"After such a long break since our last gravel rally, it was a great idea to have a test," he enthused, "The last two rallies were on snow, which required a different driving style, and it takes a while to get back into the rhythm of driving on gravel, so the test was perfectly timed to do just that. I have a good base set-up for gravel events anyway, but the test helped confirm that."
OMV Kronos Citroen WRT:
[Manfred Stohl, car #5 [and Daniel Carlsson, car #6]].
Manfred Stohl will be the only driver in action for the OMV Kronos Citroen World Rally Team this weekend, as the Belgian-based outfit reverts to a one-car line-up.
Despite that though, the Austria is still feeling confident, buoyed by his podium finish on the Leon-based event last year, when he finished third overall, behind
Sebastien Loeb and
Petter Solberg. Although Stohl has not enjoyed the best of starts to the new season and has only scored two points to date in the drivers’ championship, he remains upbeat, especially as the
FIA World Rally Championship is now returning to his favourite surface - gravel.
“It definitely is going to be very interesting. I am especially curious as to the relative strength on gravel. In any case, I am prepared for everything,” he noted. “And your self-confidence is obviously very high when you know that you’ve already reached the podium here.”
One key factor in Mexico though is the altitude. The rally will be completed at between 1500 and 2700 metres above sea level. Calculations show that the engine loses approximately one percent engine power per 100 metres altitude difference.
“That doesn’t bother me,” he added, “It is for the engineers to worry about and, besides, it is the same for all the teams.”
Stohl’s team-mate, Daniel Carlsson meanwhile will be back for the next WRC event in Portugal.
Subaru WRT:
[Petter Solberg, car #7 and
Chris Atkinson, car #8.]
Petter Solberg will get his hands on the new 2007 spec Impreza WRC car this weekend in Mexico and the Norwegian is hopeful they can now start to make real progress.
