41. Int. ADMV Pneumant Rallye 2002
ERC #10 [coef 5] • Germany #3 • ADMV Rallye Pokal #3 • ADMV Sachsen / Thüringen #2 • ADMV Sachsen-Anhalt / Berlin-Br. #3
27. 4. – 28. 4. 2002, Lutherstadt Wittenberg • gravel 238.60 km • total distance including road sections - 604.00 km • Other years • Other years
Info
SS21
"We learned a lot since the start of the season. I am looking forward to the next rally now."
"I never expected to have such a good position on this gravel rally."
"It was a dream weekend. This rally is really something special for me. Winning here for the fifth time is a great feeling!"
SS19
"The only thing in my head now is "Good Vibrations" - and it's surely not the song! The rear wheels are full of dirt and this causes a lot of vibration."
"We will have to adjust our wooden fixation, because I have to go a bit quicker for the sunday classification."
"The fight with Carsten Mohe and Sven Haaf is really tense. The two days of Pneumant Rallye are really challenging."
"We are missing two gears, we will try to change the gearbox in service."
"I had a small off into a field - of course, I am trying what is possible with the car. Otherwise I am very satisfied. It's my first gravel rally and the times are close to Carsten Mohe."
"It's nice to be here, so much fun."
"I will stay on it as I want to get as many points as possible."
"We will switch to tarmac suspension just for Rade. I don't know if we make it in time, but this might be our only chance to gain 4th place."
"We try to drive to the finish in a calm and quick way."
"We took old tyres for budget reasons. But it's really slippery with those in some places."
SS18
"We stalled at the start - right in front of the TV cameras."
SS16
"We have four wheels again, but no real brake pressure at the back. Much easier now with four wheels, the car is way more stable."
"I think I was a bit too optimistic and touched the chicane. Now the whole side is damaged."
"I touched the chicane on both sides, there are some scratches on the car."
"I tried how it feels to brake on the grass, but I ended up spinning."
"I lost a lot of time here - but I don't know the reason for it. Our gearbox is way too short for the gravel stages."
"I touched the tyres in the chicane and got stuck behind Dirk Klemund. But that didn't cost a lot of time."
"The power steering is ok now. The driving is fun again."
"The boys managed to change the gearbox and switch to the big brakes in just 28 minutes - just amazing!"
"There is something we can't explain. There is always a lot of dirt in the right real wheel which gets really hard and destroys the brake every single time."
"You have to drive really clean with the group N car, you can't make a big show."
"Great! My first stage win! It's just a few tenths, but at least something!"
"It's amazing how many people are out here in Rade. I will drive the second pass with gravel tyres - only for the fans!"
SS15
"I lost the left rear wheel at 160 kph, it was really scary. But the guys in service will fix that now."
"I touched a tyre barrier with the front left. The dents will be gone until we start the next stage."
"I have to shift really early, so our wooden construction in the engine compartment won't break."
"I will try to get closer, let's see if it works."
"I overtook the two Kit Cars now, but I think they will catch me on the tarmac stage in Rade."
"I drove way too sideways because the stages were so much fun. I will drive more clean on purpose now to see if the times are getting quicker."
"I was just going too fast yesterday. But the service crew mended the car really well. We just want to test and drive as fast as possible today. I'm surprised how slippery it is in some places. We are now seven seconds behind Haaf in the sunday classification."
"We lost power steering in SS14, it's really hard work now."
"We only have the first three gears since SS14. We will try to change the gearbox now. Let's see if the service time will be enough."
"We had problems with the starter, so we had to keep the engine running before coming into parc fermé. Despite that everything is ok."
"No gravel tyres were definetly the wrong choice. The gravel wasn't as hard as I thought."
"The brake circle is broken again, same suffering as yesterday. It's not really fun to drive."
"I don't know what Ruben is doing back there and how our position in the sunday classification is because of that. I should hold back to finish at any cost."
"You can't underestimate todays stages. I still have to stay concentrated, although the pressure isn't as high for me anymore."
"The stages are slippier than I thought."
SS14
no power steering
"I had to brake as hard as I could to avoid a deer on the road."
SS12
"After the retirement of Frank Höhner I was able to slow down a bit. But tomorrow is still a tough day."
"We can't repair the engine mounting. We fixated the engine with wooden blocks and some straps for now. We just want to finish tomorrow."
"When I look at the times we were able to set now I am getting really upset about the two minutes we lost in the morning."
"Everything is perfect. We switched from the gravel suspension to the gravel-tarmac mix suspension for tomorrow. My service crew is really good and managed to do this in time."
"We changed engine, clutch and and an oil seal ring in the service, now we are fit for the second leg. Finishing in fifth place would be really great at this gravel rally!"
"We found a damaged shift cable in the service and changed it. Our tactics worked so far, I want to finish at any cost. It's a shame for Uwe, he was clearly the quicker one today."
"This was a real test for man and machine. But I think we delivered a good show for the fans."
SS8
"You really have to be careful with the car here. The car won't survive continuous attack."
"We lost the torque support. We will try to fix it in service."
"It's a lot of fun to drive a 4WD car on these stages, even though our Impreza is almost completely stock."
"The sand is really nasty. The front right strut is bent, but I can still drive with it."
"Our engine is still leaking oil, I have to refill it after every stage. Maybe we'll find the issue in the next service."
"I am getting along well on the sandy stages. Only problem is the corners, the Corsa takes a while to accelerate out of them in the deep sand."
"I am lacking traction. Maybe tyre cutting will help."
"We just don't have any traction at all. We will try to cut the tyres differently now."
"We are starting to run out of tyres. We are only using used ones anyway, so I have to compensate that with a lot of risk."
"I think, we've got a leaking brake pipe. I don't have any brake pressure at all and have to go really careful."
"We are losing time to Kuistila on every stage. Honestly, we are not going flat out."
"It's nice to drive here - but I can't do more than attack. Nevertheless I am really satisfied. The stages remind me of Finland."
"There are so many spectators out there and the stages are so much fun. I can't stop to smile."
SS7
"We lost the grip on the loose grave in a right hander and couldn't make the following left turn, so we hit a tree. We're both ok, but Oliver is in hospital for precautionary checks."
SS4
"We couldn't solve our damper issue from the morning, they are still working not perfectly. Sadly we only have one set of spare dampers, so we'll keep running them as long as possible. I really attacked in this stage, but the car won't survive that kind of driving the whole rally."
"At least one of our rear dampers is broken, we have to change it."
"There are four classic gravel stages coming now, I am really looking forward to them!"
"It's working well, I feel really good in the Gassner-Mitsubishi."
"Our engine is leaking oil, we don't know the reason for it yet."
"We switched to a longer gearbox before the rally. Probably that's the reason we can keep up with Carsten Mohe."
"I get along much better now with the car. The times are coming."
"Now we drove really safe so we won't make any mistakes. The experiences of the morning are enough for now."
"I am really satisfied with the car working so well. We could possibly even go quicker, but no need to do that at the moment."
"We are not driving full attack against Katajamäki."
"I spun in this one, but luckily it cost us less time than I anticipated."
"We changed the toe and the damper settings, it's working better now."
"We are quicker now and took the lead of group N. But the stages for the Finns are yet to come."
"We only have RWD since stage 3, something wrong with the diffs."
"Uwe Nittel was much faster than us now - twice. I thought we had some clutch issue and the start of the stage, but everything is fine."
"The Mitsubishis are really fast - as expected. The difference is much smaller than on tarmac, I can't sleep now."
SS3
"I didn't elect to change the used gravel tyres from this morning. It was the right choice."
SS2
"It's really slippery, I touched a hay bale."
"I am driving really cautious and didn't find the right braking points yet."
"The road is slippier than I expected. We had two moments in this one - I stalled the engine in both of them. But we lost only about 20 seconds."
"I had a sleepless night because of the tyre choice. But in the end the choice of gravel tyres seemed to be the right one."
"The car was jumping off the road in a really bumpy section at 160 kph, we barely made it back to the road without hitting a group of trees."
"I guess the intermeds were the right choice for the first two stages."
"All ok. Let's see if we can challenge Katajamäki."
"I can't believe we are leading group N. I am driving really cautious, but maybe that's the right choice."
"The car just wants to go straight at the moment, we have to fix this. I also had a spin in this one and stalled the engine, it cost us a lot of time."
"It's still a long rally, so we don't feel any pressure because of the fast finns."
"I took the safe tyre choice. My driving was too aggressive in this one."
"Very slippery, you need to be very careful with the braking."
"It's sensational, there are so many spectators out there! So far it's working really well for us."
retired before stage, car jack loosened itself in the boot and damaged the fuel pump
SS1
puncture
"I was a bit too cautious, otherwise everything ok."
"I had a spin and went into a field, it took us two minutes and some help from the spectators to get back on the road."
"At probably 200 kph a deer just appeared in the middle of the road, I had to brake really hard to avoid it."
puncture