Dakar Rally winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and c will be rivals on the final round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship in Spain this week.
Al-Attiyah and Gottschalk were paired together on January’s cross-country enduro in South America in a Volkswagen Motorsport Race Toureg.
Gottschalk has been recruited to replace the injured Katharina Wuestenhagen alongside Hermann Gassner Jr in a Red Bull Skoda-entered Fabia Super 2000. The young German driver and Qatari veteran Al-Attiyah are potential podium finishers on the mixed surface event.
While Al-Attiyah’s tenure as a VW driver appears to be over, Gottschalk is still under contract to the German car make. Gassner Jr’s team boss Raimund Baumschlager says he owes a debt of gratitude to Volkswagen Motorsport chief Kris Nissen after Gottschalk was given permission to compete in Spain.
“Hermann is expected to achieve a decent result in Spain, one of the reasons being that he will have an excellent co- driver, although Kathi can’t accompany him this time,” said Baumschlager. “We wish to thank our colleagues at VW Motorsport – making Timo available for this rally is great help.”
It won’t be the first time that Gassner Jr and Gottschalk have competed together after they shared a Fabia S2000 on the Canon Mecsek Rallye, a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, in Hungary last month.
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Featured photo: Dr.Haus / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0