The scene of last year’s asphalt debut for the revised Impreza WRC2007 again hosts the competitive sealed-surface induction of Subaru’s latest World Rally contender. The Impreza WRC2008 has successfully completed three WRC events and the team, sharing test driver Markko Märtin’s confidence in the performance of the new car on asphalt, are looking forward to proving the machine on this new surface.
Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot demonstrated their asphalt pace in convincing style in Germany last year, winning three stages and setting four further top-three times from the 19 stages. With their well-deserved third place finish in the last event in
Rallye Deutschland is punishing, as Petter Solberg and Phil Mills have found out to their cost in the past. The duo have been forced to retire as often as they have finished this event in the six years they have contested it together. They too have also showed strong pace, recording twelve top-three stage times and a stage win over the years.
The event is based once more in the western-German city of
Whilst the event is run in the German summertime, meaning temperatures can be 20 degrees Celsius or more, the mountainous surroundings of
For the most part, the stages are the same as last year and so the drivers will be treading familiar ground. The largest changes focus on reversing stages and running them in the opposite direction, with only a few entirely new sections introduced. The 19 stages total 352 competitive kilometres, and are preceded by a ceremonial start at the UNESCO World heritage site of Trier’s Porta Nigra on Thursday night. The event is brought to a conclusion with a spectator stage in the same location.
Entries
The Subaru World Rally Team has entered two Impreza WRC2008s for Rallye Deutschland. Petter Solberg and Phil Mills will drive number five, and team-mates Chris Atkinson and Stéphane Prévot number six.
Solberg and Mills make their seventh attempt at the rally this year. Their best result came last year with sixth position, despite suspension damage caused by a rock on the opening day. This season will be Atkinson’s fourth attempt at the event, and his second alongside Prévot.
Team quotes
David Richards, Subaru World Rally Team Principal: “
Paul Howarth, Subaru World Rally Team operations director: “The weather is very hard to predict in the region, and it’s very easy to get caught out on a stage on a rain shower, which completely changes the characteristics of the roads. If someone makes it through a stage in the dry but it rains for the rest of the field, even on only a portion of the stage, it can make a huge difference to the overall standings. This event in lethal in the wet as the roads are coated in shiny tar on which any water just sits, making it incredibly slippery. It’s also very fast and very narrow in the vineyards, mostly one car width, so lines and precision are critical. We’ve seen in the past that it’s so easy to make a mistake here. Generally once underway it’s not hard on the cars, so it’s all about drivers keeping their noses clean, avoiding spins and going off.
“The Panzerplatte stage on day two is especially unpredictable on grip; if dry it’s phenomenally hard on tyres as it’s concrete, and if wet it can be hard to get heat into the tyres and is very slippery. On the wider military roads it is very hard to find the right line as they are so wide, and the hinkelstein are designed to lay out the course for slow-moving vehicles, so it’s a compromise at high-speed. It’s the first time we ’ll be using the hard and soft compound Pirelli tyres, and on day two we’re back to remote services.”
Driver quotes
Petter Solberg: “
Chris Atkinson: “We were fast in
Between the rallies
In the short few days between Rally
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