Conrad Rautenbach finished eighth on the Rally of Turkey last weekend in his PH Sport-run
Citroen C4 WRC car, the second time this year the reigning
FIA African Rally champion has got into the points.
Rautenbach had a solid event and after ending day one tenth, he gained two places on day's two and three when first
Suzuki's
Toni Gardemeister and then
Stobart Ford's
Gigi Galli both retired, moving him up into P8 and into the final points' paying position.
The Zimbabwean, who was making only his sixth start in the C4 WRC, benefited from an all-new suspension set-up this weekend - the same specification as Citroen 'works' drivers
Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo run on their cars – and while it took him a while to dial himself in, he gained more and more confidence as the event went on.
"Turkey was a fantastic event for me and the Citroen C4 WRC. I'm really starting to feel at home in the car now and finishing in the points is a great way to the first half of the year," he reflected. "I feel I have made some big progress on this event.
"The car has been sensational - the handling is just what I was hoping it would be like. We have still got some work to do on the set-up, but that's really fine-tuning; a click here or there on the suspension, nothing major at all.
"It took me a little time to get used to running the same set-up as Sebastien [Loeb] and Dani [Sordo]. It does have a big effect on the way the car runs, there's much more grip – so I was having to be more aggressive to get it turned in.
"The roads were really quite rough in places on this event. I hadn't expected this, but on some of the stages, the roads were like Greece. The car dealt with all of this, though. It's incredibly strong. It's such a great feeling to know that, when you see the big rocks coming, you can just line the car up and go straight over them. A big part of the strength we have in this area is also coming from the tyres, they have been really strong.
