Germany: Citroen Junior final summary

Third « one - two » for the Citroën Saxos

The Citroën Saxo, current Super 1600 World Champion with Sébastien Loeb, remains "the car to beat" in the Junior Championship. Four of the six rounds have been already contested and the Citroën Saxos set three "one-twos" : the first in Catalunya with Dani Sola and Andrea Dallavilla, the second in Greece thanks to Janne Tuohino and Andrea Dallavilla and the third here in Germany, with Dani Sola and Andrea Dallavilla again.

Andrea, who will play at home in Sanremo for the next round, started the fastest on Friday. But a puncture made him lose almost four minutes in SS3. The experienced Italien driver did not give up the fight. Becoming the best performer of the Junior drivers, he caught up with his competitors and finished second after François Duval retired on Sunday.

German Sven Haaf benefited from his knowledge of the terrain. He attacked Niall McShea on Saturday and took first place when the Irish driver was given a 20 second penalty. Sven was leading the Junior Championship at Friday's last service, but he had to retire on the second leg as a result of a timing problem. The LDT team, who won the German Championship with Sven, also lost Jussi Välimäki its second driver on Saturday. (SS14 - alternator problems).

At the same time, Dani Sola carefully followed his team-manager orders, the former official rally driver, Antonio Zanini. The experienced Alex Romani - Dani's co-driver- summarised the way the Spanish best hope to manage the rallies and his carreer. "Sin prisa, pero sin pausa" which means "don't rush, but don't stop". This tactic paid off. Even if a wrong tyre choice cost him some time in SS11, SS12, SS13, Dani never gave up. After the young Belgian went off the road, he drove towards his second win.

Driving the second Saxo of the Ph Sport team, Janne Tuohino decided to adopt a wise pace for his fourth rally on asphalt. He carefully followed his plan with only one puncture recorded in SS13. Unfortunately, the Finn went off the road on Sunday morning.

Mirco Baldacci drove at a regular pace and stood fourth in the overall classification. The Sanmarino driver scored four points in the Junior Championship, still dominated by the Saxos.

Next round of the JWRC : Sanremo rally : 19-22 September

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