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2003 FIA Junior World Rally Championship
Round 6 - Rally Catalunya (23-26 October)
Monday 20 October 2003 - Preview
SUZUKI MAKE THEMSELVES AT HOME IN CATALUNYA....
Suzuki is hoping for a strong result on Spanish
asphalt, as the four Ignis drivers prepare for this weekend's
Catalunya Rally, the penultimate round of the Junior World Rally
Championship.
Two of the four Ignises entered on the event will be painted
white to display the colours of Suzuki Iberica: Suzuki's new
Spanish distributor. The cars carrying the new livery will be
driven by Daniel Carlsson and local hero Salvador Canellas.
The other two Suzukis of Ville-Pertti Teuronen and Urmo Aava
will display the familiar yellow Suzuki colour scheme.
Salvador Canellas going for a good result on his homeground
This year's Catalunya Rally will be a historic
event for Spanish motorsport. Two Spanish drivers come to their
home rally in contention for a championship title. One of them
is former World Champion Carlos Sainz, hoping to lift his third
overall world rally title. The other is Suzuki's own Salvador
Canellas, who enters his home rally just three points behind
Junior World Championship leader Brice Tirabassi.
Canellas is an asphalt ace who is hoping for an excellent result
on home territory. The Spaniard finished second on the last
sealed-surface round in Sanremo, and is looking forward to driving
in front of his many fans at home.
"I always love driving in Spain," said Canellas, who
recently competed on the Spanish Championship's Principe de
Asturias rally, driving an Ignis backed by Suzuki Iberica. "We
have done a lot of useful testing before the asphalt rallies,
so I think we are in good shape."
The Catalunya Rally is quite different from the Sanremo Rally
of two weeks ago, which was the Junior World Championship's
first taste of 'proper' European mountain roads. The stages
are faster, wider, and more flowing - which means that drivers
need accurate pace notes in order to describe the quickest lines
through corners.
"The Principe de Asturias Rally gave us a lot of relevant
data," explained Salvador, whose father won the Catalunya
Rally outright in the 1970s. "We also spent a week testing
close to the Catalunya Rally route in August."
The Catalunya Rally is based in Lloret de Mar, a seaside town
just half an hour's drive from Salvador's home city of Barcelona.
Although he has good experience of the event, uncertain weather
could make the stage conditions very unpredictable. Rain and
fog are a distinct possibility.
A new face in the Suzuki team is Mikko Markkula, who joins as
co-driver to Ville-Pertti Teuronen for the rest of the season.
Although Mikko is still young, he has a lot of rallying experience
alongside the Finnish Championship's most famous drivers. Ville-Pertti's
confidence on asphalt is steadily increasing, and he hopes to
build on his solid points finish in Sanremo with the help of
Mikko.
Daniel Carlsson showed he had the pace to run at the front in
Italy before he was forced to retire, while Urmo Aava plans
to build up his asphalt experience after an early exit from
Sanremo with a mechanical problem.
Suzuki team manager Risto Laine said: "These asphalt events
are notoriously unpredictable, but I think we have done as much
as we can before the rally. Our testing session in Spain in
August gave us a lot of useful data which we will be trying
to maximise this weekend. Sanremo showed that the car is quick
on sealed surfaces, but we also have to get everybody to the
finish! I know that every member of the team will be trying
their hardest, and for Salvador his home rally is bound to be
a special occasion."
The Catalunya Rally gets underway at 06h45 on Friday October
24, after Ceremonial Start at 19h00 on Thursday evening in Lloret
de Mar. Crews then complete no less than 22 twisty special stages
before the finish back in Lloret de Mar at 15h09 on Sunday October
26.
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