Urmo Aava has a contract with Citroen!

[Jaanus]

Urmo Aava will hold a press conference in few hours where he will officilally confirm to drive a Citroen C4 WRC for 8 - 10 WRC rounds.
More news to follow soon..

[Tomi]

Urmo Aava will hold a press conference in few hours where he will officilally confirm to drive a Citroen C4 WRC for 8 - 10 WRC rounds.
More news to follow soon..

Good news really.

[A.F.F.]

Cool. Way to go Urmo :up:

[pucky54]

PH Sport car?

[Donney]

Great another driver in a good car. Good news indeed!

[zehirsiz]

any link?

[pino]

Great news if confirmed ;) I will be happy for him and for our estonians friends :D

[Woodeye]

That's great news! Great to have an Estonian back behind the wheel of WRC again! :up:

[DonJippo]

There goes the peace in NORF... :( ;)

Great news for Urmo :up:

[N.O.T]

great news !!! is he going to drive a C4? or a xsara?

[grugsticles]

great news !!! is he going to drive a C4? or a xsara?

From 1st post:
Urmo Aava will hold a press conference in few hours where he will officilally confirm to drive a Citroen C4 WRC for 8 - 10 WRC rounds.
More news to follow soon.


:cool:

[Jaanus]

Aava says the car is 2007 spec C4 WRC.
He says he will be the third driver in Citroen Sport and it will be serviced by Citroen Sport.
He will get to use all the factory team info about weather and set up of the car.
His programme is: Sweden, Jordania, Sardinia, Greece, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Corsica, Catalunya and Wales. Plus one rally in Estonia.

http://sport.postimees.ee/180108/esileht/sport/306988.php?aava-oleme-citroeni-tiimi-kolmandad-numbrid

[Roy]

A good driver in an excellent car is always good for WRC!
I am happy (for Urmo and the competition in WRC).

[Zes]

Aava says the car is C4 WRC and is exactly the same as Loeb and Sordo have.
He says he will be the third driver in Citroen Sport and it will be serviced by Citroen Sport.
He will get to use all the factory team info about weather and set up of the car.
His programme is: Sweden, Jordania, Sardinia, Greece, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Corsica, Catalunya and Wales. Plus one rally in Estonia.

http://sport.postimees.ee/180108/esileht/sport/306988.php?aava-oleme-citroeni-tiimi-kolmandad-numbrid

Great for Urmo and Citroen. I wonder who is going to be nominated for manu points in Sweden, Sordo or Urmo? I think everybody knows who it should be...

[pantealex]

Great for Urmo and Citroen. I wonder who is going to be nominated for manu points in Sweden, Sordo or Urmo? I think everybody knows who it should be...

FIA press release says: car number 2 Sordo in Sweden
http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press_Releases/FIA_Sport/2008/January/100108-01.html

[Zes]

FIA press release says: car number 2 Sordo in Sweden
http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press_Releases/FIA_Sport/2008/January/100108-01.html

So they could replace Sordo with Urmo, but he would have to drive with Marc Marti then. Am I right? Or is it too late to make any changes to line-ups?

[Tom206wrc]

FANTASTIC !!! :bounce:

[MikeD]

FANTASTIC !!! :bounce:

I second that - it's simply excellent news. And with the preparation from Citroen Sport it's going to be a quick car!

I hope he will have his own livery, because we need a new look for that car.

Does anybody know what sponsors are backing Aava?

[Le NaRcX]

World Rally Team Estonia?

http://www.swerally.se/resources/documents/entry_list_08_approved_by_fia.pdf

[Finni]

I wonder why Urmo is doing so many asphalt events. OK, maybe those vents are just compromise for geographical reasons. But in my view there is not enough gravel events to get steady rythm with wrc-car.

[pucky54]

...then we may be see the blue, black and white C4

http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1519&d=1200320772

[Pille]

Some pics from the press conference (http://recce.pri.ee/album91/fotod.html) :)

[pucky54]

oh noooo....the C4 will be still red

[m.lowe]

Pille Russi who works for Autoleht magazine in Estonia has told me from a press conference today where it is confirmed Urmo Aava will contest 10 rounds in a Citroen C4 WRC and will be co-driven by his man on the right Kuldar Sikk.
They will contest Sweden, Jordan, Sardinia, Greece, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Corsica, Catalunya, Wales
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/9503/aava25sp4.jpg
More pics can be found at http://recce.pri.ee/album91/fotod.html

[Harde]

Ahh ... very nice news :bounce:

[MikeD]

Hmmmm No.1 on the car? - isn't that a bit optimistic? :D

no, seriously - a nice livery, and some great sponsors. I just hoped the car would be a different colour than red.

[PuddleJumper]

Great news. Looking forward to seeing his car in Sweden.


There goes the peace in NORF... :( ;)
:laugh:

[Tom206wrc]

Nice news but I would have prefered the white/blue estonian livery :mark:

[Waldrons11]

Aava says the car is 2007 spec C4 WRC.
He says he will be the third driver in Citroen Sport and it will be serviced by Citroen Sport.
He will get to use all the factory team info about weather and set up of the car.
His programme is: Sweden, Jordania, Sardinia, Greece, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Corsica, Catalunya and Wales. Plus one rally in Estonia.

http://sport.postimees.ee/180108/esileht/sport/306988.php?aava-oleme-citroeni-tiimi-kolmandad-numbrid

Thats interesting. Great news for Urmo. I was under the impression he was going to be alongside Rautenbach as a second driver run by PH Sport

[GigiGalliNo1]

cat wee?

hahahhhahaha

i bet thats chocolate! :p

[Blind]

cat wee?

hahahhhahaha

i bet thats chocolate! :p


nope...
It's a company that sells cars:
http://www.catwees.ee/

[J4MIE]

Good for him :up:

[koko0703]

Great news!!! Aava definitely deserves this chance after successful campaign in JWRC. We'll see if Suzuki had made right choice with P-G ;)

[Micke_VOC]

Great news....

[Viktory]

Great news!!! Aava definitely deserves this chance after successful campaign in JWRC. We'll see if Suzuki had made right choice with P-G ;)

By the looks of things, Aava will have a much more competitive car than PG.

Great to see Aava getting the break he deserves, NORF will be interesting... :p

[Josti]

Great, we really need some regular contenders :up: Great for Urmo too, one of the most promising drivers at the moment.

And I quite like the livery also :)

[Langdale Forest]

It is good that we have another Estonian driver.

[alleskids]

If Aava and Rautenbach became a MT2, they could take points away from Ford and Stobart.

[Tom206wrc]

If Aava and Rautenbach became a MT2, they could take points away from Ford and Stobart.


Do you really see Aava being faster than Hirvonen and Latvala ?? :s

Both Finns will know well their Fords when the Estonian will have to discover his Citroën :mark:

[A.F.F.]

Yeah, I was about to say the same. Pretty optimistic view alleskids.

[Jaanus]

Some more info:

Aava will do the recce in every WRC event.
He will get to test the car for 100 km before Sweden.
It is written in his contract that he can write off 2 cars during the year without any penalty from the team.

[pucky54]

Some more info:

Aava will do the recce in every WRC event.
He will get to test the car for 100 km before Sweden.
It is written in his contract that he can write off 2 cars during the year without any penalty from the team.


Hopefully Galli has the same in his contract ;)

[Erki]

Jaanus or someone, can you give me the list of WRC cars being written off? I'm more interested in those being written off at WRC events.

But still, 2 cars written off in same season? Wow, he's not going to hold back then! :D

[Finni]

Do you really see Aava being faster than Hirvonen and Latvala ?? :s

Both Finns will know well their Fords when the Estonian will have to discover his Citroën :mark:

I would also say that Aava has yet to show more in order to becoming compared to Hirvonen or Latvala - not to mention familiarity issue of cars.

[alleskids]

OK, Aava will not immediatly threaten the Ford boys, both later on in the season he will challange the Stobart team in his C4 WRC, and he can be a challange if Hirvonen or Latvalla makes a mistake.

[J.Lindstroem]

I think he should be able to fight with Henning, as you say not maybe in the first rallies but then... :) I´m pleased to hear about him, he is a promising driver... Finland will be extremely great to watch this year with many spectacular drivers. Just wish Markko could be back in a Impreza...

[Tomi]

and he can be a challange if Hirvonen or Latvalla makes a mistake.

Maybe even win a rally if 6-7 guys in the front makes misstakes.
Will be nice to compaire the 2 citroen privateers, I belive Rautenbach is no match what so ever to Aava.

[torsten]

OK, Aava will not immediatly threaten the Ford boys, both later on in the season he will challange the Stobart team in his C4 WRC, and he can be a challange if Hirvonen or Latvalla makes a mistake.

not Duval I guess... :o

[Tom206wrc]

Maybe even win a rally if 6-7 guys in the front makes misstakes.
Will be nice to compaire the 2 citroen privateers, I belive Rautenbach is no match what so ever to Aava.



Is Rautenbach really in a C4 too or only Xsara ??? :confused:

[Raini]

I would also say that Aava has yet to show more in order to becoming compared to Hirvonen or Latvala - not to mention familiarity issue of cars.

Aava's codriver said in the press converence, that they are expecting to lose not more than 0,7 sek per km to the aces. I think at the finishing of the rally Aava gets points. Podium is too optimistic to expect, but 5th place is very good result for him at the beginning.

[Tom206wrc]

There's a pic of the car in action on http://www.rally.ee ;)

[jonas_mcrae]

There's a pic of the car in action on http://www.rally.ee ;)

Nice...

looks way better than the works c4

[Roy]

So they could replace Sordo with Urmo, but he would have to drive with Marc Marti then. Am I right? Or is it too late to make any changes to line-ups?

Why should they change the second driver. first It is to late. And second Urmo has indeed a lot of knowledge of rallying, but not with a WRCar. This is his first year with some experience under his belt. You can't expect he drive for competition in the top. It is learning, learning, etc.

[Roy]

I wonder why Urmo is doing so many asphalt events. OK, maybe those vents are just compromise for geographical reasons. But in my view there is not enough gravel events to get steady rythm with wrc-car.

It is the geographic reasons and if he want an all-round WRCdriver he needs to drive everywhere, also on European tarmac. It is cheaper for him to drive (and learn) in Europe, other in Asia or elsewhere.

[Zes]

Why should they change the second driver. first It is to late. And second Urmo has indeed a lot of knowledge of rallying, but not with a WRCar. This is his first year with some experience under his belt. You can't expect he drive for competition in the top. It is learning, learning, etc.

Well, as we have seen Sordo is totally useless on snow...

[Timole]

Some pics also taken by me from the press conference here (http://rallyphotos.pri.ee/Hooaeg%202008/Urmo%20Aava%20ja%20Kuldar%20Siku%20pressikonverent s%20(18.01.2008,Tallinn)/).

[jparker]

Some pics also taken by me from the press conference here (http://rallyphotos.pri.ee/Hooaeg%202008/Urmo%20Aava%20ja%20Kuldar%20Siku%20pressikonverent s%20%2818.01.2008,Tallinn%29/).

Thanks for the pictures Timole. Could you tell us little more about Aava's team. Who is the Team Manager? Who is the Technical Director?

[Timole]

Thanks for the pictures Timole. Could you tell us little more about Aava's team. Who is the Team Manager? Who is the Technical Director?

Team contacts are available here (http://www.urmoaava.com/?page=feedback). So this year there is a new team called "World rally team Estonia". The drivers for the team will be U. Aava, J. Mölder and M. Rauam. The aim is to get more spectators to watch rallying and also to promote Estonia.
Urmo will do 10 wrc rallies and all the WRC recce´s this year. Also one Estonian national event at the mid summer in Võru.
The big fuss and reason why we had to wait for the press realease was because of Rautenbach´s team. They had talks with citroen but Rautenbach rushed into things and talked too early about that (Eurosport news) and that pissed off the Citroen´s boss. Then they had to sit down again. Nevertheless at the end of the day urmo has a great opportunitie to prove his quality on the highest level.

[jens]

Can't wait to see Urmo's first performance with C4. Wonder, how'll he do in Sweden? Probably podium position is a bit too optimistic, but points should be achievable. Maybe even career's best WRC result (Top6)?

[N.O.T]

I think it would be positive if he manages to be ahead of sordo no matter the position.

[jonas_mcrae]

I think it would be positive if he manages to be ahead of sordo no matter the position.

that wont be too difficult Sordo is rubbish on Snow, even if he was using the lancer again, I think aava would be ahead.