PREVIEW OF THE GERMAN RALLY
 
"We go to this rally more motivated than ever". Those words clearly show how Sergio López-Fombona and his teammate Xevi Pons face the ADAC Rally of Germany, fifth round of this year's Production World Rally Championship. This is the first tarmac event, a surface which both drivers are used to competing on, and it boosts their hopes of getting yet another good result for the team and, for the fifth time in a row, be amongst the point-scoring teams.
The German event will have the added interest of seeing the debut of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII, instead of the Evo VII entered so far this season. This new mount is ready to allow the young RACC drivers to continue with their learning curve over stages full of crossroads and running among vineyards and military camps. Total commitment and good team work between driver and co-driver will again be essential.
   
 
Photos RACC by Jean Marc Pastor

Germany and Corsica will be the last two rallies for the RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi team, so now is a good chance to do a summary of what has happened so far: "I'm very happy with everything" says Pons, "We've got some very good results, I'm learning a lot and I think we'll be even better placed in the overall standings by the finish. It's quite impressive to be so close to the great drivers and the season passes by really quickly, I don't want it to finish!"

The ADADC Germany Rally will cover a total of 1075.77 kms, with 411.06 kms being competitive taking place over 24 special stages. Sergio and Xevi are very motivated and focused to get the best out of themselves, they are ready to drive as fast as possible and to fight again for points at the wheel of their brand new Mitsubishi EVO VIII.

Debut for the Evo VIII

The German Rally will be the first race for the much anticipated "Mitsu" EVO VIII, as usual prepared by Calm Competició. After four events driving the EVO VII (Sweden, Mexico, New Zealand and Argentina), Xevi Pons and Sergio López-Fombona will have a new mount for the two full tarmac rallys in the PWRC schedule, Germany and Corsica. With the arrival of the EVO VIII, both RACC men will have the chance to drive the latest evolution of one of the best cars competing in the World Championship within the Group N regulations.

In a season of learning at World Championship level having the opportunity to drive a reliable car with continuous evolutions is one of the biggest advantages of the RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi team. Josep Clam, boss of Clam competició says: "There are improvements at the turbo and engine level, the pistons are also revised. The main feature of the EVO VIII though are the new homologated front and rear differentials. Also, externally, there are some changes such as the bumpers, headlights, air-intakes on the rear wing but, in general, at competition level there won't be big differences between both versions although I'd say the EVO VIII improves the cornering speed even if the power is the same as the previous release".

General testing.

Before leaving for Germany, Calm Competició and its drivers had two test sessions to learn how the new EVO VIII behaves on tarmac and to see the differences from the old version.

Both test days (first with Pons and then with Fombona and finally with RACC driver Dani Sordo) were focused on setting up the cars for tarmac with the massive use of telemetry to analyse the suspension, engine and the electronics of the central differential. Everybody was very happy at the end of the tests.
     PROGRAMME
 
Germany, a different rally

The German town of Trier and its surroundings will enjoy for the third year in a row the magic and spectacle of the World Rally Championship. With a quite straightforward program, the fifth event valid for this year PWRC series, will have its high point on the second day with 9 special stages, among these the most important is without doubt “Panzerplatte Lang”. Two long runs along its extended 40.30 kilometers could be decisive for the result of the race.
It's also worth noting the German geographic differences, with stages that go from military camps with several differing surfaces such as concrete to narrow roads among vineyards. The recce will be even more crucial than usually in order to get the right pace notes especially with the great number of surface changes together with the crossroads that are also a typical feature of this rally.
More information at the Rally official website:www.rallye-deutschland.de
   
 
   IN SERGIO'S VIEW
 
"The fifth place at Argentina, after the eighth at Sweden, were very important results for me, we did our best rally of the year and we really can't ask for more. It was our first experience there and we scored some quite remarkable times overcoming the complexities of the stages. I think that without the problems we had the first day we'd have ended up in fourth position.
The season is continuing pretty well. I'm taking the maximum out of each rally and we are living an unique experience, right now I feel at a great moment and I'm very happy with my development.
In Germany we hope to get a good result, I'm very confident. I've never raced the Mitsubishi on tarmac but I'm sure I'll get used to it very quickly as I've got a lot of experience on that surface and I have to make good use of it. The teamwork with Guifré is also very good and that's also a positive point for us. Our plan is to score good times and be competitive. My target? To be among the top five and I won't discount a podium finish!"