (on the road):
| Pos | Driver |
| 1 | Khalid Al-Qassimi |
| 2 | Michal Kosciuszko |
| 3 | Elfyn Evans |
| 4 | Per-Gunnar Andersson |
| 5 | Martin Prokop |
| 6 | Andreas Mikkelsen |
| 7 | Dani Sordo |
| 8 | Mads Ostberg |
| 9 | Thierry Neuville |
| 10 | Mikko Hirvonen |
| 11 | Sebastien Ogier |
| 12 | Evgeny Novikov |
| 13 | Jari-Matti Latvala |
