■German premiere for World Championship leaders Hänninen & Markkula■Gassner jun./Wüstenhagen want to finish high in their home event■The sixth SWRC event of this season takes place in the surroundings of Trier over 18 – 21 August, 2011
German asphalt after Finnish gravel – the Red Bull Škoda team is getting ready for the German Rally, and it is mainly the German crew, Hermann Gassner jun/Kathi Wüstenhagen, who can't wait to appear on the track in the surroundings of Trier, wanting to finish high on their home ground. The SWRC leaders, Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula, won the latest rally in Finland and now they wish to show that the good results they have achieved so far this season are no coincidence.
The Mosel River Valley, a beautiful winegrowing region in the surroundings of Trier, will be the venue for the sixth SWRC event this year for three days. Much to German fans' delight, the German Rally got back to the SWRC calendar in 2010. The programme of the upcoming event is made up of 19 stages (344 kilometres in total). With its far-famed “returns” in vineyards and well-known stages such as Panzerplatte and Baumholder, this event is one of the classic rallies.
Both crews of the Red Bull ŠKODA team want to be prepared well for Stage 1 on Friday. Hänninen: “I am looking forward to my first German Rally, and I want to win here. It's going to be a difficult rally, because I do not know the track well. I believe we can use some of the setting options we have tried in asphalt rallies in IRC, which will certainly help us. This stage of the Championship is indeed a big challenge for me, because I do not know the track here in Germany and that in France. The nearest rally where I do know the track is in Catalunya …..”
Gassner jun.: “The home rally is a very special thing for every driver. I know the track and most of the stages very well. However, I have never driven a Fabia S2000 here. The results of the tests we have done over the past few days are perfect and I feel very comfortable in the car, so I am hoping to finish high”.
Head of the team Raimund Baumschlager: “We will be prepared well for this very special rally. Hermann will make his debut on asphalt with the Fabia here and, for the first time this year, he will be allowed to drive “without the handbrake pulled up”. He can and has to drive full blast in his home rally. Juho is still hungry for victories, so he will also drive aggressively in Trier. I expect both our crews to finish high”.
