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2006 FIA Junior World Rally Championship
The tackle of the Super 1600
The 18 best crews of the Junior World
Rally Championship will take part in the
2006 rally d’Italia Sardegna. Quite a
big number that shows the “good health”
of this series, born to be the training
field for the future drivers of the
official WRC teams. A duty well
performed, since quite a few of the
actual rally champions come from here.
Among them drivers like Sébastien Loeb,
twice World Rally Champion and this year
racing to get the third win, but also
Daniel Sordo actual junior World Rally
Champion, doing well this year too at
the wheel of his Xsara WRC.
Talking about the regulation of the JWRC,
starting from this season the series is
not open only to the Super 1600 but also
the Groupn N cars up to 2000cc, the 2 WD
Group A cars with a displacement from
1400 to 1600cc. and the 1600cc FIA
validate kit-cars. Teams or a National
sporting authorities can enter the
Championship and,can change the driver
during the season. Until last year the
driver had to enter the Championship and
commit himself to take part in all the
rallies. The championship is composed of
nine races, that will take place in
three continents, the participants can
chose six races to get points. Each
National Organiser can line up in its
race two crews that will score points in
the championship.
As per this year there will be only one
tyre supplier, BF Goodrich of the
Michelin group.
In the four races disputed so far
Andersson (Suzuki) won the first rally
in Sweden, Prokop (Citroen) won
Catalunya, Tirabassi (Renault) was the
best at Tour de Corse and Wilks (Suzuki)
won Argentina.
In the provisional World Championship
classification the Swedish drivers
Andersson (Suzuki Swift) and Sandell (Renault
Clio) leading with 16 points, followed
by Aava (Suzuki Swift) 14 points, Beres
(Suzuki Ingnis) 12 points, Tirabassi (Renault
Clio) 11 points, Wilks (Suzuki Swift)
and Prokop (Citroen C2) 10 points.
The protagonists
Urmo Aava (Estonia) Suzuki Swift
Born on 2 February 1979
He made his debut with a Lada Samara and
disputed some races with a Ford Focus
WRC. This is his fourth season in the
Super 1600 series: in 2003 he arrived
5th overall; in 2004 8th. He has been
one of the major protagonists of last
year edition of Rally d’Italia Sardegna
with Ignis, this year on a Swift he just
missed the first place and arrived
second at Rally Catalunya.
Per Gunnar Andersson (Sweden) Suzuki
Swift
Born on 9 March 1980
In 2003 he won the Swedish Junior
Championship with a Renault Clio S1600;
the same year he took part in some races
of the European races of the WRC always
with a Clio, this experience has been
very important for the 2004 season where
he won in Turkey, Finland and Sardinia.
This year he won the opening rally of
the JWRC in Sweden.
Luca Betti (Italy) Renault Clio
Born on 22 February 1978
He made his debut in 1998 in the FIAT
Seicento Sporting Trophy. The next year
he enter the Junior Team Fiat and take
part in the Italian Rally Championship
with a Seicento Sporting. In 2002 he
races in the Fiat Punto Abarth Trophy
and in 2003 he almost won the Fiat Stilo
Abarth Trophy and finished 8th of his
category at Rally Wales. This year he
didn’t do much.
Bernard Casier (Belgium) Renault Clio
Born on 6 September 1979
In 2004 he won the Belgian Rally
Championship but he didn’t race much
abroad. This year he made his debut in
the JWRC and finished second at Rally
catalunya.
Conrad Rautenbach (Zimbabwe) Renault
Clio
Born on 12 November 1984
He is the only non European driver of
the group. In 2003 he finished 2nd
overall the African Championship with a
Toyota, the next year he entered the
JWRC but due to his little experience he
made quite a few mistakes. This year he
is doing better and arrived 3rd at Tour
de Corse with his Renault Clio.
Brice Tirabassi (France) Citroën C2
Born 15 June 1977
He made his debut in the JWRC in 2003
this year he is back and he started well
winning the Tour de Corse with a C2 that
was supposed to be for Daniel Sordo. The
latter is not racing with the Super 1600
any more but with a Xsara WRC.
Pavel Valousek (Czech Republic)
Suzuki Swift
Born on 19 April 1979
He started racing in 1999 with a Honda
Civic 1600 and the next year, with the
same car, he won the Championship of
this category. He took part in some
races of the World Rally Championship
with a Mitsubishi Group N and a few
races in his home country with a Toyota
Corolla WRC. He obtained his best result
with a Suzuki Ignis arriving second
overall in the Slovakian Championship in
2004. This year he arrived 4th in Sweden.
Julien Pressac (France) Citroën C2
Born 8 January 1980
He started racing in karting. This is
his first year in the JWRC and he
finished 4th at Tour de corse. He is
supported by the French Federation.
Michael Kosciuszko (Poland) Suzuki
Ignis
Born on 20 April 1985
He is the actual Polish Champion of the
S1600 and fourth overall in the Polish
Rally Championship. So far he arrived
8th in Sweden and 4th Spain.
Martin Prokop (Czech Republic)
Citroën C2
Born on 4 October 1982
He had some experience in previous years
and in 2005 he decided to enter the JWRC
with a Suzuki. He surprisingly won Rally
Catalunya.
Fatih Kara (Turkey) Renault Clio
Born on 5 September 1980
He is the S1600 Turkish Rally Champion
and the 2005 Bulgarian Rally Champion.
He took part in the 2004 and 2005
editions of Rally Turkey. This is his
first season in the JWRC and he scored
points in Spain and Corsica.
Filippo Alessandro Bordignon (Italy)
Opel Astra Gruppo N
Born on 4 July 1983
He is the actual Group A 2 WD Rally
Champion with a Fiat Stilo. Last year he
took part in Rally d’Italia Sardegna and
he placed third of his class. This year
he decided to enter the JWRC with a
Group N car in order to get some
experience.
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