SWRC enters the decisive stage for ŠKODA

RSL Staff

– September 28, 2011Posted in: News, SWRC

Hänninen & Markkula in the lead of the series before the season’s seventh event. The French Rally is the last-but-one event of the 2011 season. Gassner jun. & Wüstenhagen to take an offensive strategy.

The question who will win this year’s SWRC is going to be answered soon: taking place next weekend (30 September – 2 October), the French Rally is the last-but-one event of this season’s World Championship. The ambition of the Red Bull ŠKODA team in the season’s seventh event is to confirm that their excellent performances so far have been no coincidence – Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula are looking to defend their lead and also the other crew, Hermann Gassner jun. & Kathi Wüstenhagen, are hoping to achieve another good result in France.

The programme in Alsatia includes 23 stages. Championship leader Juho Hänninen and his co-driver Mikko Markkula have a good starting position – with two rallies to go in the series, Finland’s crew top the standings and have every reason to be self-confident before the seventh and eighth events. The other crew, Hermann Gassner jun. & Kathi Wüstenhagen (GER), got a go-ahead from the team management to take an offensive strategy, much like in the German Rally, and their ambitions for the rally in the surroundings of Strasbourg are high.

Juho Hänninen: “The French Rally is a tabula rasa for me. We are approaching it with maximum focus and we certainly want to win as many points as possible, because every point counts at this stage of the season. The track is difficult and may be pretty unpredictable, particularly if the weather is rainy and the track muddy.”

Hermann Gassner jun.: “This is the first time I am driving the Fabia Super2000 at this rally, but I tried the track already last year, although I was part of a different team then. The track is comparable with that of the German Rally. If everything goes well, we should achieve a decent result.”

Head of the Red Bull ŠKODA team Raimund Baumschlager: “The question who will win the championship this season is to be answered soon. Quite logically, the atmosphere in our team, including among the drivers, is quite intense. Juho can take a giant leap towards winning the title – he has already shown how good he is, and he has to play it cool. Hermann had a very good debut in the IRC, and he can drive aggressively and show his skill also this time. One way or another, this rally will offer a big dose of thrill and emotions.”