Red Bull Skoda Team again wins podium positions at Sardinia Rally
Taking place in Sardinia, the third SWRC this year (a gravel one just like the previous two rallies) saw the Red Bull Skoda team scoop some more important points - Juho Hänninen finished second, Hermann Gassner fifth. Hänninen is now fourth in the overall SWRC rankings, only four points behind leader Tänak, Gassner is fifth.
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Temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius, a moderate wind and almost clear sky – the weather conditions were ideal on all of the three days of this year's Sardinia Rally. The Red Bull Skoda team drivers were looking for the right rhythm in the first four stages to finally improve in the fifth in which Hänninen was fastest (for the first time that day) and then kept his pace until the end of Friday's agenda to come third overall, 18 seconds behind Prokop and a further 25 seconds behind Tänak (both in Fords). Having to resort to just the front-wheel drive over the whole of the second half of the Friday programme, Hermann Gassner finished more than seven minutes behind the leader.
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Saturday saw lots of fans along the track, and they indeed built a great atmosphere. Both Red Bull Skoda team drivers started the six-stage Saturday programme by making a strong effort to move up the rankings. The set-up of Juho Hänninen's car was completely different – in particular, the chassis was not as tough as it had been on Friday. Herman Gassner's situation was more complicated, though– with the loss of several minutes caused by the absence of the rear-axle drive, there was no point taking big chances. Showing again that his Day 2 performances generally tend to be better, Juho won three stages to move up to second place overall, 49 seconds behind leader Tänak. Losing more than 11 minutes, Gassner was sixth.
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The final four stages in Sunday (65 km in total) saw a spectacular finish by Juho Hänninen who beat Tänak by 20 seconds in Stage 2 and won two stages, but even that was not enough. Losing 27 seconds to Tänak overall, Hänninen finished second in the end. Herman Gassner came fifth.
Commenting on the Sardinia Rally, Juho Hänninen says: “We did not choose the best of set-ups on Friday, the chassis was rather tough and, unfortunately, we had to stick it for the rest of the Friday programme. We changed the set-up for Saturday and that paid off, we were happy with the car again, and also on Sunday. Anyway, Tänak put in a great performance, and our second place is another contribution to overall success in the championship. We are looking forward to Greece – we will do our best there to achieve our first win this year”.
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Although not trying to hide his disappointment, Hermann Gassner saw the rally in Sardinia positively in the overall context: “Our ambitions could have definitely been higher if it hadn't been for the defect due to which we could only use the front-wheel drive on Friday - that was a big disadvantage on the gravel surface. However, we came fifth overall, which is not bad, and have gained a lot of valuable experience for the future. Now we are already looking forward to Acropolis”.
Both crews of the Red Bull team are now going to appear at the legendary Acropolis Rally in mid June (16-19).
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