Citroen WRC Team partners with Red Bull

Citroën Sport is pleased to announce the arrival of Red Bull as a new partner of its programme with the Citroën C4 WRC and its crews Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and Dani Sordo/Marc Marti in the FIA World Rally Championship.

Citroen C4 WRC

It is the combination of the Citroën brand’s international reputation, Team Citroën Total’s outstanding performance record and the exceptional personality of the drivers (three Manufacturers’ titles, plus four consecutive world titles for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena) that perfectly matches the vision of Red Bull creator and global leader of the energy drinks market which is looking at developing closer ties with the French market.

Citroën Sport Director Olivier Quesnel is delighted with this association which will begin from the very next round of the 2008 World Rally Championship, Rally Argentina (March 27-30). "We are extremely happy to have this exciting new opportunity to work with such a dynamic company as Red Bull. The images of our respective firms are very complementary and this partnership will be beneficial since it slots in perfectly with rally sport and with Citroën, which is a particularly active brand."

Citroen C4 WRC

Red Bull GmbH is based in Fuschl am See, near Salzburg in Austria, and is present in more than 130 countries across the world. The philosophy behind Red Bull’s partnerships in the world of sport is based on building strong associations with sportsmen and women who excel in their particular domains.

Red Bull joins Team Citroën-Total’s existing partners for 2008, namely Pirelli, Le Coq Sportif, Eurodatacar, Citroën Financement, Magneti-Marelli, Sabelt, Transalliance, OZ Racing and Météo France Sports.

-Citroën Sports

Skoda moves to Super 2000

In a pair of announcements issued today (Wednesday), Skoda has announced that the Red Bull Skoda team will not take part in the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship and that the company will instead spend the year developing a Super 2000 variant of the new Fabia, to be launched next year.

The Skoda Board of Directors has approved a plan to develop the Super 2000 Fabia throughout 2007 with a view to it being introduced at a later date. It sees Super 2000 as an attractive category of the sport and aims to produce a car which will be attractive to privateers or up and coming talents, both nationally and internationally.

Skoda becomes the fifth manufacturer to commit to Super 2000, which from 2007 will run alongside Group N in the production car World Rally Championship. Cars from Fiat and Toyota have already been homologated and appeared on the WRC, notably Alister McRae's debut of the Toyota Corolla S20000R on the recent Wales Rally GB, setting several fastest Group N stage times.

Examples from Volkswagen and Peugeot are expected to be homologated in 1 January 2007 while Renault also developed one car but this project has been shelved as the company concentrates on Formula One. There is also a Lada S2000 running in its native land but there is no indication of whether this will reach international competition.

Ford has also recently confirmed it is looking into developing a S2000 car for the privateer market, although it stressed it was no more than a feasibility study at this stage.

The withdrawal of the Red Bull Skoda team from the WRC means that Czech driver Jan Kopecky will fly the Skoda flag in the 2007 WRC, with continued support from the manufacturer. However, it also means that at the moment, Harri Rovanpera and Andreas Aigner are without a drive. Red Bull has confirmed that it is seeking a position for Aigner but no mention is made in the team statements about Rovanpera.

-WRC.com

Harri Rovanpera crashes his Fabia during test

Red Bull Skoda's Harri Rovanpera suffered an accident during pre-event testing Monday on his Fabia WRC test car. Rovanpera was nearly midway through a five-hour test session when he drove wide into a corner, touched a wall, and his wheel hit a stone, which caused him to roll his car.

"I came too close to the outside, there was plenty of loose gravel but unfortunately also a rock which destroyed the rim," Rovanpera said after the incident. "Then the car rolled rather violently, thank goodness I suffered no injuries. Risto complained about a slight headache. Except for this incident our test was very informative, too."

Rovanpera is still scheduled to compete at this weekend's Rally d'Italia Sardegna.

First gravel rally for Red Bull Skoda

For Harri Rovanpera, the Rally d'Italia Sardegna is to be his 108th FIA World Rally Championship event, but the event will be the first gravel rally for he and team-mate Andreas Aigner in a Skoda Fabia. The event will also be Aigner's first ever gravel event in a World Rally Car.

"I had quite a good feeling in the last tarmac rallies, now I need to adjust and learn to drive properly on gravel," said Aigner. "The test days will help me with that for sure. Apart from that I'm totally motivated, and I hope to at least keep the immediate competition at bay. In addition Harri will be able to give me some good advice."

The Red Bull Skoda Team is contesting only the European events in 2006, and thus far, both gravel rallies of the season have been in North and South America - Corona Rally Mexico and Rally Argentina. Rovanpera has only contested one event (Rallye de France - Tour de Corse) with the Red Bull-backed Skoda Fabia and is looking to contest a top six finish in Sardinia.

"We will certainly let Harri go for it, so he should be able to achieve a top six position," said Red Bull Team boss Armin Schwarz. "We'll have to wait and see how Andreas does on gravel, what he trusts himself to do. If he manages to complete this task in a positive fashion, we have taken a further step."

"I love this rally, it is extremely difficult and very demanding," said Rovanpera. "If we're able to test successfully, we should be able to achieve a good result in the end. In my 108th WRC start, my routine and experience will surely be of help here."

Harri Rovanpera in a Skoda Fabia WRC in Corsica

Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen has joined WRC once again in Tour de Corse (Rd 6 of WRC), this time running a Škoda Fabia WRC (car #11) of the Redbull-Škoda team. The car was prepared by BRR. Harri filled in for Gilles Panizzi, who abruptly decided not to do Corsica after personal issues with his brother and co-driver Hervé Panizzi, has lead to the split of duo. We won't see Redbull-Škoda in Argentina come the end of April because they opted out to do the long haul to South America. Harri finished 12th behind Petter Solberg of Subaru WRT.