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Rallye Deutschland

25 to 27 July 2003

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Preview Event Bulletin 21 July 2003
The Event Following a month-long break in the season, the 555 Subaru World Rally Team will be back in action next weekend for round eight of the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Deutschland. Making its second appearance in the WRC calendar following its WRC debut last year, the rally will commence with a ceremonial start in the host town of Trier at 2000hrs on Thursday 24 July, before beginning proper at 0800hrs on Friday morning. With the last five WRC rounds having been contested on gravel, Rally Deutschland is the first of four asphalt events scheduled for the second half of the season. Offering a wide variety of terrain and based around the Roman city of Trier, the rally will see crews alternate between the narrow, twisty roads of the Mosel wine region, the smooth, fast roads of Saarland and the bumpy, abrasive concrete tracks of the Baumholder military region. Normally used by soldiers for tank training exercises, the latter are flanked by large, concrete kerbstones and, covered in fine sand, can become very slippery when wet. The event's mixture of differing road surfaces with the changeable weather conditions will provide both drivers and tyres with a tough challenge. As the only WRC event held in central Europe, Rally Deutschland is popular with the fans. Last year thousands flocked to Trier from neighbouring countries, and this year should be no different. Comprising three legs and 388.23 competitive kilometres, Rally Deutschland includes 22 stages, and a super special stage, which will run on Friday and Saturday evening at St Wendel. There will be a single service area at Bostalsee and the winning car is expected to cross the finish ramp in Trier at 1550hrs on Sunday 27 July. Entries The 555 Subaru World Rally Team will be entering two Subaru Impreza WRC2003's into the Rally Deutschland, driven by Petter Solberg and Tommi Mäkinen. Both will be eligible to score Manufacturers' points for the team. Last year Petter retired from fifth place overall when he lost a wheel on one of the Baumholder stages. Tommi finished in seventh place overall and picked up two Manufacturers' points for 555 Subaru Team. Driver Quotes Petter Solberg "Cyprus was just the perfect result - it was great for the team, the fans and everybody involved. Now I want to do the same thing in Germany! I really enjoy tarmac rallies. We've made some small revisions to the car recently and, as the Pirelli's are known to be strong on abrasive stages, I'm feeling confident. There's a real possibility of rain, which can make the driving conditions quite tricky - particularly on the bumpy stages, but I'm looking forward to it. We did one day pre-event testing yesterday and have another day tomorrow so we are working hard to get the set-up right. I am hopeful that we will see a good result next weekend." Tommi Mäkinen "Before the rally, and the pre-event test (Tommi is driving today), it's very difficult to say how it's going to be, but I must say that I'm pretty confident about the event and that's a very important part of the preparation. The car is running better than ever and I think we're in a good position with set-ups now. I'm not sure exactly what to expect from the rally this year and it's earlier in the season than last time, so it might be hot and dry. But whatever the conditions I'm looking forward to getting back on tarmac, it's a surface I'm happy on and I'll be doing my best next week." The Car / The Challenge 555 Subaru World Rally Team Principal, David Lapworth "The tarmac stages in Germany and particularly the predominance of slow and short corners followed by long high speed straights make this rally unique in the championship. There are a lot of long straights with connecting tight corners that need to be taken in first or second gear - in some places the event resembles a drag race. The vineyard sections in the Mosel region contain lots of slow speed 90-degree corners and junctions but it's also the approach that drivers take to the numerous short corners that can make a huge difference to the leaderboard. In some cases these are little more than a kink in the road, but they can't be straightened out completely, and drivers have to judge their approach perfectly. "As far as the cars are concerned, this rally sees a shift in emphasis for the Subaru team. For the first half of the season the bulk of our efforts have been concentrated on rough rallies, endurance and reliability testing. For the second half of the season, we're moving the focus onto development work and the introduction of new ideas to further enhance performance. As part of this, we've made some refinements to the engine and electronics and are using a new suspension, which I believe represent a good step forward. The initial testing results of Pirelli's new asphalt tyres seem encouraging too. Pirelli has been working right through the winter on new development tyres, and seem to have made good progress. Over the next couple of days at our pre-event test in Germany we'll be able to find out just how much has been achieved." Between the Rallies With nearly four weeks after Cyprus, and following a whirlwind trip to the 555 Subaru World Rally Team base in Banbury UK, Tommi has been back at home spending time with his family and enjoying the excellent Finnish summer weather. Using a name chosen by his oldest son Henry, Tommi's new son Mikko was christened at a family service on Sunday 6 July. After that, the Makinen family spent a week relaxing on their private island close to Tommi's hometown of Jyvaskyla. Far away from the pressure of the WRC, Tommi spent time water skiing, wakeboarding, fishing and renovating the traditional Finnish log cabin on the island. But to make sure things didn't get too relaxed, Tommi and a few friends set off on a three-day off-road motorbike tour, based entirely on the loose gravel tracks of eastern Finland. As you might expect, Tommi is now looking forward to getting back onto four wheels and some grippy tarmac. Never one to stay still for too long, Petter Solberg was in action again on Sunday 13 July when he attended the 10th Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. After arriving by helicopter, the Norwegian completed two demonstration runs on the famous hillclimb in his 2002 Rally of Great Britain winning Impreza WRC car, which naturally involved his customary crowd-pleasing donuts and party trick of leaning out of the car while still driving! He also gave the ride of a lifetime to BAR F1 test driver, Anthony Davidson. At the end of the day Petter was presented with two awards, one by F1 legend Dan Gurney for his spectacular display, and another for beating Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya in the Scalextric hillclimb competition with a time of 5.82 seconds! Phil Mills has also been busy and on 1 July had the tough job of attending the finals of the 2003 Pirelli Girl Competition at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire. Meeting five of the six finalists, Phil was required to participate in two separate photoshoots with the girls - one in a sauna and the other on a golf buggy! It's a tough job. Petter, Phil, Tommi and Kaj are all now in Germany undertaking a pre-event test in preparation for next weekend's event. Driving in the vineyards around Trier, Petter tested yesterday and Tommi is testing today. Tonight the team will move to the military area of Baumholder for two further days of testing. Petter will be at the wheel tomorrow and Tommi on Sunday.

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