Honda JAS will enter Dani Sola into Catalunya Rally (wrc)

[Shiba-Kun]

Not a factory effort, but oh well. Nice to see any type of Honda representation in the wrc.



Honda JAS will enter Dani Sola into Catalunya Rally

Date 2007-09-07



DANI SOLA TO COMPETE ON CATALUNYA RALLY WITH HONDA


Former Junior World Rally Champion Dani Sola will compete on the Catalunya Rally, round 12 of the World Rally Championship from October 5-7, in his usual Honda Civic Type R developed and run by JAS Motorsport in Italy.

The Spaniard is contesting a full programme on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this year, but he is also taking part on his home round of the World Rally Championship in order to accelerate the development process of the all-new Honda Civic Type R.

The Catalunya Rally takes place on fast and wide asphalt roads near Tarragona, just south of Barcelona. Sola has some experience of these stages from his time in the Spanish Rally Championship, and he also finished sixth overall on the Catalunya Rally in 2004 when it was based in Lloret de Mar, to the north of Barcelona.

Coming the weekend straight after the Sanremo Rally, round seven of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Sola faces a busy couple of weeks near the Mediterranean coast. As well as being his home rally, Catalunya is also a round of the Junior Rally Championship where top-flight cars in the R3 and Super 1600 classes will compete directly with the JAS Motorsport Honda Civic.

"I'm really looking forward to it," said Sola. "Catalunya obviously holds a special place in my heart, but it is also a fantastic chance to measure ourselves against our key rivals in the two-wheel drive class. It's sure to be a tough event: the Catalunya Rally is very long and the rally is quite different now to how it was when I last did it. The stages are fantastic though, and this is a great opportunity for me and for the whole team, as well as for Pirelli, who supply our tyres. As we will go there straight from Sanremo, we should be up to speed on asphalt.""

JAS Motorsport team principal Alessandro Mariani added: "The Catalunya Rally will be an extremely useful exercise as we continue to develop the Honda Civic Type R. The best lessons are always the ones that you learn in competition rather than in testing, and we are delighted to be able to give Dani the chance to perform in front of his home crowd."

-credit: jasmotorsport.com