WRC

Rally Ireland: OMV BIXXOL final summary

OMV BIXXOL Rally Team seizes WRC-points in Ireland Bulgarian brothers Yassen and co-driver Dillyan Popov finished this year's premiere in the OMV BIXXOL Rally Team at the "Rally Ireland" in the top-10. Despite a tyre damage on the first day of the ...

Edited: Nov 19, 2007, 4:19 AM

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OMV BIXXOL Rally Team seizes WRC-points in Ireland

Bulgarian brothers Yassen and co-driver Dillyan Popov finished this year's premiere in the OMV BIXXOL Rally Team at the "Rally Ireland" in the top-10. Despite a tyre damage on the first day of the penultimate run to the P-Car FIA World Rally Championship the OMV pair took a very good ninth overall place. The OMV BIXXOL Rally Team CZ with Stepan Vojtech and Michal Ernst had even more reason to rejoice since 5th overall place meant that the two Czechs (also in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) were able to score WRC-points for the second time this season after Mexico.

All's well that ends well

Following the first day of the Rally Ireland Bulgarian brothers Yassen and Dillyan Popov of the OMV BIXXOL Rally Team had quarreled with fate a bit - after all a tyre damage on the sixth special stage had had them drop back to 14th place. But the OMV duo in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX never gave up and reconquered place by place. At the end of leg two on Saturday the Popovs were already back up in tenth place. And on the final day they even managed to gain one more place. Thus the Bulgarian OMV Team finished the penultimate run to the P-Car FIA World Rally Championship, which also had been their OMV BIXXOL Rally Team-premiere this year, in excellent ninth place, only just out of scoring ranks. "Despite the tyre damage on the first day we can be really satisfied with this rally. At these adverse conditions a place within the top-10, only just behind scoring ranks, is a great success that has shown us that we are competitive", explained Yassen Popov.

Scoring points for the second time

The OMV BIXXOL Rally Team CZ had reason to rejoice over an even bigger success. The Czech OMV duo Stepan Vojtech and co Michal Ernst in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX was spared mishaps à la Popov and perfectly adjusted to the slippery road conditions right from the beginning. Without taking excessive risk Vojtech stayed within scoring ranks in the P-Car FIA World Rally Championship from the first day of the Rally Ireland on and finished the run in excellent fifth overall place. Thus the OMV driver was able to best his Mexico-result (6th place) and score WRC-points for the second time this season. "I am especially happy to have crossed the finish line at such a difficult rally where top drivers like Gronholm and Stohl had their problems. And to have scored 4 points as an added bonus. My thanks naturally also go to the team that did a perfect job ", said an obviously satisfied Stepan Vojtech.

At the Wales Rally GB (November 30 - December 2) the colours of the OMV BIXXOL Rally Team will once more be carried by Stepan Vojtech/Michal Ernst. They will be backed by the Romanian OMV Team Claudiu David and Mihaela Beldie for whom this means the third OMV-assignment this year following Argentina and Japan.

-credit: owrt.com

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