Citroen privateer Conrad Rautenbach is looking forward to getting back on to familiar territ🍎ory this ♈weekend in Sardinia.

Rautenbach has had something of a rollercoaster ride to the year so far and while the high was undoubtedly that fourth place finish in Argentina, he 🌄came back to down to earth with a bump in Jordan, when he was involved in a head-on collision with Sebastien Loeb.

Now🅺 the Zimbabwean will want a less dramatic event and with good experience of the Rally d'Italia he at least won't have to worry about learning yet 𓄧another new round.

"It goes without saying that the last rally in Jordan didn't go the way I had hoped or expected; round five cam🌼e as something of a wake-up call after the high of fi🍸nishing fourth in Argentina," he stated.

"That said, I did take positives from Jordan - particularly the time I spent in the car on the Sunday. Saturday [in Jordan] and the crash with Sebastien Loeb was a bit of a nightmare. There's no gettin𒁏g away from that, but as soon as it had happened, I was looking to get back out in the car straight away.

"All I want, right now, is time in the Citroen. It's such a great car to drive, andꦬ I feel I'm understanding more about what makes it tick.

"Sunday was the longest day of the event, I was really pleased PH Sport managed♏ to get our C4 WRC ready.

"Given that I'm using the same car [in Sardinia] I drove in Jordan, it's good for me to know that the set-up of the C4 WRC was spot-🎶on on Sunday afternoon. We'd had a few issues on the Sunday morning, but I wasn't sure if that was me or the car. When we got back to service we had a look at the data and made some changes. After that, the car was great and Sunday afternoon's stages were a blast.

"I am glad to be back in Europe, though. And in particular Italy. And not just because of the event, either. I'm a big fan of Italian food - and the girls! It's a great place an🔯d the rally is one of my favourites behind the likes of Sweden and Finland. I like hot rallies, they remind me of driving at home in Africa; I like the rallies which tend to cut up and get a bit rougher for the same reason.

"Sardinia is usually a bit of both of those. Having done this event for a while now, the last three with David [Senior - my co-driver] I've got some good notes for the first da🦋y and a half of the route - which are the stages we've done before.

"I can't tell you how good it will feel to come back to familiar territory. The last couple of rallies have been really quite tough. It's one thing having to learn a completely new car, but it's another when you're trying to make new notes and learn new rallies - like I ha💫♔ve been doing for the last three rallies.

"I feel good about the first day in Sardinia. We've got a good seeding on the road and that, combined with the nꦗotes, gives me a good bit of confidence to push💦 on and have a real go.

"Obviously, not having had a test, we'll need to see how the car is running, but given that it should be the same as we left it in Jordan - and that we'll have had a couple of runs at shakedown -ไ it should be great."