Campana ready for WRC debut with Drive-Pro in Germany

26-year-old Corsican rally sensation Pierre Campana is ready for the biggest challenge and opportunity of his career so far as he takes part in the ADAC Rallye Deutschland with the Drive-Pro team in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC car.

The event, round nine of this year’s World Rally Championship, will mark Campana’s competitive debut at the helm of a WRC-spec rally car, following the recent announcement by the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA), who have named Campana as head of their Rally Team France for 2011. Campana follows in the footsteps of Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier in holding this prestigious FFSA honour.

Rallye Deutschland will be entirely new territory for Campana in machinery with which he has acquired just a few weeks of experience. It will also be the Corsican’s debut with the rally spec Michelin tyres, which will only add to the learning curve he faces in Germany this week, alongside his long-time co-driver Sabrina de Castelli.

Campana enjoyed his first run in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC at the Pôle Mécanique facility in Alès-Cévennes in the south of France with the Drive-Pro team and support from Prodrive staff, who run the works MINI programme. Completing around 135km over two days with one full day of testing and a promotional day of taxi rides, Campana acquired a valuable appreciation for his new home before heading to the UK where he triumphed in last weekend’s Richard Burns Memorial Rally, winning six out of the eight stages. The event allowed Campana to acclimatise himself to his new car ahead of this week’s rally, while getting his new partnership with Drive-Pro off to a winning start.

The German round of this year’s WRC, which is based in Trier, will be the first to be held entirely on asphalt, although it is unique with different surface types over the three days of competition. The 2010 event was the longest in terms of overall stage distance with a challenging variety of sections, which demand complete concentration and focus, something that Campana has honed through his successful participation in Monte-Carlo and Tour de Corse earlier this year. With over 80 confirmed entries, it will be an action-packed event and one which Campana will make the most of as he looks to make a positive impression in WRC.

Pierre Campana said: “Rallye Deutschland is a very important step in my career and an opportunity that I am ready to grasp with both hands. I am really looking forward to my first ever competition in a WRC car and with all the pressure and challenges that it brings. I must thank the Drive-Pro team for their faith in me and also for the support of the FFSA, without which I would not be competing this week. I have had some time in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC car at a short test in Alès the other week and also in last weekend’s Richard Burns Memorial Rally, which was a very enjoyable experience. It was great to get my partnership with Drive-Pro off to a winning start and to win my first competitive rally in a MINI. However, it is clear that Rallye Deutschland will be a learning curve for me, so I have to set realistic expectations, which are really to get through each stage cleanly and to the best of my and the car’s ability. I cannot wait to get started and to build upon what we have started to put together as a team with my co-driver Sabrina, the Drive-Pro team, together with the valuable support from Prodrive.”