RALLYE DE FRANCE/TOUR DE CORSE– SHAKE DOWN (THURSDAY)
• KNAF Talent First Team Holland: very motivated at the start of season’s final...
• Kevin Abbring: well prepared at the start; but rally will be tough on tires…
• Hans Weijs jr: with ‘new’ rally car in Corsica after heavy crash in Spain…
Within less than a week after the Rally Spain the KNAF Talent First Team Holland is ready for another WRC event: the last round of the 2008 J-WRC this weekend takes place on the sunny island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. The 52nd edition of the Rallye de France/Tour de Corse will feature some very nice sinuous mountain roads with lots of cornering: it therefore used to be called the ‘Rally of the 10.000 Corners’.
No more than 300,000 inhabitants live on Corsica and it is very well suited for a rally. Both Dutch youngsters are debuting in this event and they are highly motivated for a good performance. After Hans Weijs’ accident in Spain last week an almost new Citroën C2 R2 Max is ready for him and also Kevin Abbring’s Renault Clio is in top condition again.
Kevin Abbring
It will be Kevin Abbring’s first outing on Corsica: "And it is not going to be easy – especially not on the tires," said Kevin Abbring in a relaxed pose in the Service Park in the port of Ajaccio earlier today. "The Pirelli tires of my Renault Clio show enormous grip on the rough tarmac here, but I’m not sure if they will last long enough. Therefore we changed the set-up of the car this morning during shake down (a bit softer in the rear)."
Kevin and his Belgian co-driver Erwin Mombaerts did a good recce and they know that the accuracy of the pace notes will play an important role here. "All corners look the same and there are so many, that Kevin has to rely on the pace notes," said Mombaerts.
Hans Weijs jr
Also for Hans Weijs jr it is his first Tour de Corse. "The rally is not easy with all the tightening corners," said Hans Weijs just before the ceremonial start of the rally Thursday evening at the Place Austerlitz in Ajaccio. "And it is not only the corners that are giving me concerns… After the corner you often look down a few hundred meters and you only see big rocks or the sea!"
Immediately after his crash on the final day in Spain Hans’ brother – back home in Holland – loaded the gravel car (last used in Finland) on a trailer and drove down to Toulon. Monday night they ferried to Corsica where the mechanics did a great job to rebuild the gravel car with parts of the crashed car to a tarmac version.
Hans Weijs: "Suddenly I had an almost complete new Citroën C2, and moreover they mounted a very special Recaro seat, which was originally specially designed for Marcus Gronholm. And this seat gives me a better fit and more control."
Rallye de France / Tour de Corse
Start and finish of the Rallye de France/Tour de Corse is in Ajaccio with its Service Park in the port, very nearby the city centre. The 16 stages of the rally will be very demanding, but that does not prevent three times winner Sébastien Loeb (Citroën) to try to clinch the world title already this weekend. And his fellow countryman Sébastien Ogier (also Citroën) is looking for his first J-WRC title.
The 16 stages total 359,02 kms of competitive mountain roads; the total length of the rally being 1.094 kms. The finish of the Rallye de France/Tour de Corse will be on Sunday at 2.48 pm.
- Willy Weyens - also photos
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