WRC teams make it home...eventually

At the end of the Rally of Turkey, which Loeb won, the whole WRC circus was faced with the problem of getting of getting home. With Citroen & Ford based on the other side of Europe, & with planes out of order, both teams faced the huge challange of getting home from Turkey. To compound the problems, the teams had to prepare their cars for the Rally of New Zealand & fly them out by the middle of next week.

The lorry drivers, who decided to take a boat from Greece to Turkey in an attempt to shorten the road distance, were stranded at the port in Greece when the boat was delayed by several hours.

Citroen made it back to their French base by Tuesday, but Ford only made it back on Friday.

After a 70-hour bus ride, the one thing the mechanics diddnt want to do was get stuck into a car as soon as they got back to Cockermouth, M-Sports base. On the plus side, the mechanics had a sceneic journey, taking in Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belguim & finally France.

Mikko Hirvonen & Jarmo Lethinen got a lift with some mates in Bulgaria, who drove them home to Finland. Ford Technical Director Christian Loriaux caught one of the few flights from Istanbul to Nice, drove to Calais & then on to Cockermouth. Pirelli technicians went from Turkey to Italy by bus. Petter Solberg took a 72-hour bus ride from Turkey to Norway.

Petter Solberg's budget is preventing him from winning

Petter Solberg says that his team's extremly tight budget is keeping him back from winning his first event in five years.

Should Solberg damage his car, it would put his budget under severe strain.

Solberg said: “Of course we can go faster but I am losing time on some stages because I have to hold back and take care of my car,”

“From an intelligence driving point of view it was one of my better ones,” said the 2003 world champion. “A few years ago I would have actually gone flat-out all the time like an absolute maniac and taken big risks. Now I am starting from scratch and building up my confidence with the car to get back up to the top and it is working.”

Solberg says that he will have to take a more intelligent approach to each rally, instead of going flat-out from start to finish.

“It was very special when we were fighting at the top but of course with the low budget we have it’s really unbelievable,” said the 35-year-old.

“But it just proves it’s possible with a lot of passion and energy like my team has. But this result is not just because people have done mistakes. We have been on the pace the whole time and maybe we have been a bit smarter than other people. I am proud because our team is not many people.”

Solberg also started his 150th WRC event & scored his 40th podium on the Rally of Turkey. 2010 also marks his 11th year in the sport.

Rally of Turkey: Day 3 Review

End of Day 3.Sebastian Loeb has won his third Rally of Turkey. Petter Solberg claimed second, 54.5 secs behind Loeb, & Mikko Hirvonen finished third, 48.8 secs behind second placed Solberg. Sebastian Ogier inherited fourth after Dani Sordo retired on SS21. Kimi Raikkonen had a clean drive to fifth & Federico Villagra finished sixth, his best finish to date. Matt Wilson, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dennis Kuipers & Aaron Burkart rounded out top ten.

Sebastian Ogier reported that Dani Sordo's C4 was parked at the side of the road on a slippery section of SS21, but it is unknowen what caused the Spaniard's retirement. Petter Solberg clouted a tree on the stage, but got away with that moment.

Jari-Matti Latvala recovered well to finish eighth after his roll on Saturdays opener. Ken Block & Henning Solberg finished 24th & 25th overall respectivly.

Aaron Burkart won the J-WRC, 3:53.7 ahead of Alessondro Broccoli. Kevin Abbring finished 9:43.7 secs behind Burkart in third.

Harry Hunt won the FSTi round after Craig Breen lost a wheel yesterday. Breen still leads the FSTi standings on 39 pts with Hunt 4 pts adrift.

Rally of Turkey: Day 2 Review

End of Day 2. Sebastian Loeb holds the lead, Petter Solberg second & Mikko Hirvonen third. Dani Sordo sits in fourth & Sebastian Ogier, who dropped over 3 mins 30 secs with a puncture on SS15. Rounding out the rest of the top ten are Kimi Raikkonen, Federico Villagra, Matthew Wilson, Ott Tanak & Dennis Kuipers.

Jari-Matti Latvala started his day badly when he rolled his Focus 1 km into the day's first stage. At the end of the day he recovered to 14th overall.

Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block & Stobart VK M-Sport Ford driver Henning Solberg are both moving up the order since their premature exit from Day One after hitting the same tree stump on the first stage.

Aaron Burkart still holds the lead in the J-WRC. Alessandro Broccoli is second with Kevin Abbring third. Abbring hit problems on SS13, dropping 3 mins 14.5 secs & then lost over 7 mins on SS14.

Craig Breen has lost the lead in the FSTi to Harry Hunt. Breen now sits 24th overall after running as high as 16th overall midway through today. Breen was forced into SuperRally on SS15 after a wheel parted company with his car.

Rally of Turkey: Day 1 Review

End of Day 1. Sebastian Ogier leads from Dani Sordo with Mikko Hirvonen third. Petter Solberg is fourth, 18.5 secs behind leader Ogier. Six-time World Champion Sebastian Loeb holds sixth, the result of his road sweeping duties. Jari-Matti Latvala, Federico Villagra, Kimi Raikkonen, Matthew Wilson & Ott Tanak fill up the remaining top ten places.

Ken Block retired on SS1 with less than one mile to the stage finish. The American extreme sports star hit a tree stump with the front-right wheel, which was buried in a soft bank. The impact sheared the tie rod at the endlink. The Focus then went off the road, as Block was incapable of controlling the car.

“What really sucks is that I was driving conservative,” says Block. “We weren’t even cutting the turn, just brushing along the bank when we heard a really loud snap,”

"I wouldn’t have minded if I was going flat out, risking it all, but I was just keeping it smooth…bad luck I guess!”

Henning Solberg hit exactly the same stump, breaking exactly the same part on the Norwegian's car.

Both drivers will restart the rally under the SuperRally rules tomorrow (Saturday).

Aaron Burkart holds 7.5 secs over Theirry Neuville in the J-WRC. Kevin Abbring holds a solid third, a 1:31.3 gap over Alessandro Broccoli but is only 6.3 secs behind second placed Neuville.

Reigning FSTi champion Craig Breen leads Harry Hunt by 1 min 19 secs. Irishman Breen also holds 19th place overall to boot.

Breen said: “I’m over the moon with the day’s work. The stages were rough but our car reformed brilliantly and I set a good pace from the start. I’ve never rallied on these types of stages before and was very pleased to find a rhythm early on. We are 19th overall with no pressure on us, tomorrows stages will be very tough but all we can do is push on and see what happens from there.”

Pirelli granted 1 year contract extention

Pirelli has been granted an extra year as control tyre supplier to the WRC. The Italian tyre firm, who have been control tyre supplier to the WRC since 2008, were the only company to apply for a three year contract, but it was later announced that the contract would only run for one year.

Pirelli invested €11m in the series at the end of 2007 after winning the contract to supply control tyres from BF Goodrich.

Sources within the FIA said: “Obviously, it came as quite a surprise when Pirelli´s was the only tender for the next three years. What´s happened here is that the FIA has another year to decide which way to play the control tyre scenario for the World Rally Championship."

Established in 1872 by Giovanni Battista Pirelli, Pirelli has supplied tyres to WRC teams for the last 30 years, supplying famous teams such as Lancia, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Ford & Citroen. Pirelli is also the control tyre supplier for the World Superbike Championship, British Superbike Championship & the British Rally Championship.

The Pirelli Star Driver award runs six drivers from all around the world in Mitsubishi Lancer E10's, run by Ralliart Italia, in the P-WRC. Drivers for the 2010 P-WRC are Alex Raschi, Ott Tanak, Nicholai Georgiou, Peter Horskey & Hayden Padden. They will compete on the Rally of Turkey, Rallye de Portugal, Rally Finalnd, Rallye Deutschland, Rally France & Rally GB.

The same award in Britan runs a driver selected from eight finalists for a full BRC season. The 2010 Pirelli Star Driver is Keith Cronin, 2009 BRC Champion, driving a Subaru Impreza N14 run by TEG Sport.

The FIA have now begun debating the issue of opening up to other tyre suppliers for the 2012 season.

Francois Duval retires from rallying

Francois Duval has called time on his rallying career.

The 29 year-old Belgian, who drove for Ford & Citroen during his eight year WRC career has decided to quit the sport. Duval won only one event during his career (2005 Rally Australia), scored his first podium at the 2003 Rally Turkey, first stage win at the 2002 Rally Cyprus, led the 2002 Rally Cyprus as well & scored his first point at the 2003 Rally Monte Carlo (7th).

Duval started his WRC career at the 2001 Rallye De Portugal in a Mitsubishi Carisma GT (Class N4), but retired with electrical problems on SS9.

The Belgian competed in selected events for Ford in 2002 & then signed a 2 year contract for the team in 2003. He turned down a 4 year contract extention at the 'Blue Oval' at the end of 2004 for 1 year at Citroen. Duval's Citroen days were numbered & his contract was not renewed for 2006.

He returned to Ford in 2008, replacing Jari-Matti Latvala in Spain (4th) & France (3rd). Duval was involved in a serious crash on SS6 of Rally Japan, seriously injuring navigator Patrick Pivato. Duval's Focus went sideways into the end of an Armco barrier.

A one-off apperance with Skoda on the Ypres Rally last year ended in retirement on the first corner of SS1, sliding off the road & beaching the Fabia S2000 on a ditch.

Duval suffered a double fracture of the lumbar spine on the 17th of December 2009. The injuries were not too serious, but he was laid up for eight weeks.

Duval admitted in an interview: “It's true, I will stop driving , it's complicated, but thats the decision.”

IRC Champion linked to Mini WRC drive

Reigning Intercontinental Rally Champion Kris Meeke has been linked to a possible Mini WRT seat for the 2011 WRC season. Sources within Prodrive, the firm to be running the German company's foray into the WRC, have hinted that Meeke had been contracted to a seat but this is been abruptly rubbished by both parties.

Other drivers such as Mads Ostberg, P-G Andersson & Chris Atkinson (who has recently signed for Proton to run in the APRC) have been linked to the same seat.

Richard Taylor, Sporting Director of Prodrive, siad in an interview with Autosport magazine: “We're always talking to drivers about what we might be doing.

“It remains our intention to return to the WRC in 2011, which is nine months away. We're in no rush to announce anything. I think we're rather putting the cart before the horse here. We don't have a car to put a driver in.

“We're looking for drivers capable of winning WRC rounds so, naturally, that's were we look first, but we're not looking exclusively there & anybody who has won an international series has got to be worth looking at.”

Prodrive boss David Richards has not withheld his desire to discover the next British World Champion. Richards' Banbury based squad built & ran Colin McRae's 1995 World Championship winning car, & also supplied Richard Burns' 2001 winning car.

Taylor later commented: “The choice of driver is not driven by marketing, primarily, it's about who's the fastest driver but obviously a marketing strategy is taken into account.”

Meeke has signed a 2 year contract extention with Peugeot, so is unlikely to leave the Kronos Racing run operation for the next 2 years.

The Countryman road car, which Prodrive will base the WRC car on, will not be built in the Cowley factory in Oxford but will be built in Austria.

Andersson talks to Prodrive about Mini seat

2004 & 2007 Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson has confirmed that he is having talks with Prodrive about a possible drive with Mini in the 2011 WRC season.

Andersson, who is competing in a Skoda Fabia S2000 in the S-WRC this year, has denied any contract has been signed & had declined to comment in Prodrive's 2011 campain plans.

Other drivers have been linked to a Mini works seat, such a Mads Ostberg & reigning IRC Champion Kris Meeke (covered in the next story).

Andersson said in an interview: “Yes, I have spoken to Prodrive. I’m talking about a possible programme for next year, but nothing is signed at all. Of course, I want to get back to the World Rally Championship full time, but for now there’s nothing to say. I don’t have too many options at the moment. There’s the Skoda deal and I’m talking with Proton about some events, but not so much.”

Prince Al Hussein confident about WRC event

HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein has expressed his confidence in the future of the Jordan Rally, the Middle East's only World Rally Championship round.

The Prince, who has been present during the whole rally & is chairman of Jordan Motorsport, has been an influential figure in bringing the event to Jordan. He also has said that the event is willing to adopt changes that will ensure it will run in the future.

HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein said in an interview: “I’m confident if they [North One Sport and the FIA] are looking at it as a Middle East event. We’ve demonstrated we can host a very good WRC event and world-class event. I hope we will be seriously considered [for the calendar].

“We built the facilities for this rally based on what we were told the FIA and the organisers and on what North One wanted, which was a very compact rally with everything close by. We said [at the outset] we could have showcased some desert stages, we were told: “No, we don’t want desert stages.”

“What we did this year, in having the Jerash start was nice and different. We started the race from there, rather than just a ceremonial start. Somebody asked me why we weren’t doing it in Petra? We could have done Petra, we’ve also thought of Aqaba and Wadi Rum and the beautiful desert areas up there, but we were told: “That’s not what FIA wants.” For me, yes, we will try to adapt, but if we are asked to run the event next year, it’s going to be pretty much as you see it, unless they come out with a very clear and strong message about what they want to do in the future and we have time to be able to adapt to it.”

“We’ve invested - as Jordan - quite a lot in the infrastructure that’s been put into place,” he said. “If we did look at moving, that’s an additional cost, and we’d have to weigh it with the benefits. If we really see the WRC is regaining its stature and it’s where we think it should be: a very, very solid - it was an excellent brand and it is still a good brand, but we need to make it an excellent brand, then yes, we’ll look at moving.”

Rumours stating that the entire event could move south to Aqaba have been circulating. When put to the Prince, he said that it was possible but would incur added cost.

Indonesia to run WRC candidate event

Indonesia will run a candidate rally this September, hoping to gain WRC status for the first time in thirteen years.

Rally Indonesia was last run in 1997 with Carlos Sainz crossing the finish line in first place. Sainz was driving the Ford Escort WRC for the Ford World Rally Team, run by M-Sport & Malcolm Wilson.

Representitives of the rally where in Amman during the Jordan Rally to promote the rally. A spokesperson for the event said in Amman: “We believe Indonesia has a great deal to offer the WRC. We’re very excited about the candidate rally coming up and we think we have everything in place to run a very successful round of the series.”

The event has had Asia-Pacific Rally Championship status since 2005 & the event runs in suger plantations to the south of the Capital. Roads are clay-based & the rally has been run in the driest month of the year, to ensure all stages are of driveable condition. Service will be based in the Trans Studio, the largest indoor theme park in the world.

Circuit Of Ireland 2010 review

Derek McGarrity has won his fourth Circuit Of Ireland international. McGarrity won the Easter event in 2002, 2003 & 2004 & now has won the event for the fourth time in 2010. this year will be the last year we will see a WRC car winning the Circuit, as they will be outlawed from 2011 onwards.

Citroen Irish Tarmac Rally Championship leader Gareth MacHale finished second, 35.5 secs behind McGarrity, after being as low as sixth on Saturday.

11 years ago the great Bertie Fisher etched his name into the Circuit trophy for the third & final time & it looked for a time that Alistar Fisher would etch the name of Fisher into the winners trophy for the fourth time, but the power of the WRC's in the dry coupled with a puncture put paid to the hopes of a fourth Circuit trophy going to Ballnamallard in Co.Fermanagh.

Richard Cathcart retired on the final stage with mechanical issues, so Aaron MacHale took fourth, Daragh O'Riordan fifth & Neil McCance finishing off the top six.

Tim McNulty crashed out of the event on SS13, while up-&-coming young driver Craig Breen retired on SS3 with mechanical problems. The Co.Waterford ace also retired on the BRC round, the Bulldog Rally in North Wales just a week before the Circuit.

Kenny McKinstry retired on the final stage when his S8 Impreza caught fire. John Waring won the national event with Kenny's daughter Emma second & Raymond Conlon third.

Rally Jordan 2010: Day 3 review

End of Jordan Rally 2010. Sebastian Loeb has taken his first win on the Jordan Rally, the only rally on the 2010 calander in the Middle East.

Last time out, Mikko Hirvonen took the win on the first running of the event, while Seb crashed into Conrad Rautenbach on a road section leaving a stage.

Jari-Matti Latvala finished second, with Petter Solberg finishing up in third. Solberg looked like he could challange for Latvala's second position, but in the end, the challange for second never happened.

Rounding out the rest of the top ten were Dani Sordo (4th), Matthew Wilson (5th), Sebastian Ogier (6th), Federico Villagra (7th), Kimi Raikkonen (8th), Henning Solberg (9th) & Xevi Pons (10th).

Saturday, the final day, comprised of 8 stages running over 105 competitive kilometers.

Over the course of the rally, Loeb won 9 stages, Solberg 5 stages, Latvala 5 stages & Sordo & Ogier at one win a piece.

Xevi Pons took the class win in the S-WRC by a phenominal 11 mins & 52 secs. Towards the end of the rally, the only drivers in contention for the win were Pons & Bernardo Sousa, but the latter was excluded by stewards for recieveing 'outside help' to get beck to the service park.

Patrick Flodin took the class spoils in the P-WRC by 1 min & 56.6 secs. Armindo Araujo challanged for first over the first leg, but made some set-up blunders & so fell behind Flodin. Flodin also had his own worries when the rear cross-member shattered with 5 kms left of the penulitmate stage. He completed the final Baptisim Site stage with two buckled wheels.

Next up on the WRC calander is Turkey, featuring in the calander for the first time in two years.

Rally Jordan 2010: Day 2 review

End of Day 2. Sebastian Loeb holds a 24.6 second lead over Sebastian Ogier with Jari-Matti Latvala in third. Petter Solberg sits in fourth, 43.2 seconds behind Loeb. Dani Sordo holds fifth, 5.6 seconds off fourth. Matthew Wilson, Federico Villagra, Kimi Raikkonen, Henning Solberg & Xevi Pons finish off the top 10.

The Jordanian gravel stages bit hard on SS8, when Ford No.1 Mikko Hirvonen crashed out of todays competition in todays opener, Suwayma 1. Hirvonen hit a bank 4.5 kms into the stage, bouncing across the road & into another bank, breaking the Focus's suspension & stopping the Finn's charge for today. The Finn will re-enter the rally for tomorrows final eight stages.

Loeb pulled level with Latvala on SS11, then went 5.4 seconds faster than Latvala on SS12, won SS13 & pulled 9.3 seconds ahead of the Finn.

Sebastian Ogier pulled ahead of Latvala on the days final stage, stating that the move was intentional but Ogier's tactical move will benefit Latvala with a cleaner racing line tomorrow.

Xevi Pons holds a lead of over 9 minutes in the S-WRC. Michal Kosciuszko is second with yesterdays leader Bernardo Sousa in third. At the time of writing, it was unclear what happened Michal Kosciuszko on SS12, the stage he lost over 9 minutes on.

Leader in the P-WRC is Patrick Flodin, holding a 23 second lead over defending P-WRC Champion Armindo Araujo, albiet breaking a rear anti-roll bar link on the days penultimate stage, Kafrin 2. Martin Semerad retired on SS11, when the rear differential developed a problem, which forced the Czech to retire form the event.