Red Bull Skoda Sardinia testing notes

Red Bull Skoda completes two and a half days of successful testing in Sardinia

Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen (both SF) and Andreas Aigner (AUT)/Timo Gottschalk (GER) were able to collect important data for the team's gravel debut

Last of all however, Rovanpera had a spectacular roll in the Fabia test car

The test sessions in Sardinia were very successful for Red Bull Skoda up until Monday afternoon. On Saturday, Harri Rovanpera spent a day at the wheel of the Fabia WRC, on Sunday it was Andreas Aigner's turn. The team was able to test a lot of different suspension settings and tyres on both days.

On the third day of testing, on a new piece of gravel road, Andreas Aigner started off in the Fabia WRC and then gave a very positive summary of all his test sessions in Sardinia: "It was most important to adapt from asphalt to gravel. I felt really good in the car, and I'll go into this weekend's Rally Sardinia with great confidence."

For Harri Rovanpera the first day was very positive as well, but on Monday the Finn slid off the road in one of the final test runs and rolled the Fabia WRC test car: "I came too close to the outside, there was plenty of loose gravel but unfortunately also a rock which destroyed the rim. Then the car rolled rather violently, thank goodness I suffered no injuries. Risto complained about a slight headache. Except for this incident our test was very informative, too."

Head of Technical Staff Dietmar Metrich, who emphasized the great importance of this test for the entire team, said about the incident: "The car is pretty badly damaged all over, we will probably need a new chassis but the incident didn't affect either of the two competition Fabia WRCs set to run in the rally."

-www.redbullskoda.com