Trier, August 20, 2011 – The German Rally in the Moselle River wine region provided a gripping and dramatic show today as well. But the Red Bull ŠKODA team is continuing in its run of bad luck on the first asphalt competition in the calendar. After their flat tires in the last stage of the initial phase, Hänninen and Gassner lost ground again on Saturday due to punctured tires. It happened on the most difficult Panzerplatte special stages, and Gassner was forced to withdraw for the rest of the day after his tire went flat for the second time. Gassner is currently in eighth place after the second day and Hänninen climbed two places to fourth place despite his misfortune on both days.
Gassner loses ground in compliance with competition rules for every incomplete special stage in the form of five penalty minutes. He will be at the start line for Sunday’s final special stage as part of the Super Rally, though. Hänninen is still in the competition for a better place than sixth for the first phase, which was made easier, despite his flat tire on the Panzerplatte, by the setbacks of Kruuda and Herbold. That put him in fourth place going into the final phase.
Hänninen is still disappointed, of course: “We’re still fighting – we had definitely imagined the competition going differently, but every point counts in the championship.”
Gassner doesn’t see things any better: “We’re extremely disappointed, we had two flat tires and no spares left, so we had to withdraw. We’ll try to make some good time tomorrow and get ourselves back on track.”
The competition ends on Sunday with five special stages 76 kilometers in length.
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