Zoom Wittmann aiming for a full IRC season aboard S2000 machinery next year

Franz Wittmann Jr drove a Super 2000-spec car in competition for the first time when he contested Austria's Rallye Waldviertel last weekend.

The young Austrian is normally seen at the wheel of a Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX on Intercontinental Rally Challenge rounds, but on this occasion he drove a ROMO Motorsport-prepared Peugeot 207 S2000 which he tested for the first time earlier this month.

The race experience was a good one at the controls of S2000 machinery: Wittmann ended Day One nearly a half-minute behind the leader, while on Day Two his pace progressively increased to the point of ending the event in second position, 10.7 seconds behind Rally Waldviertel winner Raimund Baumschlager.

"There is a huge difference between the car I drove in this year's IRC and this S2000 vehicle," Wittman reported. "It is simply a different world to which I still have to get somewhat used to.

"It was important to gather as many kilometres as possible in the Waldviertel; I got more assured with each one and I also got used to the unfamiliar gearshift," the Interwetten Racing Team driver said. "I am therefore more than just satisfied with second place."

Wittmann will return to his Mitsubishi for the Rally of Scotland on November 19-21, the final round of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Despite fighting the IRC regulars with a non-S2000-spec car, Wittmann's best result to date is the fifth place he claimed on Rally Russia in July.

D.B. © CAPSIS International