WRC
Rally Turkey: Skoda preview
Skoda Motorsport team heads into all new WRC round. The Rally of Turkey is brand new to the World Rally Championship this year, and a step into the unknown for everybody. But the Skoda Motorsport crews believe that the Skoda Octavia WRC is ...
Published: Feb 28, 2003, 2:42 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Skoda Motorsport team heads into all new WRC round.
The Rally of Turkey is brand new to the World Rally Championship this year, and a step into the unknown for everybody. But the Skoda Motorsport crews believe that the Skoda Octavia WRC is well-suited to the rough Turkish stages.
The Rally of Turkey takes place on gravel roads around Antalya, to the south of the country, and takes in a wide variety of conditions. The route includes mountainous tracks as well as faster roads on fertile coastal plains. But the surfaces are likely to be rough and rocky, putting reliability and strength at a premium.
Skoda Motorsport driver Toni Gardemeister, who regularly ran in the top six on the last rally in Sweden, commented: "I think the Rally of Turkey could be good for us. But we don't know a lot about it, so nobody starts at an advantage in terms of experience. I've been told that the Turkish Rally has a lot of slow corners, some medium-speed corners and many rough rocks. That should be good for the Octavia WRC: it is very strong and has traditionally done very well on rough rallies. Personally I prefer faster rallies, but hopefully, we can score a few points -- that's the target."
His team mate Didier Auriol, World Rally Champion of 1994, agrees: "It will be difficult to fight for wins and the podium, but certainly we can fight for points. I quite like challenging rallies like this with narrow roads, so if I have a good feeling with the car then hopefully we can attack from the start. We have completed about 150 kilometres of gravel testing now, and learnt a lot about some future directions for the car's development. The biggest question mark is that nobody knows a lot about this rally, so it's really quite difficult to make predictions. I have heard that conditions could be difficult though, and in general that tends to be good for us."
Turkey borders seven countries, and is set to be a very popular addition to the World Rally Championship. It is also one of the most historic venues the Championship will ever visit, having forged a reputation as the cradle of civilisation. Two of the Seven Wonders of the World are in Turkey: the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
But the weather on the rally might be slightly less miraculous. A huge variety of conditions is possible on the route at this time of year -- ranging from thunderstorms to bright sunshine. The unpredictable weather is yet another rogue factor that could make Turkey the most intriguing event of the year.
Skoda Motorsport Team principal Pavel Janeba said: "The Rally of Turkey should be a challenge for everybody in our team. We have just completed some testing in Spain, but as we do not know the details of the Turkish stages, I suppose there could be some changes to the settings of the car during the shake down. Even though we have competed in the Rally of Turkey in the past, the event will be a big question mark in its new WRC format. We will use Didier Auriol's experience and the good condition of Toni Gardemeister, who did a very good job in Sweden."
The Rally of Turkey takes place between Thursday February 27 and Sunday March 2. The event consists of 18 stages, totalling a competitive distance of 380 kilometres. The rally uses one single service park at Kemer, which is also where the rally headquarters is based. The ceremonial start takes place at 1800 on Thursday night, and the finish ramp is scheduled for 1545 on Sunday.
-skoda-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Rally Turkey SS5 results
Next article Rally Turkey: Skoda shakedown summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Didier Auriol
How a reluctant hero became France's first WRC champion
WRC
WRC
How a reluctant hero became France's first WRC champion
Toyota Racing takes drivers’ title and victory
WEC
WEC
Bahrain
Toyota Racing takes drivers’ title and victory
Latest news
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 3 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
12 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
13 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 13 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe