Aigner has been confirmed for all ten events the team will take in, while Panizzi will take part in Monaco, Spain and France, while DTM ace, Mattias Ekstrom will do Sweden. The team have yet to decide who will partner Aigner from Sardinia onwards.
Following a positive recent three-day test near Le Moulins in the Maritime Alps of Southern France, the team are confident they can do well.
"We not only completed our test schedule in the intended time frame but were also able to shake down all systems without any problem," explained chief engineer, Dietmar Metrich. "Hence we are all set up for the start in Monte Carlo."
Aigner and Panizzi were also enthusiastic. "We tried different set-ups and tested various tyre compounds. I learned quite a lot, it was a perfect test session," stated Aigner. "That's why I can hardly wait for the rally to start, although it is going to be tough."
"I got along very well with the car right away [at our recent test]," added Panizzi. "The mechanical differential worked faultlessly, and I was quite happy with the times I achieved. Therefore it should be possible to get a top result in Monte Carlo."
Production Car WRC:
Of the 13 Production Car World Rally Championship crews only six have opted to contest the Rallye Monte Carlo. All of them will therefore be guaranteed a points finish.
Amongst the front runners and those likely to fight it out for the victory will be Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished second in the PCWRC last season and Fumio Nutahara, who was fourth overall at the end of last year.
2004 British rally champion, David Higgins is also likely to be 'there or there abouts' in his Mitsubishi Lancer, while
Jari-Matti Latvala is a new comer to the series. Latvala incidentally will also compete in four 'senior' events this season with the
Stobart VK team. The other two PCWRC entries are Stefano Marrini and Jasen Popov.
Other significant entries:
Around 50 crews have entered the Rallye Monte Carlo. Following the withdrawal of works backed teams from Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Skoda and
Citroen there are a number of other significant runners.
