Zoom It will be a Suzuki driver... but which one?

This week-end's Tour de Corse will be the last confrontation of the season for the Junior Rally Championship: the outcome of the French round will name this year's Champion.

Urmo Aava and Per-Gunnar Andersson presently share equal points status. The Suzuki drivers will therefore be fighting it out to the finish over the Corsican tarmac stages.

Urmo Aava:
"It's the final rally of the season, which will be decisive for the title between me and P-G Andersson. I hope that there will be a really good fight between us. It's an easy one to follow : whoever finishes in front of the other will be crowned Junior Champion. My team mate has already been champion in 2004 and I hope that it will be my turn this year. Whatever happens, it will be a fantastic success for Suzuki."

Per-Gunnar Andersson:
"It's going to be a really exciting showdown with Urmo Aava: we've got the same car, the same ambitions and the same number of points before the final round of the FIA Junior Championship. Urmo has the advantage of having been to Corsica twice before while it's the first time for me, but as there are several new stages this handicap should be minimised. In any case, I'm going to be pushing hard from the beginning!"

Yoann Bonato:
"After three rallies in a Citroën C2 R2 I will drive a Citroën C2 Super 1600 in Corsica. I drove the last Tour de Corse in 2006 with a Renault Clio. I managed to set a few good times, particularly on the final leg. The current C2 is completely different to the one I drove on the French Championship in 2004. I'll have to get used to it quickly if I want to put in a good performance."

Arnaud Augoyard:
"As I'm competing on the French gravel championship this year, I'm going to have to get used to driving on asphalt again. In fact, I've not driven on asphalt since the Rally du Var in December 2006. So I did a short test session in Italy and then three runs over the shakedown stage. My objective will be to rediscover my pace during the first few stages, and then step it up afterwards."

Thomas Barral:
"It's the first time that I will be driving a World Championship Rally. The main difference compared to a French Championship event is that you have two runs over the stages during the recce. It's really hard to try and remember the route. I quickly realised during the shakedown that the roads would become very dirty after the WRC cars go through. One of the most important things during the rally will be to avoid punctures."

Brice Tirabassi:
"Before competing on the IRC next year in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000, I am driving on several other rallies this year to prepare myself. The route in Corsica should favour the S2000 car as there are not many steep climbs. If it rains, the four wheel drive on my car will help."

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source FFSA