Following the team's first point in Greece back in June, courtesy of Companc, he and Villagra managed to do even better in Finland, taking five manufacturers' points in total and increasing the team's tally to six.
The Munchi's squad only decided to do Finland late on, as their original plan had been to do Rallye Deutschland following their absence in Portugal. The decision definitely paid off.
Companc led home the two Munchi's entries, finishing just outside the top ten in eleventh overall – and sixth of those registered to score manufacturers' points. Villagra for his part, meanwhile finished 14th overall – and seventh of those nominated to score manufacturers' points.
The Munchi's team will not be in action in Germany though as it is not one of their ten events. They will continue their campaign in New Zealand at the end of this month.
Junior WRC:
’Works’ Suzukis back in action - but no PG.
The Rallye Deutschland is the fifth round in the
FIA Junior Rally Championship and to date,
Suzuki have won all but one of the events, the recent Rally Finland, which ‘works’ drivers’ Per-Gunnar Andersson and
Urmo Aava skipped as it was not one of their nominated events.
Despite missing the recent ‘Rally of a 1000 Lakes’ though, P-G and Aava remain 1-2 in the Junior standings, the former having scored an impressive 28 points to date from a possible 30, while the latter has 24.
Reigning Junior champion, Patrik Sandell is now ‘best of the rest’ in third, with 19 points, following his win in Finland – he has yet to take his dropped event though.
Suzuki will have to make do without P-G this weekend however as he has picked up a month long-driving ban in his native country. The ban forced him to miss the Rally Finland earlier this month too, as he had been due to compete there in a Group N car.
He will be replaced on the event by Britain’s James Wozencroft, who took the British Super 1600 title in 2006 and who is competing in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship this year under the Dealer Team Suzuki banner.
P-G’s ban ends later on this month, so he will be OK to do the final two rounds in the JRC in October
His absence means Aava will probably be the favourite, although as it is an asphalt event he can expect stiff competition, particularly from the Citroens.
Indeed in the last two years the C2 Super 1600 has been the car to beat in Germany, with Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke coming out top in the JRC category on the event in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
