Third SWRC event – on gravel again Both Red Bull Skoda team crews, Hänninen & Markkula and Gassner & Wüstenhagen, to appear on the start line 18 stages in total (340 kilometers)
In Mlada Boleslav, May 2 – The third S-WRC this year, a gravel one just like the previous two rallies in Mexico and Jordan, will take place in Sardinia, Italy over the second weekend of May (May 6-8). For the first time this season, the Red Bull Skoda team is going to appear at full strength, i.e. with both its crews – Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula (FIN) and Hermann Gassner jun. & Katharina Wüstenhagen (GER). The agenda of this three-day event includes 340 competition kilometers in 18 stages and over a thousand kilometers of transfers between the stages.
The event is characteristic of fast, narrow sections and a mix of open stretches, bumpy forest roads and spectacular jumps. The Sardinia Rally is also the event where Juho Hänninen & Mikko Markkula lay solid foundations for their IRC title last year: “Yes, I have the best memories of Sardinia, the conditions there are certainly up my street, but this is going to be a completely different rally, with a different composition of stages. Yet our
goals for this year remain ambitious,” says Juho before the start. Encouraged by his third place at the Jordan Rally, Juho’s teammate Hermann Gassner jr.
is optimistic: “Both I and Katharina are very pleased to have won a podium place in our first appearance for Red Bull Skoda, and I am sure we will be even stronger in Sardinia as a team and will fight for the best possible result. Although we will carry on learning in the first place, we showed in Jordan that we are on a good track”. So far, each of the crews of the Red Bull Skoda team has appeared at one of the first two events of this season – Hänninen came second in Mexico, Gassner finished third in Jordan. The crews will now appear together in Sardinia and then in Greece, Finland,Germany, France and Spain.
