Sardinia : Red Bull Skoda Team - ShakedownRally Italia-Sardinia got under way today with the shakedown run on four kilometres of closed-off road near the seaport of Olbia.
Harri Rovanpera, who has completely forgotten about Monday's testing accident, ran the stage three
times and was more than satisfied: “Since we tested very thoroughly prior to this event we could limit our work to performance checks. These gave me the confirmation that we will start in a very well-prepared car tomorrow. My strategy is to be among the top ten after the first leg and in the top six on the final day.”
Andreas Aigner, the young man from Styria, can hardly wait for his first ever gravel event at the wheel of the Fabia WRC: “Everything is going well for me in Sardinia so far, testing and shakedown included. In the car I feel very confident, I like the gravel, and the times show that. I believe I can afford to be optimistic for the rally itself.“
The only team boss at hand in Sardinia is Armin Schwarz, since Raimund Baumschlager is competing in a rally in Austria: “I believe we can look forward to this rally because of our very thorough preparation. It's important that the entire team makes no crucial error, a good result may be the reward.
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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 Red Bull Skoda Team
