Bernardo Sousa’s great professionalism, tenacity and strong will helped him to overcome the pain in his shoulder and his lack of experience of the New Zealand tracks this weekend. His final reward was 7th place in the final Production classification of the New Zealand Rally – sixth Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) race – which earned him another two points in the World classification where he occupies 9th position with a total of 12 points in his first time competing.

The Red Bull Rally Team pilot had mixed feelings of duty accomplished and frustration for not having achieved better times during the 16 sections of the New Zealand race – which he finished in 18th position overall – when he finished his fifth PWRC race. Despite his excellent performance in New Zealand, Bernardo, who is limited due to an old shoulder injury, considers that if he overcame his own initial expectations, he could have done better. “If it had just been today, it would have been excellent. Today went very well. We concentrated on tactics and a lot of management and the result was great”, analyses Bernardo who only suffered from increased pain in his shoulder and the heat of the day as his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX behaved marvellously.

At only 21 and accomplishing his first season in the World Championship, Bernardo managed to finish the five races in which he has participated up to now – four of them in qualifying positions. In Greece he finished in second place. “Due to my limitations at this stage – his shoulder, his absence of almost two months and his lack of familiarity with the sections – I can only feel pleased with the final result as, right from the start, I said that my objective was to finish without thinking about the result. But, on the other hand, I think that if I’d made more of an effort, I might have achieved an even better result, says the pilot, who will now stop competing so that his shoulder, which has restricted him, can be operated on in Austria. His return is scheduled for the beginning of December (5th to 7th) in the British Rally, the last race on the PWRC calendar.

CLASSIFICATIONS:

PWRC GENERAL
1st M. Prokop (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), 4h13m07.9s;

2nd P. Sandell     (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), at 36m.2s;

3rd M. Rauam (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), at 57m8s; (…)

7th Bernardo Sousa (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), at 6m52.4s.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
1st A.Aigner, 30 points;

2nd J.Hänninen, 26;

3rd J. Ketomaa, 23; (...)

9th Bernardo Sousa, 12.