Aigner’s IRC speed cheers team boss Stohl

Manfred Stohl says the speed Andreas Aigner showed during his five outings in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this season helped to make up for his disappointment of losing out on the IRC Production Cup title.

Austrian ace Aigner was one of the favourites for the coveted award but retired on the opening day of the season finale in Cyprus earlier this month with a brake failure on his Stohl Racing Subaru Impreza R4 STI. Although he restarted on day two and set a succession of rapid stage times alongside co-driver Ilka Minor, it wasn’t enough to prevent Robert Consani from becoming champion.

“If you see his performance in view of the stage times this was impressive,” said team boss Stohl. “We knew what he could do on the Tarmac events but he was also fast on gravel and this was impressive. Of course we were hoping to win the IRC Production Cup but the luck was not on our side.”

Aigner eventually finished third in the IRC Production Cup standings behind Consani and Toshi Arai. He scored three class wins in Corsica, Belgium and Czech Republic. A European Rally Championship programme with Subaru is an option for Aigner in 2013.