Britain’s
Matthew Wilson and Guy Wilks completed the top ten, while
Henning Solberg was slightly further down the order, but still picked up two manufacturers’ points. Henning retired on both day 1 and day 2, but got to the end thanks to the SupeRally format.
BP Ford ‘third’ driver, Khalid Al-Qassimi also finished thanks to the SupeRally, while
Chris Atkinson took the final manufacturers point and was classified in 15th, despite crashing out and hitting a wall in SS16.
Subaru third driver, Xavier Pons also had problem on the last day, he went out on the stage before Atkinson, with engine problems. He was classified in 18th.
Citroen’s Dani Sordo and OMV Kronos’ Manfred Stohl were the two big retirements – both sidelined with engine problems, Sordo on day 1 and Stohl on day 2.
In the Junior Rally Championship category, Martin Prokop dominated in his
Citroen C2 Super 1600, leading from start-to-finish. He eventually beat
Urmo Aava by just under 50 seconds, although the Estonian’s second place is enough to lift him into the lead in the JRC standings, ahead of his
Suzuki Swift team-mate, Per-Gunnar Andersson, who had to sit out this event after picking up a one-month driving ban in his native country.
Conrad Rautenbach completed the JRC podium, followed by Aaron Burkart and Jozef Beres.
Reigning Junior champion, Patrik Sandell did not finish after he was excluded for receiving outside assistance at the end of day 1. He had finished the first leg in fifth place overall in his Renault Clio.
The
FIA World Rally Championship now continues in two weeks time, when teams and drivers’ head to the other side of the world for Rally New Zealand, which runs from August 31 to September 2.
