Deutschland joy for Red Bull juniors Gassner and Sandell

The Red Bull Rallye Team has enjoyed a hugely successful Rallye Deutschland with Hermann Gassner Jr taking fourth place in the Production Car World Rally Championship and Patrik Sandell winning the Super 2000 World Rally Championship category.

Sandell, who started the final leg of the three-day rally 4.6 seconds off the lead of the SWRC division, moved ahead of fellow Swedish driver P-G Andersson on Sunday’s opening stage. Despite being subjected to huge pressure from Martin Prokop, Sandell drove without error to claim his first victory in the SWRC by 4.6s at the wheel of his Skoda Fabia S2000.

“It’s been crazy, absolutely crazy,” Sandell said at the finish in Trier. “We’ve had an incredible battle for three days and the feeling now is absolutely unbelievable. I am so happy with this result and I have to say a big thank you to all of the Red Bull Rallye Team for providing me with such a good car. I came to this rally very confident of a good result and to leave here with this victory means so much.”

Sandell, who underlined his dominance by winning four of Sunday’s five stages, moves from fifth to fourth in the SWRC standings.

For Gassner Jr, Rallye Deutschland marked the first time that he had been eligible for points in the PWRC after he was nominated as a wildcard entrant by the event organisers. He didn’t disappoint by claiming a solid fourth place in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

“I came here looking to be in the top five,” said the 21-year-old from Surheim in Germany. “Of course a podium would have been the best result but that was not possible. But I am really happy to be at the finish in fourth place on my home rally. Apart from a small problem with the handbrake this morning I’ve not had any real problems.”

Raimund Baumschlager, whose BRR operation runs Gassner Jr and Sandell, was delighted at the finish. He said: “I’d like to congratulate Patrik; he did a great job and really he couldn’t have done any better throughout all three days. It wasn’t the perfect start to the season for him, but everything went fantastically well for him here and he deserves this result. This will be a big boost for him.

“As for Hermann, he had a good day today after finding it not easy yesterday. For him the objective was to get to the finish and practice the new pace note system he has, so he succeeded in both of these things. For our team and for Red Bull, it’s been an excellent rally!"