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Ponta Delgada, Portugal — After four special stages the Interwetten-driver in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX lies in 9th place and is second-best Non-S2000-driver.

Yesterday evening, the “SATA Azores Rally” commenced with a spectacular, 1,7 kilometres long, super special stage. In front of thousands of enthused rally fans, Belgian Freddy Loix (Peugeot S 2000) reached best-time narrowly ahead of his manufacturer-mate Kris Meeke from England. Franz Wittmann/Bernhard Ettel had a good start into the rally and finished the stage in twelfth place – only 4,8 seconds behind the lead.

But the real start of the fourth IRC-run only took place this morning in Ponto Delgada, the capital of the Azores-Isle Sao Miguel. 47 vehicles overall took up the rally, among them twelve S2000 cars. On the over 7,47 km long SS 2 a merciless fight at the top was already under way between Finn Juho Hänninen (Skoda S 2000) and Brit Kris Meeke (Peugeot S 2000). Franz Wittmann didn’t want to take too much risk and finished eleventh.

On SS 3 – 14,64 km long – Meeke once more was ahead of Hänninen by 2,6 seconds but was helped by the fact that the Finn had a collision with a rock just prior to the finishing line and a wheel was torn of, the repair of which cost over ten minutes time. Franz Wittmann also lost some time by getting off the road once and therefore finished 13th with 38,8 seconds behind the top.

Things went much better for the Austrian on SS 4 (13,82 km). Despite being cautious to a certain extent his speed was excellent – which meant ninth place in the overall ranking following this stage. Best non-S2000-driver remains local hero Fernando Peres who even finished sixth twice, thereby causing Portuguese rally fans to rejoice. At the top, Brit Kris Meeke gained some ground thanks to Hänninen’s dropping back and currently leads by 13,2 seconds over Frenchman Nicolas Vouilloz.

Wittmann on the first four special stages, “I started cautiously. But then I got off the road on SS 3 –fortunately we didn’t lose that much time. Apart from that everything is going according to plan. Portuguese Fernando Peres knows each and every stone here as a local and is definitely not the man I want to measure myself against. The rally is still young. I will try to keep my speed without risking more than I really have to.”

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Source: Interwetten Racing
Image Copyrights: Interwetten Racing
Photo: Interwetten-driver Franz Wittmann lies in 9th place and is second-best Non-S2000-driver on IRC SATA Rallye Acores in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

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