VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 19
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2nd OCTOBER 2013
CASTROL-BACKED PERKINS AND MURPHY WIN EN Castrol-backed Mike Pero Racing Holden VE Commodore drivers Greg Murphy and Jack Perkins started their BNT New Zealand V8 SuperTourers Endurance Series campaign in the best possible fashion, winning the first race at Hampton Downs for the Aegis Oil Waikato 400. Murphy qualified the M3 Motorsportprepared Commodore fourth and worked his way into the lead by lap 12, pitting half way through the 38 lapper to hand over to Perkins, who crossed the finish line 10 seconds clear of the second M3 entry of Richard Moore/Tim Slade.
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“We were a bit disappointed after qualifying this morning, because we didn’t really get the most out of the car, but we made up for it in the race,” Murphy said. “I had some really good battles early on and was able to hand the car over to Jack in the lead. Jack had to dispose of the Daniel Gaunt/Andrew Waite car, which jumped ahead of us in the pit stops, but he was patient, picked his opportunity and then brought it home. “Qualifying was hard fought, I was up against some handy drivers during my session,” Perkins added. “Greg made my
job in the race easier by giving me the car in a strong position and it was good to pick up a win to start the weekend. Towards the end of the race, I was very conscious of looking after the tyres, because we have to use the same set at some stage tomorrow, and I concentrated on conserving the car.” In Race 3 the pair stormed to a podium finish at Hampton Downs after a gearbox failure sidelined their Holden VE Commodore earlier in the day. Auckland racer Tim Edgell registered his maiden V8 SuperTourers win by taking
NDURO OPENER Race 2 with V8 Supercars co-driver Lee Holdsworth. Hamilton driver Ant Pedersen made a sizeable move on the BNT V8 SuperTourer Championship by winning Race 3 of the Hankook Super Series Waikato 400 with co-driver Chaz Mostert. Murphy and Perkins now head to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in a fortnight’s time where they will compete alongside James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin, before returning to Hampton Downs for the penultimate round of the V8 SuperTourers, October 19-20.
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BNT V8 SuperTourers Series Points – After Round 5 of 7 Pos
Driver
Points
1
Greg Murphy
2722
2
Ant Pedersen
2648
3
Shane Van Gisbergen
2584
4
Daniel Gaunt
2001
5
Richard Moore
1927
6
Andre Heimgartner
1868
7
Scott McLaughlin
1613
8
John McIntyre
1431
CASTROL-BACKED JOHN FORCE WINS MIDWEST NATIONALS Castrol-backed John Force continues to add to his expanding legacy after winning the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals. Force defeated long-time rival Jack Beckman in the final, taking the win by .013 seconds to capture his 136th career Funny Car title. This was Force’s sixth final round in the last twelve races and his first win with crew chief Jimmy Prock. “Jimmy gave me a good hot rod,” said Force, a three-time winner at Gateway Motorsports Park. “I was losing some races but Robert worked in that cockpit with me to get me comfortable. I have been guilty of getting overloaded and not focusing on my race car. Now I have people like Just Marketing, Octagon, and Rogers Cowan working for me so I can focus on winning. You have to live this race car every day.” Force moved into second place in the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings just six points behind points leader Matt Hagan. This is the highest Force and the Castrol GTX team has been in the point standings since Force won his 15th
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Funny Car championship in 2010. Earlier this year Force won at Bristol’s Thunder Valley Raceway with Mike Neff as his crew chief but since that win on Father’s Day the 15-time Funny car champion has been shut out of the winner’s circle. “It has been a little bit of a drought since we won in Bristol earlier this year. Robert said when we made the switch that these guys are great guys and they are unbelievable. He said when Jimmy Prock get hot he will get fast,” said Force. “The whole brain trust has been working together from Mike Neff to Ron Douglas, Dean Antonelli, John Medlen and Dan Hood to get these Funny Car running. We are working as a team and it is really cool.” “I gave away two trophies for this win. I gave one to Jim McGrath, the president of AAA Missouri and one to Jimmy Prock. I want to thank AAA for their commitment to JFR. We have a long range deal with Traxxas for Courtney. We are not dead yet and I am not
dead yet. We are going after wins and corporate America.” In the final Force was racing Jack Beckman who has had the upper hand on Force for most of his career. Beckman has a commanding 21-8 record against Force. They are now 2-2 in final rounds. Force has never lost to Beckman at Gateway Motorsports Park, with a 2-0 record now. “Beckman is a great racer. He taught my kids at Frank Hawley driving school. He has taught me some lessons too. At the end of the day our old hot rod went down the race track and we gave the fans a show. That is what it is all about,” said Force This is the twenty-first season for Force to win at least two races in a season. He needed a pre-race pep talk from his wife Laurie today. The couple celebrated 32 years of marriage this weekend. “I talked to my wife this morning and she said you need to get back to winning because winning fixes everything. She
got my head right this morning,” said Force, a 222-time finalist. “I need to start winning races and I know how to do that. I don’t know if I will win another championship or another race but I will be in the fight with these young kids.” Force started the day taking out rookie Chad Head in the first round before dispatching Ron Capps in the second round. In the semi-finals for the second race in a row he had to race teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight. For the second race in a row he also took out Hight. The 2009 Funny Car champion had nothing but word of support for his leader at the end of the day. “I told John after the semi-finals that he needed to win this race. We are running well we just need to quit running into John in the semi-finals. We are making up ground every race on Hagan and now we are only 48 points out of first place,” said Hight. “We can get that under two rounds with a good qualifying effort in Reading. This AAA Insurance Mustang was great today we took out two tough competitors in (Jeff) Arend and (Tim) Wilkerson and lost to the guy that won the race. We are not hanging our heads. We’ll be in Reading ready to get after it.” Courtney Force qualified in the No. 4 spot with lane choice going into race day, this was her ninth top five start of the 2013 season. Her Traxxas team accumulated a total of four bonus points throughout Friday and Saturday for the qualifying efforts. “First round we faced Tony Pedregon and had a pretty stellar pass of a 4.056. We were the second-quickest of the session next to my dad, who one-upped us again. But we’re just excited we were able to get past Tony in round one. The fact that we won in the opening round and Johnny Gray lost in the opening round was big because we moved back up a spot in the points to No. 7,” said Force. This was the first ever match-up between the youngest daughter of John Force and fellow Funny Car driver Tony Pedregon. The pair left the starting line at about the same time, but Force pulled away and turned on the win light. She
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posted a 4.056 second run at over 318 mph to his 4.143 at 296 mph and had lane choice going into the semi-finals. Force went on to compete against No. 5 qualifier Del Worsham. Once again, both drivers were off the starting line together, but Force took an early lead shortly before striking the tires at about 200 feet out and had to back off the throttle. Worsham took the win with a 4.119 ET at 311.77 mph and Force sat out the rest of the day to watch her father walk away with a Wally. “We have a great race car and I think we proved that this weekend; that we can run low 4.0s in the heat and in the cool air. I’m excited that we’re moving in the right direction,” said Force. Brittany Force and her Castrol EDGE team continued to make strides as they wrapped up the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Sunday at Gateway Motorsports Park. The Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award contender qualified fifth for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national event. This was the fourth she has qualified in the top half of the field this season and second time since the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals. Force also ran the quickest elapsed time of her career at 3.79 seconds during the second qualifying session under the lights Friday night. Force walks away 13th in the championship points standings and with another round win under her belt. She believes her team is moving in the right
direction and is proud of what they have accomplished thus far. “Overall, we had a great weekend here in St. Louis,” Force said. “We had a good race car and I ran my best ET Friday night with a 3.79. We ended up qualifying No. 5 and even went into the second round, so I think overall it was a great weekend. We’re packing up and going home early, but this Castrol EDGE team is anxious to get to Reading and hopefully go some more rounds.” MELLO YELLO COUNTDOWN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS Pos
Driver
Points
1
Matt Hagan
2336
2
John Force
2330
3
Jack Beckman
2292
4
Robert Hight
2288
5
Cruz Pedregon
2253
6
Ron Capps
2225
7
Courtney Force
2202
8
Johnny Gray
2187
CASTROL EDGE-BACKED AUDI CREATES HISTORY WITH WEC WIN AT AUSTIN Castrol EDGE-backed Audi scored an historic victory in the FIA WEC race at Circuit of The Americas with Loïc Duval, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro. The trio took home the 100th overall victory in Audi’s LMP sports car program since 2000. The Audi R8 won 63 races, the Audi R10 TDI 22, the Audi R15 TDI three and the Audi R18 TDI/ultra/e-tron quattro twelve. Loic Duval, Allen McNish and Tom Kristensen in the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro earned overall and LMP1 wins by a margin of 23.6 seconds over the No. 8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Stephane Sarrazin, and Sebastian Buemi, which provided the Audi camp with a stiff push during the proceedings.
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“The car was faultless and it ran really well,” McNish said afterwards during the WEC’s worldwide streaming broadcast. “The guys set it up extremely well considering we had such a lack of practice time, and I’m very, very pleased.” In the LMP2 category, IZOD IndyCar Series part-timer Mike Conway helped the No. 26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 03 Nissan net top honors for the second consecutive WEC race alongside co-drivers Roman Rusinov and John Martin. “Hopefully we can keep this going on for the next few rounds,” Martin said. “It’s amazing. The team’s done an
absolutely awesome job all weekend. We’ve been the fastest in every session – just amazing.” According to the Circuit of the Americas, the combined WEC-American Le Mans Series weekend drew a threeday crowd of 33,591 despite heavy rains marring the first day of the weekend on Friday. For comparison’s sake, COTA drew 26,648 fans for its two-day GRAND-AM weekend this past spring. The WEC now moves on to Japan, where they’ll stage another six-hour run at Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway on October 20.
2013 WEC Standings Pos
Driver
Points
1
Allan McNish
138
1
Loïc Duval
138
1
Tom Kristensen
138
2
Marcel Fässler
105
2
Benoît Treluyer
105
2
André Lotterer
105
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CASTROL EDGE ROOKIES SET TO SHINE IN SHANNONS SHOWDOWN Castrol EDGE is supporting this year’s Shannons Supercar Showdown with the series returning on 7mate in 2013. With a new team, new format and a massive new prize on offer, the Internationally Awarded Series now returns for the 3rd year, having debuted the youngest ever drivers in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 over the past two years. Based at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway over eight eventful weeks, the Castrol EDGE Rookie drivers will face off in a series of challenges that will test their mental and physical skills. In 2013, the Series has teamed up with Castrol-backed Ford Performance Racing, with V8 Supercar stars Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison searching for the best young rookie, who will join FPR as the team’s
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Testing Rookie and their name added to the Shannons Insurance Rookie Trophy. Both Winterbottom and Davison have joined the series as Team Captains and each driver is just as keen to see their rookies progress through to the final. “We are pretty competitive on the race track as we compete for the Championship points, but the TV Series has meant that Frosty and I have been going hard at it during the week as well,” said Davison. “We both really want to see our drivers take it as far as they can. The Shannons Supercar Showdown is a fantastic opportunity for race fans to see what it’s like behind the garage door at FPR and really showcase our sport as well.”
be part of finding and developing the rookie drivers. Dave Reynolds and Alex Davison also feature in the Series, so it’s been a complete FPR team line up,” The first two Series were developed in association with Kelly Racing and featured Winners Cameron Waters (2011) and Jesse Dixon (2012). Don’t miss the Shannons Supercar Showdown every Saturday on 7mate (check local guides for times). The Castrol EDGE Rookies are as follows: Team Principal of Ford Performance Racing Tim Edwards, said the team was keen to be involved in the Series and had enjoyed watching the first two Series. “The TV Series is a great way to allow our fans to connect with us and see
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our Drivers in a different light to the race telecasts,” said Edwards. “It’s been fantastic to be able to showcase our teams facilities, what we do away from the track and give viewers an insight into V8 Supercars that they usually don’t get to see. Both Will and Frosty have loved the opportunity to
Tim Macrow (Aus) Chelsea Angelo (Aus) Daniel Cammish (UK) Todd Hazelwood (Aus) Adrian Campfield (UK) Craig Dontas (Aus) Macauley Jones (Aus) James Golding (Aus)
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BEN BRAY TAKES FIRST WIN SINCE 2008 It’s been over five years since Ben Bray last took an ANDRA Top Doorslammer trophy, but he righted that at Adelaide International Raceway by taking victory in the Springnationals. After damaging pistons in the only qualifying session on Friday night, Bray’s team burnt the midnight oil to get the Sidchrome Monaro back on track. In the semi-final, one of the doors came adrift in the braking area - forcing the Bray team to source a replacement door from combatant Maurice Fabietti - who he eliminated in the first round. He beat out John Zappia in the final - who moved closer to Peter Kapiris in the Championship chase. Prior to that, Bray got around Top Qualifier, Stuart Bishop who eliminated Victor Bray in the opening round. “I short shifted pretty early when it started to move around, a guy like John Zappia never says die until I’m across the finish line so I knew I couldn’t say die unless he passed me,” said Bray.
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“Zap normally pips me right on the finish line and wrecks my night so I wasn’t giving any.” In Pro Stock, Aaron Tremayne rocketed back to the top of the ANDRA tree, beating out Shane Tucker in a rare Australian return before heading to the US to compete in the American NHRA Pro Stock ranks. Tremayne had the perfect weekend, annexing top qualifier, quickest elapsed time and fastest speed points as well as the round win. He now moves to within 33 points of the Championship lead with current leader, Jason Grima bowing out in the semi-finals. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Darwin’s Scott White edged out Adelaide local Phil Howard for his first ANDRA win. White’s 7.441 capitalised on an ailing 7.702 from Howard. “All the travel and all the work pays off. It’s unbelievable to finally get a win in,” White said. “Eventually you’ve got to have a turn if you keep poking away at
it. But it wasn’t as if we just stumbled into it, we were second qualifier and we ran good numbers. Once you’ve got one win the monkey is off the back and who knows, we might get some good ones in now.”
CASTROL EDGE BMW CLAIMS BACK-TO-BACK DTM VICTORIES Augusto Farfus won his second DTM race in a row at the wheel of the Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM. The BMW Team RBM driver dominated the penultimate race of the year in Zandvoort to claim his third win of the season. Starting from second on the grid, the 30-yearold immediately pulled ahead of BMW Team MTEK driver Marco Wittmann, who was lining up on pole position for the first time in his fledgling DTM career, and was leading by the first corner. Despite another impressive display in Zandvoort, Farfus can no longer win the Drivers’ title at the final race of the season in Hockenheim. Mike Rockenfeller, on the other hand, was able to celebrate his title win. The Audi driver finished runner-up, meaning he
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can no longer be caught in the Drivers’ Championship. This was a momentous victory for the BMW M3: the most successful touring car in the world has now carried a BMW driver to victory in the DTM on 50 occasions. It all started with Harald Grohs in Hockenheim on 29th March 1987. The German triumphed on the very first appearance of the new BMW M3, while eventual champion Eric van de Poele (BE) followed him over the line second to complete a one-two. After that, success came thick and fast – achieved by drivers like Steve Soper, Fabien Giroix, Johnny Cecotto, Joachim Winkelhock, Christian Danner and Roberto Ravaglia, who claimed the
second Drivers’ title for the BMW M3 in 1989. Since BMW returned to the DTM in 2012, BMW drivers have added a further nine victories with the BMW M3 DTM. Second best BMW driver was Wittmann, who crossed the line in fifth place at the wheel of the Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM. Joey Hand also scored valuable points for BMW Team RBM, coming home seventh in the BMW M3 DTM. Despite an impressive comeback, Martin Tomczyk narrowly missed out on the points in the BMW M Performance Parts M3 DTM, finishing 11th. Dirk Werner from BMW Team Schnitzer was forced to retire in the SAMSUNG BMW M3 DTM when hit by a rival car shortly before the end of the race. His team-
mate Bruno Spengler (BMW Bank M3 DTM) came home 20th, behind Timo Glock (DEUTSCHE POST BMW M3 DTM, 18th) and Andy Priaulx (Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM, 19th). In the Drivers’ Championship, Farfus is now assured of second place with 116 points. BMW Team RBM (148 points) is now only three points behind the leaders Audi Sport Team Phoenix in the team competition. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW now has 317 points and trails Audi by just eight points, meaning the Manufacturers’ title is still well within reach going into the season finale. 2013 DTM Standings Pos
Driver
Points
1
Mike Rockenfeller
142
2
Augusto Farfus Jr.
116
3
Christian Vietoris
71
4
Robert Wickens
70
5
Bruno Spengler
67
6
Gary Paffett
67
7
Mattias Ekström
56
8
Marco Wittmann
49
9
Timo Scheider
37
10
Jamie Green
35
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DOUBLE PODIUM FOR CASTROL-BACKED BMW MOTORRAD The Castrol-backed BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team finished a long and turbulent Saturday at Laguna Seca (USA) on the podium. Factory rider Chaz Davies (GBR) claimed second in today’s first race of the US round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship. His team-mate Marco Melandri (ITA) missed the podium narrowly, finishing fourth with his BMW S 1000 RR. The race had to be red-flagged twice as air-fences had been damaged by crashed motorcycles. When the race was finally underway, both BMW riders were fighting for the victory. A different schedule for Laguna Seca saw the first race contested on Saturday, race two will take place on Sunday. “Second place is a good result; I am pretty happy,” said Davis. “To be on the podium at Laguna is always great. At the second re-start, I made a great
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start to take the lead. For the rest of the race I was just trying to keep my head down and did whatever I could to stay in front. But it was difficult, from mid-race on I was struggling with the front and it was pretty slippery. I did not feel that I had the bike that I had in the cooler conditions this morning. There I was really happy with the bike; it was working great. I was able to do 1:23 laps on a really used tyre but in the race, the bike was a bit more nervous and harder to ride. We will address that tonight and try to improve it for tomorrow. For the second race I hope to have another great start and then we will see what is possible then.” Saturday was another race day and another reason to celebrate. The Castrol-backed BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team stepped onto the podium again in the second of the US-races at Laguna Seca. Factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) finished an exciting race in third after only narrowly missing the podium in fourth yesterday. It disappointing day for his team-mate though, Chaz Davies (GBR), who had claimed a strong second place in yesterday’s race. Chaz crashed in the warm-up in the late morning. His crew did an excellent job in repairing the bike in the short time before the race but after three laps, Chaz had to retire due to a technical issue. Laguna Seca hosted the 12th of 14 rounds of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship. The team now travels directly to Magny-Cours, France, where the next round will be contested this coming weekend. “Sunday was a quite positive day,” said Melandri. “ It was not easy, even if I got the best result I could achieve. I want to thank my team; they did a very good job. Unfortunately during the first part of the races I struggled with the front, so I needed a long race to catch up with the guys in front of me. This was not possible yesterday as the race was not long enough. But today, I could push in the second half of the race and I got on the podium. There are still many points still available. It will not be easy, but I still want to win some more races.”
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In the riders’ championship, Marco is fourth with 319 points, 42 points behind the lead. Chaz follows in fifth with 259 points. In the team standings, the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team is second with 578 points and in the manufacturers’ classification, BMW is currently third with 390 points.
2013 SBK Standings Pos
Rider
Points
1
Tom Sykes
361
2
Eugene Laverty
338
3
Sylvain Guintoli
337
4
Marco Melandri
319
5
Chaz Davies
259
6
Loris Baz
180
CASTROL EDGE-BACKED KOPECKÝ CROWNED EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPION Castrol EDGE-backed ŠKODA rally driver Jan Kopecký and his co-driver Pavel Dresler have won the European Rally Championship* for ŠKODA with races to spare. Together with codriver Pavel Dresler, the exceptional Czech driver claimed his sixth win of the season in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC). As such, ŠKODA Motorsport had two reasons to celebrate in Poreč. Kopecký, driving a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000, is the first Czech driver ever to win the European Rally Championship. “Winning the title is a dream come true for me. I would like to thank ŠKODA Motorsport and our fantastic team for the amazing work they have done this season,” said Kopecký, who now holds an unassailable lead in the Drivers’ Championship with two races to go.
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After four second places in the International Rally Challenge (IRC) between 2009 and 2012, the European Championship title is the pinnacle of the 31-year-old driver’s motorsport career. Kopecký joins a host of rally legends to have won the ERC, including Germany’s Walter Röhrl and Italian Miki Biasion. Dresler is also certain of first place in the co-driver competition come the end of the season. “It is the icing on the cake at the end of a fantastic season in the ŠKODA and the highlight of my career,” said Dresler. Team Boss Michal Hrabánek also regards winning the European Championship title as an outstanding success for the entire SKODA Motorsport team: “With the ERC title for Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler, we have claimed another major success for the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 project. Our entire team has worked hard all year to achieve this goal. This is a wonderful reward for everyone involved.
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We have once again proven the quality of the Fabia Super 2000 and the technical expertise of ŠKODA.” Kopecký was one of the first to drive the prototype of the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 back in 2008, including outings as lead-off driver at the Barum Rally in the Czech Republic and at the Rally San Remo. Five years later, ŠKODA and its top driver can now enjoy the fruits of their labour. Kopecký first lined up for SKODA Motorsport in 2003, signed a contract to drive for the works team in 2008, and is now European Champion. The title is the just reward for an outstanding season for Kopecký/Dresler in the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000. The seven starts so far this season have produced seven podium finishes. The highlight for Kopecký came in the form of a home win at the Barum Rally early this September. 2013 also yielded victories at the ERC rallies in Austria, on the Canary Islands, in the Azores, and in
2013 ERC Standings Pos
Driver
Points
1
Jan KOPECKY (CZE)
287
2
Bryan BOUFFIER (FRA)
129
3
Craig BREEN (IRL)
121
4
Francois DELECOUR (FRA)
75
5
Andreas AIGNER (AUT)
57
Romania. As such, Kopecký has stood on the top step of the podium at rallies on all surfaces – from snow and ice to gravel and asphalt. The 40th Rally Croatia consists of 239.12 kilometres over 14 special stages on infamously slippery asphalt. The headquarters for this weekend’s anniversary edition of the rally are located in the tourist metropolis of Poreč on the Adriatic coast. Last year, Finnish driver Juho Hänninen – a ŠKODA works driver at the time – won en route to the ERC title.
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