KNAF Talent First Team Holland: pleased with 2nd day results and performance

Also the second day saw some misfortunes for several teams…. And some tough work for service crews and spectators! The opening stage of the day (Himos) meant that quite a few drivers missed a tightening corner in the first fast section after the slower opening miles. Also both KNAF Talent First Team Holland drivers went off – Kevin Abbring could easily continue without too much damage, but Hans Weijs needed help from the spectators to get back on the road and lost over 3 minutes.

"We did not start the day very well. It was a misjudgement – during the recce you are driving so slow and now with the pace notes at full speed it is completely different; before we knew we were on top of a cut tree with all four wheels in the air. Thanks to the spectators we managed to get back on the road," commented Weijs later in the Service Park.

His Citroën C2 R2 Max got damaged quite badly, with a bent rear axle, a broken exhaust pipe and a damaged front bumper. At the service – only after three stages – there was not enough time to change the rear axle:

"We had to drive 7 stages with the bent rear axle and that does not improve stage times nor does it any good to my self confidence," said Hans Weijs. The final three stages – with the Citroën in top condition again – Weijs showed his talent and his results became better all the time. He is now in 8th position in the J-WRC classification.

Kevin Abbring is enjoying himself and that is understandable: he moved up to a fantastic 6th place after the second day. He again showed his talent with some remarkable stage times (e.g. 5th on stage 20), and he is often quicker than more experienced drivers with faster cars (Super1600).

"Despite our little spin on the opening stage of the day and a puncture on stage 18, everything is going fine. It is great to be here and I’m learning every stage," said Abbring tonight in the Service Park in Jyväskylä. "On Sunday we will of course defend our first chance for championship points and we will try to bring the car to the finish in one piece!"

On Saturday the fight for the lead between Loeb and Hirvonen continued all the way down to the last stage, with Citroën-driver Loeb gaining less than 4 seconds over the day over the Finnish Ford-driver. Subaru-driver Atkinson is the surprise of the day: he is now in third place. In the J-WRC classification the Polish Suzuki-driver Michal Kosciuszko lost the lead after crashing on the penultimate stage of the day;

Martin Prokop (Citroën C2) is now leading with Swedish Renault driver Patrik Sandell in second, while Kosciuszko dropped to third. Sunday the final 3 stages (40,47 kms) are scheduled before the remaining teams will cross the finish line at 1.30 pm.

- Willy Weyens photos -