Campana continues to make positive progress

Corsican rally star Pierre Campana has continued to adapt and acclimatise to the competitive World Rally Championship on his second day of participation in Rallye Deutschland with Drive-Pro and driving the MINI John Cooper Works WRC.

It was another important day of learning for Pierre today as he got to grips with the stages that made up today’s two loops - the 11.37km Hermeskeil/Guseberg stage, the 14.29km Bosenberg, the 15.23km Birkenfelderland and the immense 34.18km Arena Panzerplatte stage.

Pierre opted for another deliberately cautious approach to the opening loop of four stages this morning in order to build up his understanding of the stages and to amend his pace notes for the afternoon loop. Despite some issues from the outset of the first stage which could only be addressed once the car was returned to service at lunchtime, Pierre was able to remain in the top 20 of the overall classification.

For the second loop, Pierre was able to showcase everything he had learned throughout the morning, demonstrating his true potential. He lost a few seconds running wide in SS11, the repeated Hermeskeil/Gusenberg stage, but still set the 19th best time and from building his confidence. A trouble-free and competitive performance saw him register the 16th best stage time in SS12 and then setting the 14th quickest time in SS13. During the final stage, the famous Panzerplatte, Pierre was performing strongly until a puncture just 5km from the end of the 34km stage lost him over 3 minutes of time and a possible top 10 stage position.

Pierre Campana said: “It has been another important day for me as I continue to add vital experience and learn more about this challenging and enjoyable WRC event in Germany. I am pleased that we have been able to complete all the stages today and most importantly to have gathered so much information. I am really happy with the performance and feeling I get from the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, which has helped me to acclimatise well. We had a solid morning, learning these difficult stages, but I was extremely pleased with this afternoon’s stages. I am frustrated that we were not able to end the day strongly after we caught a punctured right-rear tyre in the final stage after showing such strong pace. It was pretty obvious I would have been close to a top 10 position. Nevertheless, we achieved our initial aim of making further progress on this steep learning curve. I am getting more confident each day and I have a better appreciation for the nuances of this tricky rally that proves just what an advantage experience plays here in Germany. After our positive performances today, I am really looking forward to tomorrow, even if there is a chance of some rain, and continuing to build on the experiences and lessons so far.”

The final day of Rallye Deutschland will see drivers contest a double loop consisting of the Dhrontal and Moselwein stages, culiminating in the final stage, SS19, the SSS Circus Maximus Trier, which is a 4.37km power stage. Pierre’s objectives will remain as they have been all weekend – to continue his steep learning curve in his debut WRC event and to complete all stages to the best of his ability.