Red Bull Skoda team boss, Armin Schwarz added that the most important thing they will be doing pre-event is to try and solve the reliability issues that stopped Rovanpera twice in Sardinia.
"Preparation time is pretty sparse [with only a two week gap]," added the German, "but the most important thing is to get a grip on Harri’s differential troubles."
Andreas Aigner meanwhile has split with his co-driver, Timo Gottschalk and will instead work with Klaus Wicha during the remainder of the season. A statement from the Austrian-based squad last week noted that the change was made by 'mutual consent of everyone concerned' and followed 'tension' and repeated 'disagreements' in the car between Aigner and Gottschalk.
Aigner is looking now forward to working with Wicha. Indeed the two have worked together before, most recently at the Rallye Monte Carlo, when Gottschalk was ill. Despite the upheaval though, the Austrian is keen to do as well as possible in Greece and put the experience on gravel he gained in Sardinia to good use.
"I guess the Greek stages should suit us more because they are hard and have less loose sand on the edge than those in Sardinia," he predicted. "Besides I am hoping for a good shakedown to get to grips with the set-up better than before. I’m already looking forward to working with my new co-driver Klaus Wicha, he’s a genuine professional, I’m sure we’ll form a good team."
Production Car WRC:
In the Production WRC the battle for the class honours looks set to be intense, with 15 of the 16 drivers contesting the series opting to compete in Greece - only the final round in New Zealand will have as strong a turn out.
Current championship leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah will be one of the pre-event favourites, having warmed-up by taking the win on the WRC candidate event in Jordan last weekend.
Reigning champion, Toshi Arai, Marcos Ligato, Sebastian Beltran and David Higgins should also be up there, while Fumio Nutahara is the one driver who
won’t be contesting this round.
