Sardinia : OMV Peugeot Norway - ShakedownThe Rally Italia Sardegna was off to a successful start for the OMV Peugeot Norway Wold Rally Team.
The 4,3 kilometres long shakedown was not only completed without any problems but both Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerd and Manfred
Stohl/Ilka Minor convinced with top results. Which means that the strategy for the seventh run to the FIA World Rally Championship, beginning on Friday, is all set. The OMV drivers will do their all to be up top right from special stage one on.
Almost the favourite rally
Henning Solberg has already proven on Thursday that he is fully motivated. The Norwegian OMV driver reached fourth best time during the 4,3 kilometres long shakedown which even ranked him in front of his brother, former World Champion Petter. And Henning is very ambitious for the Sardinia Rally: “It is a rally that I know and like very much, even though I wasn't too lucky here in the past. But I think that the Peugeot 307 WRC is running smoothly and has obviously been perfectly prepared by Bozian Racing. Still, it is going to be three extremely tough days.“
Being top on SS 1 already
Manfred Stohl has also taken a liking to the WRC event on the Italian Mediterranean island. Last year he had been handicapped by food poisoning but this time around he feels fit as a fiddle. Which he proved already during the shakedown by achieving sixth-best time.
The strategy of the OMV Team Stohl/Minor for Friday morning is as clear as day. Stohl: “I want to point out to the competition already on special stage one that I plan to be on the podium. Even though these first 24 kilometres are very tough and not exactly to my liking. If this shouldn't work out I'll attack even more on SS 2. The perfidy of this rally is the very fine sand which covers the course everywhere. You only need to be one or two km/h too fast and off the road you go – into head-high rocks.“
On Friday the Sardinia Rally will lead over six special stages and 129,64 SS-kilometres. It commences at 8.00 in Olbia. The first car will reach the final service at 18.50.
Shakedown results
1. Marcus Grönhom/Rautiainen (Fin) Ford Focus WRC 2:57,5
=. Chris Atkinson/Macneal (Aus) Subaru Impreza WRC 2:57,5
3.
Sebastien Loeb/Elena (Fra) Citroen Xsara WRC 2 :57,8
4. Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud (Nor) OMV Peugeot 307 WRC 2:58,6
5. Petter Solberg/Mills (Nor) Subaru Impreza WRC 3:00,0
6. Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor (Aut) OMV Peugot 307 WRC 3:00,3
7. Jussi Valimäki/Kalliolepo (Fin) Mitsubishi lancer WRC 3:00,9
8. Daniel Sordo/Marti (Spa) Citroen Xsara WRC 3:01,1
9. Xevi Pons/Del Barrio (Spa) Citroen Xsara WRC 3:03,0
=. Mikko Hirvonen/Lehtinen (Fin) Ford Focus WRC 3:03,0
11. Harri Rovanpera/Pietilainen (Fin) Red Bull Skoda WRC 3:05,5
16. Andreas Aigner/Gottschalk (Aut) Red Bull Skoda WRC 3:08,4
Press release OMV Peugeot Norway
