Armin Kremer dominated the German Championship Rallye Wartburg, but absentee Fabian Kreim, competing on the conflicting China Rally Zhangye, maintains his championship lead. Kremer won 15 of the 18 stages.
Fabian Kreim still leads the German Championship, despite missing the Rallye Wartburg.Two examples of the legendary Wartburg rally cars, built in the old East Germany in the town where this event was run, finished the rally, but were beaten by three examples of the equally iconic smaller Trabant cars!
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The Lahti Historic Rally was won by the Escort Mark II of Guiliano Calzolari, while the FIA category went to Ville Silvasti’s Porsche Carrera.
Fastest car on the stages was Jari Kankaanmaki’s Volvo 242, while earlier leader, Jari Matti Latvala’s Audi Quattro, retired with an electronic problem.
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Programmes for the Skoda WRC2 drivers for the rest of the year are still unsettled. All three drivers have been entered for Germany, but Pontus Tidemand’s is a non-championship entry in a car from the Austrian BRR team.
The private team Skoda driver, Teemu Suninen, is currently favourite for the 2016 WRC2 title.
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APRC points after Zhangye are: 1. Gill 115, 2. Kreim 68, 3. Young 50, 4. Takayama 29, 5. 20 Takale.
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Lorenzo Bertelli has announced his withdrawal from Rally Deutschland, because co-driver Simone Scattolin has not fully recovered from his injuries in Finland. They hope to reappear in China.
This means there will now only be 11 World Rally Cars in Germany. It will be Lorenzo’s second time he has missed this event.
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Craig Breen has now had a chance to test a Citroen C3 WRC prototype, further raising hopes that he is still being considered for a place in the works WRC team in 2017.
It is believed that the car will be publicly launched at the Paris Salon at the beginning of October.
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Last week M-Sport finally began test work for their 2017 formula car, at the moment limited to suspension, drivetrain, transmission and engine parts, installed in a 2016 specification body. Aero development work is to follow “in due course”.
- Martin Holmes
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