Rovanpera joins Red Bull, Panizzi out.

The Red Bull Skoda team have announced that they have signed former Mitsubishi and Peugeot works driver, Harri Rovanpera.

Rovanpera will take up his position alongside Andreas Aigner with immediate effect, taking over the second car, previously driven by Gilles Panizzi, who was originally scheduled to drive on the Rallye de France-Tour de Corse next weekend.

The Finn, who will celebrate his 40th birthday next Saturday, will compete in all the remaining events this season that the Austrian squad are due to contest - namely in addition to that in Corsica, the WRC events in Sardinia, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, Turkey and Great Britain.

"This surely has to be my best birthday present ever," said Rovanpera, who has not competed thus far this season following Mitsubishi's late minute decision to cancel their WRC programme. "I hope I will be fast not only on the gravel rallies, but also perform well for my new team on tarmac."

Although Panizzi was due to have competed in France with the Fabia WRC, the team said that his early departure was due to 'private family matters'.

There was no further explanation although admittedly the Frenchman's form has been disappointing on his two appearances with the Fabia in Monte Carlo and Spain. Indeed he dropped from eighth to tenth place on the last stage on the Rally Catalunya on Sunday, after making a mistake and easing off too much. This may have hastened the decision to bring in Rovanpera.

Aigner meanwhile, who finished 13th overall in Spain, is looking forward to working with Rovanpera and benefiting from the Finn's experience. To date Aigner has competed in just seven WRC events and like Stobart VK driver, Matthew Wilson, this is very much a learning year for him.

"I've gained a lot of tarmac experience in Spain, now I have to try and continue to put this knowledge into practice in Corsica. I'm already looking forward to working together with my new team-mate. I hope we'll cooperate well," he added.