ŠkodaPortal.cz Simply clever

In Jyväskylä, 29 July, 2011 –Juho Hänninen of the Red Bull ŠKODA team put in a fantastic performance on Day 2 of the Finland Rally. Having won seven of Friday's eight stages, he comfortably leads his "home" rally before the final day, 1 hour and 17 minutes ahead of Martin Prokop in a Ford. Quite unexpectedly, Hänninen's teammate Hermann Gassner is third after the first two days, which means that both crews of the Red Bull ŠKODA team have podium ambitions before Saturday.

On Friday morning the teams moved about 170 km southwards to Lahti for eight stages (135 km) of Day 2. In particular, Stages 6 and 9 were expected to be critical in terms of the current rankings, because the profile of these two longest stages of Friday's programme (identical track, both 30 km long) allows the drivers to go full blast and stay in top gear nearly all the time. The trick of the game was to stay on the right trajectory and not slacken the pace. Juho Hänninen started Day 2 excellently and moved up to the lead ahead of his biggest rival Tänak in a Ford after winning today's first three stages. Tänak was then apparently too fast in Stage 8, as a result of which he dropped off the track at one point to lose more than three minutes. On the other hand, Hänninen gained most of his lead in today's longest and fastest stages, 6 and 9, and is 1 hour and 17 minutes ahead of Martin Prokop in a Ford. The other driver of the Red Bull Škoda team, Hermann Gassner, also put in a brilliant performance today and was remarkably faster than on Day 1. Gassner is third after Day 2, thanks to a combination of excellent times that would have earned him fourth place, anyway, and Tänak's problems.

Juho Hänninen eliminated the gap behind the Day 1 leader rather quickly today and then kept increasing his lead: "I didn't want to leave anything to chance, and mainly Stages 6 and 9 were exactly my cup of tea. Driving in top gear, with the gas pedal on the floor – that's what I like! Our lead may look comfortable, but we still have many kilometres ahead of us and nothing is decided yet."

Hermann Gassner was pleased with his today's performance: "A great day for us and the whole team. We are absolutely happy! The main thing tomorrow is to get as far as the finish line and win some more points here."

The Finland Rally ends on Saturday with the final 11 stages (140 km).

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