IRC: Interwetten Barum Rally leg 1 summary

Race to catch up by Franz Wittmann/Klaus Wicha stopped by tyre damage on special stage 8

The Interwetten Racing drivers lie in 13th overall place after the first day of the Barum Rally

For two special stages it looked as if Franz Wittmann/Klaus Wicha (Peugeot 207 S2000) would manage to enter the top 10. The Interwetten Racing duo started into the afternoon of the second day with a tenth- best special stage time, on par with tarmac-specialist Kris Meeke (GB/Peugeot 207 WRC). But the race to catch up was cut short on SS 8.

Team Manager Ronny Leschhorn: "About four to five kilometres before the end of the eighth stage a tyre disintegrated after a flat. Something like that can always happen on such a rough surface. Fortunately the rubber fell outward and thus didn't damage the chassis."

But the Interwetten Racing duo lost one minute by this incident and fell back from eleventh to 14th overall place. A plucky performance on the last stage of the day had the Interwetten Racing driver move up one place again.

-source: interwetten-racing.com