Finland : OMV Kronos Citroen WRT - PreviewThe OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team are ready to take off once again following the almost two months long summer break.
Rally Finland marks the beginning of the second half of the season and Manfred Stohl has big plans
for the remainder of the season.
The kick-off was marked by 100 kilometres of testing yesterday in the Finnish woods. The summer break didn't mean a holiday for the team. During the last two months the squad have been working to improve the car, culminating with a day of testing on gravel surface in the Finnish woods on Monday. The OMV duo of Stohl/Minor was able to get acquainted with the modifications.
“Everything went very well," said Stohl. "We completed 100 problem-free kilometres. It is, of course, diffcult to draw a comparison at the moment but we definitely should be one or two tenths of a second faster now. This boosts our motivation.”
Rally Finland is more than just one more run to the FIA World Rally Championship for Stohl. It is the highlight of the rally calendar.
This in spite of the fact that there is little to win for non-Scandinavians – as statistics prove. Since 1970 only 20 out of 111 podium places went to someone else than a Finn, Swede or Norwegian. And only three non-Scandinavians (Carlos Sainz/Spa, Didier Auriol/Fra, Markko Märtin/Est) were victorious during 37 runs. Record-winner is Marcus Grönholm, who won no less than six out of the seven last rallies.
“Finland is incomparable," said Stohl. "It is a combination of high speed and a lot of jumps. Here you probably have to go much closer to your limit than anywhere else. And the strong Scandinavian presence makes a WRC-point count almost twice as much. But we are ready to meet this challenge and definitely want to score points.”
OMV Citroen Kronos WRT
