Citroen privateer Conrad Rautenbach is looking forward to getting back on to famil💦iar territory this weekend in Sardin🥂ia.

Rautenbach has had🃏 something of a rollercoaster ride to the year so far and while the high was und🅺oubtedly 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 another new round.

"It goes without s🧸aying that the last rally in Jordan didn't go the way I had hoped or expected; round five came as something of a wake-up call after the high of finishing fourth in Argentina,ℱ" he stated.

"That said, I did t🧜ake 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 getting 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 ca🐲r to drive, and 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 g♔et 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 t♊o 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 g🌌irls! It's a great place and 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 D♕avid [Senior - my co-driver] I've got some good notes for the first day and a half of the route - w🎐hich 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 toug⛦h. 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 have 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 notes, 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 sa🔴me as we left it in Jordan - and that we'll have had a couple of runs at shakedown - it should be great."