Citroen privateer Conrad Rautenbach is looking forward to getting back on to familiar ﷽territory 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 t🥃he Rally d'Italia he at least won't have to worry 🅺about learning yet another new round.

"It goes without saying 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," 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 getting away from that, but as soon as it had happened, I was looking to get ba✤ck out in the car straight away.

"All I want, right now, 🌌is time in the Citroen. It's such a great car to drive, and I feel I'm understanding more abo💙ut 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 dr💛ove 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 afternoꦐon'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 and the rally is one of my favourites behind the likes of Sweden and Finland. I like hot rallies, they remind me of driv⛄ing 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 day and a half of the route - which are the stages we've done before.

"I can't tell you how good it will f🎃eel 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 le🔥arn new rallies - like I have been doing for the last three rallies.

"I fee♔l 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 confiden👍ce 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 g🔯iven that it should be the same as we left it in Jordan - and that we'll have had a couple of runs at shakedown - it should be great."