2006 WRC | MITSUBISHI MOTORS

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 9: OMV ADAC RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND

MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION DRIVERS DOMINATE GROUP N IN GERMANY

13 AUGUST 2006	LEG 3 RELEASE

OVERALL FINAL RESULTS
OVERALL LEG 2 RESULTS
OVERALL LEG 1 RESULTS

Hermann Gassner / Karin Thannhauser
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

Florian Auer / Markus Peter
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII

Highly respected German driver Hermann Gasner clinched his third Group N success on his home round of the World Rally Championship in Trier today. Gasner, and co-driver Karin Thannhauser, started the event as favourites for victory in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, but had to see off a strong challenge from Peter Bijvelds before they could celebrate a repeat of their victory last year.

As is usually the case in Germany, the conditions were changeable throughout, with overnight rain ensuring the opening leg would be as tricky as these stages had ever been. Three drivers eased their way clear of the Group N pack, however. All three of them were using Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, and it was Bijvelds and his co-driver Bob van den Nieuwenhuijzen who made the early pace. The Dutchmen were contesting Rallye Deutschlanbd for their fourth time, but were still chasing their first finish on the event. They were pushed initially by countrymen Jasper van den Heuvel/Martine Kolman who settled their Evolution VII into an early second.

By the end of the fourth stage, the leading trio, with Gasner third, were already comfortably ahead of the chasing pack. It was in the following stage – the second run through Ruwertal – that Gasner made his move. He blasted his way to fastest time in the test and leap-frogged the two Mitsubishis ahead of him to move into the lead. Moving in the opposite direction was van den Heuvel, who dropped five minutes and slipped back from the fight for the lead.

For the remainder of the opening leg, Gasner and Bijvelds went head-to-head in the race for Group N honours on this most treacherous of asphalt rounds of the World Rally Championship. At the end of the first day’s action around the vineyards, just two tenths of a second separated the pair, with Bijvelds going to bed at the top of the table.

Unfortunately for the Dutchman, his challenge ended on the opening stage of leg two – the notoriously difficult Bosenberg test in the Baumholder tank testing grounds. Once Bijvelds was out of the picture, Gasner was left with a comfortable, four-minute advantage over his nearest rivals Florian Auer and Markus Peter – also in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Gasner spent leg two picking his way through the Baumholder stages, posting fastest times when he felt the conditions were safe enough to do so – and took a similar approach to the event’s final four stages today. When the cars returned to Trier for the finish at lunchtime, Gasner was delighted.

“The Mitsubishi has run so well,” he said. “We had a good battle early in the rally, but after that we had to survive some difficult conditions. The tyre choice was never easy, but here we are – we have made it and won. I am happy with this result.”

Auer took second with a third Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution – that of Henk Vossen/Johan Findhammer – ensuring a lock-out of the podium for Mitsubishi.

In the overall classification, Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb won his fifth straight Rallye Deutschland win to become the joint most successful rally driver of all time. The Frenchman has won 26 WRC rounds, the same as Carlos Sainz. Dani Sordo was second and Marcus Gronholm third in Germany.

The WRC now moves straight to Scandinavia for Rally Finland, which begins on Thursday night.

OVERALL FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos	Driver Co-Driver	Vehicle	Grp Pos	Total Time	Diff Leader
1 M1	Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 1	3:28:34.1	:.*
2 M1	Daniel Sordo Marc Marti	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 2	3:29:07.9	+33.8
3 M1	Marcus Gronholm Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	A 3	3:30:53.3	+2:19.2
4	Toni Gardemeister Jakke Honkanen	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 4	3:31:07.9	+2:33.8
5	Manfred Stohl Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	A 5	3:33:00.0	+4:25.9
6 M2	Andreas Aigner Klaus Wicha	Skoda Fabia WRC	A 6	3:34:16.7	+5:42.6
7	Jan Kopecky Filip Schovanek	Skoda Fabia WRC	A 7	3:34:19.9	+5:45.8
8	Chris Atkinson Glenn Macneall	Subaru Impreza WRC	A 8	3:35:59.1	+7:25.0
9 M1	Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	A 9	3:36:59.8	+8:25.7
10	Gareth MacHale Paul Nagle	Ford Focus RS WRC	A 10	3:41:30.2	+12:56.1
11 M2	Mattias Ekstrom Jonas Andersson	Skoda Fabia WRC	A 11	3:46:14.0	+17:39.9
12 M2	Matthew Wilson Michael Orr	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	A 12	3:47:09.0	+18:34.9
13	Erik Wevers Filip Godde	Toyota Corolla WRC	A 13	3:47:57.0	+19:22.9
14	Xavier Pons Carlos Del Barrio	Citroen Xsara WRC	A 14	3:50:43.7	+22:09.6
15	Kristian Poulsen Ole Frederiksen	Toyota Corolla WRC	A 15	3:52:37.8	+24:03.7
16 J	Kris Meeke Glenn Patterson	Citroen C2 S1600	A 16	3:54:00.7	+25:26.6
17 J	Bernard Casier Frederic Miclotte	Renault Clio S1600	A 17	3:54:39.3	+26:05.2
18	Niki Schelle Michael Wenzel	Suzuki Swift S1600	A 18	3:55:07.1	+26:33.0
19 J	Pavel Valousek Pierangelo Scalvini	Suzuki Swift S1600	A 19	3:55:29.4	+26:55.3
20 J	Julien Pressac Jack Boyere	Citroen C2 S1600	A 20	3:55:33.2	+26:59.1
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21	Hermann Gassner Karin Thannhauser	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	N 1	3:56:19.7	+27:45.6
28	Florian Auer Markus Peter	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 2	4:04:28.3	+35:54.2
30	Henk Vossen Johan Findhammer	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 3	4:10:20.8	+41:46.7
37	Erik Moree Jalmar Van Weeren	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 8	4:19:44.1	+51:10.0
39	Hans Weijs John Raven	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 10	4:23:50.7	+55:16.6
45	Thorsten Kuhlmann Andreas Schroder	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII	N 15	4:29:04.2	+1:00:30.1
49	Milan Liska Tomas Plachy	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	N 18	4:35:16.5	+1:06:42.4
51	Michael Eckhaus Eduard Eertink	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 20	4:39:59.8	+1:11:25.7
54	Gerhard Henneky Roling Sander	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	N 22	4:51:39.7	+1:23:05.6
M1 = FIA WRC MANUFACTURERS 1 / M2 = FIA WRC MANUFACTURERS 2 / J = FIA JWRC