"RIS Heroes": the social format that tells the story of the Rally Italia Sardegna

10 videos will showcase the most vibrant emotions of the event's first twenty years through the voices of the ten winners. The first episode, which features the historic 2004 edition and Petter Solberg's victory, was released online yesterday.

02.03.2023 - The first episode of the "RIS Heroes" format has been online since yesterday on the social media channels of Rally Italia Sardegna (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and on website rallyitaliasardegna.com. It is a mini-series of 10 short emotional videos, which will tell the first twenty years of the Italian Rally on the Island of Four Moors through the voice, memories and anecdotes of its ten winners.

"RIS Heroes" is one of the many initiatives that will be taking place as part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Rally Italia Sardegna, the event organized by the Automobile Club d’Italia with the support of the Regione Sardegna. The 20th edition of the event will be held from June 1st to 4th in Olbia, as the sixth round of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship.

The first video naturally focuses on the historic 2004 edition of the rally, when the Italian round of the World Rally Championship landed in Sardinia. Petter Solberg and Phil Mills, driving the Subaru Impreza S10 WRC 04, claimed their fifth victory of the season and their third in a row, reigniting Solberg's pursuit of Sébastien Loeb for his second consecutive championship after winning it in 2003.

The emotional story is told by "RIS Heroes" in a mix of action and memories, just over a minute long, featuring footage of the World Rally Cars racing on the Sardinian gravel and the voice of Petter Solberg remembering his triumph. "The car was fantastic," the Norwegian driver said, "we should have been champions that year" he jokes while reliving his liberating scream at the end of the SS19 Monti di Deu/2.

"RIS Heroes" will offer fans nine more videos, each distributed in the coming months until the twentieth edition of the Rally Italia Sardegna. In each episode, one of the winners will remember their victories through images and voices. The lineup of champions will include Sébastien Loeb, Marcus Grönholm, Jari-Matti Latvala, Juho Hanninen, Mikko Hirvonen, Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo, all names destined to remain in the history of the event for their signatures in the Hall of Fame of the Rally Italia Sardegna."

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