Rally Russia 2009: BFGoodrich Final Report – Video & Photos

HANNINEN 39 Rally Russia 2009: BFGoodrich Final Report Video & Photos

2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge
Round 6: Rally Russia
Saturday, July 11
Final Report

HANNINEN AND KOPECKY SECURE ONE-TWO FINISH FOR SKODA/BFGOODICH

With Peugeot 207 S2000/BFGoodrich choosing to skip the Russian event after scoring four wins so far this year, the factory Abarth and Skoda teams were given a free hand to battle for top honours on the sixth round of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Finnish driver Juho Hanninen and the Czech Republic's Jan Kopecky notched up a one-two finish for Skoda on this weekend's all-gravel 2009 Rally Russia. For the Czech carmaker and its partner BFGoodrich, this result is their first success together at Intercontinental Rally Challenge level.

The event's fast stages and sandy terrain were not unlike the conditions associated with rallies organised in neighbouring Finland, and Flying Finns had effectively dominated the last two visits to Vyborg which is close to the border between the two nations.

KOPECKY 34(1) Rally Russia 2009: BFGoodrich Final Report Video & Photos

The 2008 winner Juho Hanninen rapidly emerged in front again this time round. With his BFGoodrich-equipped Skoda Fabia S2000 running on soft compound GZG4 tyres (the same product developed for this event twelve months previously), the Finn succeeded in posting the fastest time on every one of the opening leg's four stages, before repeating the same feat the following day.

The Finnish Skoda driver's performance enabled him to complete Friday's action with a lead of almost a minute over his team-mate Jan Kopecky, putting the Skoda/BFGoodrich squad on target for a one-two finish, especially since third-placed Giandomenico Basso (Abarth/BFGoodrich) was practically three minutes adrift.

The Italian team managed to salvage a podium finish for Basso and sixth place for Finland's Anton Alèn, a result which hands Abarth/BFGoodrich valuable championship points in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' standings.

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IS8C3766 Rally Russia 2009: BFGoodrich Final Report Video & Photos

Britain's Guy Wilks completed Leg 1 in a remarkable third place with his Proton/BFGoodrich and finally finished inside the top-five finish after posting some extremely promising times.

Hugues Pierron (Manager of BFGoodrich's presence on the Rally Russia): "The ground was quite soft and the organisers took the trouble to regrade the stages prior to the start. This process tended to push all the big rocks either side of the tracks and onto the insides of the corners which increased the risk of puncturing. The temperature was around the 20°C mark for most of the event and the tests were still a little damp, so the BFGoodrich runners opted for the soft compound GZG4 featuring different degrees of 'cuts' as a function of their start order. This is the third consecutive win for this tyre which was developed in 2008 and which features a reinforced casing and a soft compound. It forms part of BFGoodrich's customer competition range and, in addition to the outstanding directional precision it delivers, it has also shown itself to be both competitive and robust."