Wiegand set
for more
WRC
Academy
action

Wiegand was deputising for his countryman Christian Riedemann on the asphalt event and finished an impressive seventh in class in his Ford Fiesta R2. Riedemann had been given special dispensation to contest his home rally in a Skoda Fabia Super 2000 as part of Volkswagen Motorsport’s driver assessment programme instead.

Despite originally intending to compete on a one-off basis, Wiegand will now tackle the WRC Academy rounds in France and Great Britain ahead of a possible full campaign in 2012. However, because Wiegand joined the WRC Academy after the official closing date for registrations earlier this year he won’t be eligible for WRC Academy Cup points and a shot at the 500,000 Euros career progression scholarship.

“ADAC Rallye Deutschland was amazing for us,” said Wiegand. “We felt very good in the WRC Academy and the crews and organisers were very welcoming. Now we will start again in France and we’re very happy. In France the stages are very demanding - I know this after competing in Rallye Rouergue in the French championship earlier this season. But Rallye de France is a very good rally so I will do my best to get another good result.”

Riedemann will also be in action on the final two WRC Academy rounds following his run to 15th overall on Rallye Deutschland. The French round will mark his first appearance in the WRC Academy on asphalt.

“I competed last year in France and it was raining, dirty and muddy on the stages,” said Riedemann. “I hope this year it won’t be so wet, but either way we’re aiming for a good position and to remind everyone what we can do. We’re very serious about the WRC Academy and want to at least move back into the top five by the end of the season, despite missing one event.”