Rautenbach aims to put Jordan behind

After turning in a fine comeback drive to clinch fourth overall in only his second outing in the C4 in Argentina, Rautenbach's fortunes took a nose-dive in the following round in Jordan.

He was involved in a road accident with four-time champion and fellow Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb.

The past week has given the reining FIA African Champion time to think, however, and he can't wait to get back into the stages.

"My dad reckons these things are sent to test us," said Rautenbach. "Well, that was a pretty big test. It was one of those things, just an accident.

"You have to move on from there - and that's just what I'm doing. Italy is one of my favourite rounds of the championship. It's one where I have quite a bit of experience and it seems to have been a good rally for me."

Rautenbach has competed on the island of Sardinia every season since 2004, the last three of which have been with his British co-driver David Senior.

"We've got some good notes for about half of the stages," continued Rautenbach. "The other half of the roads are new for this season. The plan is to try and push harder on the opening day. I've got a good starting place, so the road should be quite clean for me."

Rautenbach admits - his fourth in Argentina aside - his world rally car career has been something of a baptism of fire.

"This has been a tough year for me so far," he said. "I've been trying to balance learning the car and learn new rallies but at the same time I want to push and go that bit quicker all of the time. This is all a really fine balance. And if you get the balance slightly wrong then you can go off the road.

"I don't want to do that. I need experience and I need seat time in the Citroen, but at the same time I want to go harder and faster. I'm looking forward to the chance of doing that on Friday next week."

Rally d'Italia Sardegna starts from Porto Cervo on Thursday night, with the first competitive stage following on Friday morning in the hills around Olbia.