Following two days of successful pre-event testing, Symtech Racing’s Nicolas Fuchs is feeling prepared for his debut on this weekend’s ADAC Rallye Deutschland, round six of the highly competitive Production World Rally Championship.
On the back of eight gravel events, ADAC Rallye Deutschland is the first all-asphalt round of the year and will challenge a healthy field of 10 PWRC competitors over 15 special stages set in south-west Germany.
Based in Trier, Germany’s oldest city, this year’s rally uses roads in the Mosel valley, the woodland Saarland area and the Baumholder military region. Drivers must tackle the stages with utmost concentration due to unforgiving boulders, or hinkelsteins, that line the rally route. The event’s closing power stage, the Circus Maximus street stage, will run next to the Porta Nigra, a UNESCO world heritage site.
Piloting a Subaru Impreza STR12, Peruvian Fuchs and his Argentine navigator Fernando Mussano will compete with Belgian team Symtech Racing for the second time next week: the same outfit that helped New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon clinch the 2011 PWRC title.
With limited experience driving on asphalt, the South American duo have completed two days testing on asphalt in an attempt to gain valubale seat-time in the run up to Germany.
"We don’t have a lot of experience on asphalt," explained Fuchs. "It will be our first time in Germany but together with our engineer, Rui Soares, we have found a set-up that we are happy with and that should suit the nature of the stages. Last Friday, we drove a very fast and technical road in Belgium and on Monday we did a test in Germany with several hairpins. We tried to find roads that were suited to the types of conditions we will expect on the rally. And I must say that I was very much impressed by the Subaru on asphalt compared to my former cars. It gives me a very safe and confident feeling."
Fuchs added: "We don’t really have any expectations for Rallye Deutschland as it is the first time we will have driven the car competitively on asphalt. The weather has been very warm since we’ve arrived but I’ve heard that it is due to rain towards the end of the week. I’ve got no idea what to expect from driving on wet asphalt but I’m looking forward to the challenge."
Despite contesting only three out of five rounds so far in this year’s PWRC, Fuchs holds sixth in the overall drivers’ standings. The Peruvian claimed second in both Mexico and Argentina and was dominating the PWRC class in Greece with a three-minute margin until mechanical problems forced Fuchs to retire on the rally’s penultimate stage."