ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review
31/40
It’s very hard to see where the ice is” thought Raimund Baumschlagr
Preparing
Robert Kubica featured regularly in the European Championship last year and despite being a
bit inconsistent proved his worth. The ex-F1 star
impressed many with his outings in the ERC and
WRC and earned himself the backing of Polish
oil company Lotos to do a full season in the WRC
this year. That means new challenges for the fast
Pole, the WRC opener Monte Carlo being just
one of the new rallies he has to come to grips
with. The Monte obviously is a very special event
with twisting asphalt stages that can dry, wet, icy
or completely covered in snow. There aren’t a lot
places to prepare for that, but the Jännerrallye
happens to be one of them. The rally features
similar changeable weather conditions and provided Kubica with the chance to drive on snow
studded tyres for the first time in his career. Undaunted, Kubica went fastest through the qualifying stage. “We are here preparing and testing
Consani moves up a step and now drives a Peugeot 207
for Monte. WRC rallies are my main goal for this
year. It’s the first time I have driven with the studded tyres in a rally car this morning and I was a
bit cautious and I was taking it a bit easy. Okay,
this morning was a very short stage but I found a
good feeling straight away which was important.
It was also the first time with my new co-driver for
this event. Many new things, new car, new conditions, new co-driver, new rallies, new stages, a
lot of new things for the new year!”
Moving up
Firm opposition was to be expected from his fellow countryman Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the experienced local hero Raimund Baumschlager
and Czech front runner Vaclav Pech. Two ERC
drivers move up a step this year. Both Roberto
Consani and last year’s Production Cup winner
Andreas Aigner start the season in Peugeot 207
S2000’s, seizing the opportunity to step up to a
top level car in the series. Consani was cautious
before the start though “For me the Peugeot Super 2000 is more easier to drive but this rally is
complicated for me because it is my first time
driving on the ice. I just hope to finish the rally.”
Consani and Aigner got to grips with their new
cars on the qualifying stage setting 7th and 10th
fastest times respectively. Behind Kubica, Kajetanowicz was second fastest ahead of the surprising Beppo Harrach who powered his group N
Mitsubish Lancer Evo IX to third.
Let’s get this party started
The first stage of the rally brings us right into
the thick of things. As expected, tricky conditions make the going very tough. After the first
stage, the responses from the drivers vary between: “It’s very difficult to see where the ice is “
(Baumschlager) “There was a lot more ice than
expected!” (Kajetanowicz)