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SWEDISH
RALLY - DAY 3 |
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Great
success for Sergio Lopez-Fombona (Mitsubishi) in Sweden
The RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi team had a successful finish in their
first outing of the season in the Production World Rally Championship
with Sergio López-Fombona taking eight position in his class
by inheriting the place from his team mate Xevi Pons who went off
the road on the penultimate stage. The usual problems of the Scandinavian
event were even bigger this year due to the uneven road conditions
giving this result an especially high value due to the minimal experience
of Pons and the total unfamiliarity of Fombona with such conditions,
especially at world rally level.
During past night, snow fell in
large amounts and the roads were completely covered which forced
the Calm Competició team to fit the Mitsubishis with GE63
tyres for first time. Without any technichal problems both RACC
entered, Repsol-liveried cars, run this third day keeping their
positions and without taking any unnecessary risks. Despite this
care Xevi Pons slid off the road when blinded by the snow produced
by his own car when approaching the snow banks.
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RESULTS |
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PWRC
CLASSIFICATION (Group N) |
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| 1 |
PAASONEN
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MIT |
3h43'44"0 |
| 2 |
MCRAE
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SUB |
+1'02"8 |
| 3 |
SOLA
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MIT |
+3'24"5 |
| 4 |
KUCHAR
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MIT |
+4'51"3 |
| 5 |
GALLI
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MIT |
+5'34"9 |
| 6 |
ARAI
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SUB |
+6'08"1 |
| 7 |
AL-ATTIYAH
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SUB |
+14'21"0 |
| 8 |
FOMBONA
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MIT |
+15'37"8 |
| 9 |
ROMAN
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SUB |
+17'08"7 |
| 10 |
SINGH
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PRO |
+17'14"5 |
| 11 |
GERADZHIEV
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MIT |
+19'55"9 |
| 12 |
TRIVINO
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MIT |
+20'24"4 |
| 13 |
VOLLAK
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MIT |
+20'53"8 |
| 14 |
FRISIERO
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SUB |
+23'11"9 |
| 15 |
PONS
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MIT |
+51'31"0 |
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The
first point for Sergio Fombona.
(RACC Presse) |
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IN
SERGIO'S VIEW |
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"Honestly
I think that having raced here has given me much more experience
than competing at other far more conventional rallies. I went
out just to experiment and right now I feel myself perfectly
capable of knowing when you can attack and when you can't.
To finish eight and score a point was something unthinkable
at the start. I feel sorry for Pons as that point was fully
earned by him, but the 8th place is a result also deserved
by the whole RACC-Repsol-Mitsubishi team so justice was done
after all by giving back the place to the team after my teammate's
bad luck.
At the beginning I had some fears about the pacenotes but
they have really worked out quite well. It was a very good
idea to come to Karlstad last Saturday as that gave us the
chance to practice the process of taking the pacenotes with
Guifré, my co-driver, and that paid off when the testing
started. It's curious but at the beginning it's difficult
to get used to describing and then hearing, ice! snow! frozen
rails! etc. expressions that sound a bit strange during the
race.
Anyway, I reckon we did very well at this rally and I'm very
encouraged for the future, before the start I had to get used
to the pre-race nerves but now I'm very happy" |
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