Mission accomplished for Pierre Campana

Rising star Pierre Campana has today achieved another important milestone in his rally career by completing this weekend’s World Rally Championship event in Germany in 18th position overall after a competitive final stage.

26-year-old Pierre, competing in his first ever rally in WRC-specification machinery with the Drive-Pro team, completed all 19 special stages over the three days of competition after a busy and challenging weekend which saw the Corsican up against vastly more experienced rally drivers around a tough German course.

It has been an important learning curve for Pierre, as he learned more about the MINI in a competitive WRC rally for the first time, while understanding all the nuances of the Rallye Deutschland stages. Today’s final stages were also hit by rain, which ensured Pierre gathered information in a wide range of climatic conditions.

Starting the day in 20th overall, Pierre’s aim was to bring to a positive conclusion the remaining five stages of the rally, incorporating a double loop of two stages, Dhrontal and Moselwein, and a concluding power stage Circus Maximus in Trier.

The importance of finishing the event meant that Pierre did not take any risks on this final day, although the concluding stage of the day, power stage SS19, saw Pierre finish with a flourish, setting the 14th quickest time and jumping to a very respectable 18th overall.

Pierre Campana said: “I am extremely pleased to have finished Rallye Deutschland, my first ever WRC rally with Drive-Pro and in the MINI John Cooper Works WRC. My aim throughout this rally has been to complete all stages and to leave with a full experience and understanding of the event in order to develop myself for the future. For my first time at this rally, I wanted to use the opening loop on each of the days to learn the peculiarities of this tough course and to show improvements on the repeat loop, which I was able to achieve. It has been a tough, challenging but enjoyable rally for me and I am generally pleased with my finishing position. It must also be said that I have also been slightly disadvantaged not having the gravel crew, especially on the Friday and today with the wet weather making for difficult driving conditions. Nonetheless, it has been an incredible weekend and I would like to thank the FFSA and Drive-Pro for demonstrating their faith in me and giving me this wonderful opportunity. Thanks also to Prodrive for their invaluable support and congratulations to them and MINI for finishing on the podium today. The car is very competitive and it has been fun to drive. I have a lot of positive things to take away from this rally and things I can learn for the future, in particular Rallye de France Alsace at the end of September.”

Nicolas Deschaux, President of the FFSA : “I am very pleased with Pierre’s results in Germany. He has fulfilled the two objectives that were expected of him, which were to finish the rally in order to build up the complete picture of experience and also to learn and improve throughout the rally. He developed a better understanding for the car and about the challenges that WRC offers. Congratulations to Pierre and Sabrina (de Castelli, co-driver) for their achievements in Germany, and to Team Drive-Pro for their good work. I strongly believe that Pierre will take away a lot from this first full immersion in this WRC experience and take advantage of it at the next big challenge at Rallye France Alsace.”