S2000 stars prepare for asphalt first

On Rally Deutschland

By Franck Drui

18 August 2010 - 14:26
S2000 stars prepare for asphalt first

The first asphalt event of the season awaits the Super 2000 World Rally Championship crews when the new-for-2010 series resumes on Rally Deutschland this week.

Nine S-WRC competitors are due to take part on the Trier-based event, which gets underway with the first of 19 special stages on Friday morning (20 August).

They include title leader Xevi Pons, from Spain, and Swede P-G Andersson who pilot a Ford Fiesta S2000 and Skoda Fabia S2000 respectively. Pons didn’t nominate Rally Finland as one of his scoring rounds. As a result, his lead in the drivers’ standings was trimmed to 18 points over Andersson following the Jyvaskyla-based event after Andersson finished second to wildcard driver Juho Hanninen.

“I know the stages well in Germany and did over 200 kilometres of testing [three] weeks ago so I’m feeling very confident with the set-up of the car and confident to hold onto my lead,” said Pons.

Unlike many of his rivals, Andersson has recent sealed-surface competition experience after entering the all-asphalt Rally Bulgaria in early July. Admittedly it was in a Focus World Rally Car rather than his regular Skoda but it was asphalt experience nevertheless.

Patrik Sandell finished third in Finland and will be hoping to capitalise on that result and a successful pre-event test in Austria recently where the Swede was accompanied for several runs by his team chief Raimund Baumschlager.

Baumschlager, a winner of 10 Austrian Rally Championship titles, is regarded as a Tarmac specialist and was considered the perfect companion for Sandell, who is looking to up his pace on asphalt as he chases his first victory in the S-WRC class.

“Raimund has done thousands of kilometres in the Skoda on Tarmac so he has a lot of knowledge,” said Sandell. “He was able to give me advice about the set-up and also some tips on my driving such as when to brake later when he was with me in the car.”

Fiesta driver Martin Prokop is also expected to be a contender in Germany and starts the rally on the back of a three-day test in his native Czech Republic. He knows the Rallye Deutschland stages well from his stint in the Junior World Rally Championship and will look to transfer that knowledge when he makes his fifth start of the season in the S-WRC.

Bernardo Sousa will be competing in Germany on the back of an appearance on his home round of the European Rally Championship, Rali Vinho Madeira, in early August. Although a fire in his Fiesta’s engine bay ruled out a strong result, he will nevertheless arrive in Trier match fit.

Michal Kosciuszko is set to tackle his second S-WRC event with the Skoda Italia operation following a recent switch to Pierfrancesco Zanchi’s experienced team. The rapid Polish driver has shown plenty of potential in the S-WRC this season by taking two podium finishes.

Eyvind Brynildsen, from Norway, will also be at the wheel of a Skoda for the German event and will be aiming to capitalise on the experienced gained from competing on Rally Bulgaria.

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