Bossard gets Twingo drive

French star Steven Bossard will drive Set Promotion’s Super1600 Renault Twingo II in the final round of the European Rallycross Championship at Sosnová in the Czech Republic this weekend. The 21-year-old has been drafted in to replace Ildar Rakhmatullin who has driven the new Twingo this year but missed the Polish event at the start of the month and will now also miss the Czech event because of work commitments.

On the face of it, team boss Jussi Pinomäki’s decision to put Bossard in the car, which is still in the development phase, is highly astute; Bossard has absolutely dominated Super1600 racing within France over the last two years, being almost unbeatable and showing the European field the way home in both the 2010 ERC event at Kerlabo and this year’s version at Essay. While it is clear that the Twingo has potential – Rakhmatullin won the Norwegian event with it in June – results have been inconsistent and the view of a different driver, especially one like Bossard who also possesses a high level of technical knowledge and understanding, can only help the Finnish team as it continues to sort the car.

Bossard will join new ERC Super1600 champion Andreas Bakkerud and this year’s outstanding newcomer to the class Jussi-Petteri Leppihalme, both remaining in Clios, in the Czech event. “I am eager to be there for sure. My target is to be on the podium even if I prefer to win for sure, but it will not be easy because I will have to learn a new car and a new track, so I will have to adapt my driving style and we will see what I can do after the first day; maybe after that I will change my goals,” said Bossard, “I know that I will have all the support from the team. It is a completely new challenge for me because I have never driven in a foreign country and I am really happy to be with Set Promotion because it is the best team in S1600.”

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