01 Nov 12

Jetsetter
Weijs
flies in
for big
chance

Dutchman Hans Weijs will make his World Rally Car debut in Spain next week - but not before he's completed a return trip to South Africa.

The 25-year-old, who has been handed a dream opportunity to drive a Citroen DS3 WRC for the Qatar World Rally Team on the final round of the FIA World Rally Championship, sampled the French machine during a test in the country last week before he headed to South Africa for this weekend’s Garden Route Rally, the final round of the national championship.

“We fly back from South Africa on Sunday evening and then it’s straight to Spain for the recce; it’s going to be a very busy few days,” explained Weijs. “I tested the Citroen last week in the south of France and everything went really well. We did around 100 kilometres on both gravel and asphalt which is important with Spain being a mixed surface rally.”

Weijs last competed in Spain in 2010 when he narrowly lost out on the Junior world championship crown to Aaron Burkart in a dramatic finish.

“As this is our first time in a World Rally Car, I really don’t know what to expect,” said Weijs. “My plan is to see how we get perform on gravel and try to show good speed on the asphalt. I’d like to put in some good stage times and a top-10 result is our target. In 2010 we lost our Junior championship title bid so I hope to come back this year and show everyone what we can do.”