Stephane Prevot will return to world championship duty alongside Henning Solberg on Rallye de France this week. The Belgian, 41, will replace Ilka Minor, who suffered a fractured vertebra during a crash on an event in Austria at the weekend.

Minor was partnering Manfred Stohl on the ARBO Rallye Steiermark when they left the road on a fast right-hander and crashed into a bank. The sudden stop is understood to have caused Minor’s injury, which is likely to keep her out of competition for several weeks. Stohl, who was driving his compressed natural gas-powered Mitsubishi Lancer, was uninjured.

Solberg will drive a Ford Fiesta S2000 in France. While the Norwegian and Prevot have never competed together before, Prevot has recent Super 2000 experienced garnered from his outings in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship with factory Proton driver Chris Atkinson.

The event was won Austrian champion by Raimund Baumschlager in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

Source: Richard Rogers – MaxRally.com