Third Gronholm to take up rallying?

Niclas Gronholm is set to become the third generation on the Gronholm 'dynasty'.

Niclas, the 15 year old son of double World Champion Marcus, has been reported to be starting practising for his competition license, in a Ford Fiesta. And he couldn't have a much better mentor/teacher in his father.

The Gronholm's have had a successful history in rallying. Niclas' grandfather (Marcus' father) Ulf Gronholm was a double Finnish national champion on the 1970's. He, however, was tragically killed whilst testing for the Hankiralli, a Finnish national championship event.

Ulf's son Marcus went that bit further than he did, becoming World Champion in 2000 and 2002. Known for being quite tall and devastatingly fast, Marcus would become a legend in rallying.

Niclas already has competition from the son of one of his father's former team-mates. Kalle Rovanpera, son of Harri Rovanpera (Marcus' team-mate on and off between 2001 and 2004), has already begun practising, with video's of him testing a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo emerged on Youtube 2 years ago.

With his grandfather a double Finnish national champion and his father a double World Champion, what are the chances of Niclas repeating both these feats? Only time will tell.

Donegal Forestry Rally review [with photos]

Garry Jennings took a dominating victory yesterday on the Donegal Forestry Rally, Round 1 of the Irirh Forestry Championship.

Garry Jennings/Barry McNulty
1st Overall

Jennings, the 2011 Group N Irish Tarmac Champion, was never troubled throughout the rally, taking stage wins on all bar 2 stages. On the stages he didn't win, SS2 and SS6, he was tied for first place with Stephen Wright and Conor Harvey, respectively. Jennings' winning margin was an incredible 53 secs over Wright.

Stephan Wright/Susanne Wright
2nd Overall
1st Group N/Class 8

Third was Colin Britton in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6. Britton also took Class 8, Group N class. Conor Harvey's Evo 9 took fourth overall, barely one second behind Britton. Fifth went to Ian Cochrane, who was never far behind the fight for Class 8 win, until losing 8 secs on SS4 and 10 secs between SS9 and SS10.

Colin Britton/Arthur Kearns
3rd Overall

Frank Kelly took sixth and fastest 2WD car in his rapid blue Escort MK2. He finished on the exact same time as Gerard Lucey, who had a massive moment near the start of SS3, but Lucey had to settle for second by virtue of Kelly's better time over the final stage.

Adrian Hetherington drove his newly built V6 powered MK2 Escort to a fine eighth place. The sound of the car echoed the sounds of the 80's, when the MG Metro 6R4 powered it's way through the forests. The car also attracted the nods of approval from many of the spectators.

Shane McGirr powered his Toyota Starlet to ninth, over two mins ahead of the MK2 Escort of Paul Reid in tenth, who lost buckets of time over both runs of the Crocknacunny stages.

Ian Downey took the Junior Class in his Opel Corsa, after an earlier timing error gave Daniel Cronin the class win. Tommy O'Connell took the Historic category in his MK2 Escort.

Tommy O'Connell/Philip Hunter

1st Historics

14th overall

43 drivers entered the rally, and by the end, only 27 survived. Five drivers didn't even manage to get to the start of the first stage. These included reigning Champion Pat O'Connell. Joseph McGonigle was the only car entered in the R2 class, but he went out on SS8. Brendan Comiskey went out on SS7. No. 1 seed Vincent McAree's anti-lag system failed on the way to SS5. Martin Cairns' Subaru Impreza WRC went out on SS3. This looks to be one of the S9's final rallies, as Martin has taken delivery of an ex-Mads Ostberg S12B, which should be out on next month's Fivemiletown Spring Rally.

Ian Downey/Sean Bruton
Winner Junior Class

(All images copyright Lightspeed Photography)

Loeb takes near perfect rally

Sebastian Loeb and Daniel Elena landed their sixth win in Monte Carlo today, leading from SS4. And, to top a nearly perfect rally off, the record-breaking pairing took the Power Stage, and the extra 3 points it brings.

Loeb went into the rally-ending Power Stage with an incredible 2 mins 41 secs lead over Dani Sordo's MINI, and by the end of the 5km stage it had gone up to 2 mins 45 secs. Sordo took a well deserved second place, having fought hard with Petter Solberg right up to the end of the rally. Solberg had to settle for third, but he managed to wipe 48 secs out of Sordo over yesterday's 4 stages.

Mikko Hirvonen got his life at Citroen off to a pretty good start with a solid fourth place. He got his rally off to a shaky start but gathered pace and confidence, taking 3 stage wins by the end. Fifth went to the impressive Monte rookie Evgney Novikov, proving the doubters wrong by keeping his Fiesta away from the trees and off the back of a recovery truck. Francois Delecour's first rally in nearly a decade went well, taking sixth. A small mistake, taking off the front bumper, was his only problem.

Delecour's co-driver Dominique Savignoni took the decision to retire from co-driving after this rally. So, to let Savignoni go out with a proverbial 'bang', Delecour jumped into the co-driver's seat, and let Savignoni drive the final stage, crossing the line to cement their sixth place. In his first stage as a driver, Savignoni took 42^nd place, 52.2secs off Loeb's fastest time.

Pierre Campana, in the second works MINI, took seventh after a clever tyre choice on Friday vaulted him ahead of Ott Tanak, who took eighth. Martin Prokop won the close battle between himself and Armindo Araujo to take ninth, 5.9secs ahead of the MINI driver in 10^th.

Craig Breen won the S-WRC class after his only two competitors, PG Andersson and Giandomenico Basso, both went out of the rally. Both Proton-mounted, Basso crashed on the first stage of the rally, and Andersson's example caught fire on SS16.

Post rally, Petter Solberg was cited for speeding on Boulevard Charles III, doing 106 km/h in a 50 km/p zone. The Norwegian explained how he accelerated up to overtake a car, then braked immediately.

At the Stewards hearing after the rally, Solberg was found to be in breach of Article 151c of the FIA International Sporting Code, which covers "any act prejudicial to the interest of any competition or to the interest of motor sport generally."

The Organisers said: "On being questioned, the driver explained that indeed, he was accelerating at the said speed in trying to pass a slower car and in doing so, he passed the continuous centre line on the road, but was then braking immediately. He apologised for his lapse."

He received a 1 rally suspended ban, €1400 fine and a reprimand. If Solberg should “commit any speeding offence of 50 per cent or more of an applicable speed limit in any of the next six WRC rallies in which he participates during the 2012 season” his ban will be retrospectively imposed on Rally Sweden, as that's the next event he will contest.

One stage to go for Loeb

Only a single stage remains between Sebastian Loeb and Daniel Elena being able to celebrate their fifth Monte Carlo win.

It seems that tomorrow's 5km Power Stage will only serve to let Loeb and home-hero Elena celebrate in front of their fans, granted at about 60mph. Loeb, as ever however, will most likely not back off, going for the extra 3 points the Power Stage win brings.

The fight for second, third and fourth behind him, however, is hotting up. Dani Sordo, Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen all occupy the places, respectively. But, with Solberg and Hirvonen's increased confidence in their respective new cars, it seems that we may be on for an interesting stage. It may only be 5kms, but being Monte Carlo, a lot can happen in one stage.

In the four stages run today, Hirvonen won one more to add to his tally but Solberg an impressive 3 scratch times. The flying Solberg reduced the deficit to the Spaniard from 1 min 6 secs at the start of the day, right down to 18secs at the end of the day. The highlight being taking nearly 15secs out of Sordo on the very first stage of the rally.

Behind this possible fight tomorrow, Evgeny Novikov is well set for a fantastic fifth on his Monte début. Francois Delecour is sixth on his return to the WRC, the only problems in his otherwise great rally was tearing off his front bumper on Friday and suffering power-steering failure earlier today.

Pierre Campana is seventh in his works MINI, but there are many rally fans wondering what Kris Meeke, the man Campana replaced for this rally, could have done in equal machinery. Ott Tanak is under team-orders to finish the rally, though he isn't content with having to “just drive”. Ninth Martin Prokop, being chased hard by Armindo Araujo in tenth, only 2.9 secs separates the pair.

Aside from Solberg's maverick charge after Sordo, the only other news was that PG Andersson's bright rally came to a fiery end on SS12. Absolutely flying in the Satria Neo S2000, keeping a good few WRC cars behind him and leading his class, S-WRC, by over 7 mins, Proton's fairytale return to the WRC didn't finish. Worse too, Giandomenico Basso crashed the other Proton out of the rally on the very first stage of the rally, back on Wednesday. Craig Breen currently leads the class, but is under absolutely zero pressure as he is the only car in the class!

Loeb on the way to Monte win

Sebastian Loeb continues to lead the 2012 Rallye Monte Carlo, seemingly heading towards his fifth win in the principality.

Rain, black ice and compacted snow faced the crews today and tyres would, as ever, be a lottery. Extremely conservative choices of four fully-studded tyres from the works Citroen's, as well as Martin Prokop, Pierre Campana and others, paid off.. Loeb's lead went up to over 2 mins 12 secs over Dani Sordo, Mikko Hirvonen took two stage wins on SS12 and SS13 and Campana rocketed away from Ott Tanak.

Dani Sordo was one of the drivers on the other side of the divide, making an error with his tyre choice and losing half a minute to Loeb. However, he faired better than the man he was fighting for position with, Petter Solberg. Solberg began the day with a 3.7 secs deficit to Sordo, and promptly moved ahead of the MINI driver. It all fell apart for Solberg when he made a fairly major error with tyre choices, running slicks on the rear in the snow and ice. Possibly because of this, he damaged a wheel rim and a tyre deflated, along with 1 min 46 secs. A further 9 secs were lost on the next stage, seemingly cementing the podium places.

However, as we all know too well, things can change rapidly in Monte Carlo, so nothing is secure until the end of the Power Stage on Sunday morning.

Mikko Hirvonen still holds onto fourth, but after a good tyre choice, the subsequent fastest stage times and Solberg's tyre troubles, he has closed the gap to third down to 23.8 secs. The flying Russian, Evegny Novikov, is fifth overnight. With 45 secs and 2 mins to Francois Delecour, Novikov has seemingly secured fifth place on his Monte début, unless something drastic (and 100% possible) happens.

Francois Delecour has shown no rustiness on his first World Rally in nearly a decade, running a brilliant sixth. Pierre Campana is seventh, and after his perfect tyre choice is nearly a minute ahead of Ott Tanak in eighth.

PG Andersson holds ninth, S-WRC class lead and 7 min margin over S-WRC challenger Craig Breen. Tenth is Armindo Araujo, both drivers embroiled in a close scrap over the final WRC point.

Ogier's rally ends as Loeb continues to lead

Sebastian Loeb continues to lead the 2012 Rallye Monte Carlo, as expected, and has extended his lead throughout the day, also as expected.

Since Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out on the last stage yesterday, little has troubled Loeb at the head of the rally. Never one to back off too much, Loeb won every one of today's stages bar one, on which he came second by 0.2 secs to Dani Sordo on SS8.

The scrap over second is still very close, but now second placed Sordo is over 1 and a half minutes behind. Sordo and the sole remaining works Fiesta RS WRC of Petter Solberg are only separated by 3.7 secs. The place swapped between the pair no less than four times, but despite their matched pace, neither driver was happy with their set-ups or tyre choices.

Mikko Hirvonen sits fourth, gradually and consistently gaining confidence in his new surroundings and the new car. He is still, however, uncomfortable in the car, and coupled with the ever-changing conditions that are present in the mountains surrounding Valance and Monte Carlo, he's struggling to make an impression on the Top 4.

Still top 'independent' Evegny Novikov is still driving a mature rally, and still proving the doubters, who expected the car to be sitting on the back of a recovery truck in pieces, very wrong. The Russian is running fifth.

The experienced and charismatic Francois Delecour is sixth, steadily improving his position as others fall by the wayside. Pierre Campana in the other MINI is keeping his car on the road and is seventh. Ott Tanak is still impressing in his Monte Carlo début. A costly stall on SS10 cost the young Estonian some time, but nevertheless only 6 secs separate the two.

PG Andersson is ninth in the S2000 Proton, continuing to lead S-WRC ahead of Craig Breen. Tenth in the sole-remaining VW entered Skoda Fabia S2000 of Kevin Abbring, another one of the S2000's impressing during the rally.

Arguably the story of the rally, after Latvala's stunning drive ended in it's acrimonious manner, was Sebastian Ogier and his S2000 Fabia. Talk of a podium ended abruptly, as did his first rally with VW, with a massive crash on the final test of the day. Photos post-crash showed the wreaked Skoda sitting miserably at the side of the road, not a straight panel on the car.

Loeb leading 2012 opener

Sebastian Loeb ends Day 1 of the 2012 Rallye Monte Carlo with a comfortable lead, but only after early, and indeed shock, leader Jari-Matti Latvala crashed out.

Loeb started the day with the by now traditional fastest time over SS1 up in the mountains of Valance. The very next stage turned the establishment on it's head. Ford make an excellent tyre choice with both Latvala and new-signing Petter Solberg, putting studded tyres on diagonally opposing wheels, and then doing the same with supersoft slicks. This stroke of genius launched Latvala into a half minute lead, and Solberg into third. Loeb make the same tyre choice, but instead ran with soft slicks, too hard for the conditions. Loeb could only take back 0.4 secs from Latvala during SS3, but then the rally fell apart for the young Finn.

SS4 was the final special of the day, a repeat run of the 30km Burzet – St. Martial test. The weather men suggested that snow and ice was predominant in the middle of the stage, and coming into a fast right-hander at the start of the snow, Latvala was concentrating on the conditions of the road. Crucially, the corner tightened sharply, and with no grip and little time to react, Latvala's Fiesta RS WRC went backwards off the road and down a 3 metre drop. With the car stuck on it's side and the Rally organisers electing not to run the Rally 2 rule (The new name for SupeRally as of 2012), Latvala's rally was over.

Most of the rest of the Top 10 have all been struggling with either problems, mistakes or were adapting to new cars. Dani Sordo moved into second at the end of the day, but had earlier bent his MINI's suspensions on SS2. An up-down day for Petter Solberg saw brilliant tyre choices marred by poor ones, but he ends in third, a single second behind Sordo.

Ogier's decision to sign for VW lead to him getting a full season in a Skoda Fabia S2000, and he was running very well in fourth, up against much faster machinery. Indeed, there is talk of Ogier being able to get his S2000 onto the podium, however talk is cheap. The next 4 days of tough stages will tell can he do the seemingly impossible, or will he fall short.

Evengey Novikov is running in a very strong fifth, highest 'independent' driver. Fastest over the pre-rally shakedown showed that it may be his first Rallye Monte Carlo, but it certainly won't mean he would be slow. He did say before the rally he would take it easy during the rally, focusing on the finish. During his year at the Citroen Junior team 3 years ago, or even as recent as the middle of last year, most would have written off this statement and expected his Fiesta RS WRC to be wrapped round a tree, buried in a wall or rolled into an unrecognisable ball of metal. Today's four stages are seeming to prove that he is maturing very rapidly, continuing his almost reformation on from last year.

Mikko Hirvonen, on his first event for Citroen, is running a lowly sixth. Struggling to adapt to his car, the conditions and managing to break a brake disc after clouting a wall on SS3. Francois Delecour, winner here almost 20 years ago also in a Ford, is driving well in seventh, on his first rally in 12 months and first World Rally in a WRC car for nearly a decade. Indeed, he has never driven one of the new-generation WRC cars up until now, though he has likened it's agility to his old Peugeot 206 WRC from his professional WRC career.

Pierre Campana, on his first event for the MINI WRT, is running down in 8^th, 4 mins off the lead. Campana is in Kris Meeke's place, after the Northern Irish driver was dropped in favour of a driver who could pay for their seat, owing to MINI's lack of a title sponsor. Meeke's dropping attracted untold amounts of criticism from many Irish and British supporters.

Ott Tanak is ninth in his Fiesta RS WRC, catching Campana rapidly. Tenth is S-WRC leader PG Andersson in the Proton Satria Neo S2000. S-WRC only had 3 entrants, but this fell to two after the other Proton of Giandomenico Basso crashed out. Craig Breen holds second in the poorly supported class, 4 mins down after a poor tyre choice and a puncture.

GRN 2011 round-up: Intercontinental Rally Challenge (Part 2)

The second part of GRN's review of this years Intercontinental Rally Challenge starts with the Sata Rally Acores.

Juho Hanninen stormed to a comprehensive win during the event, but he didn't lead all the way. Fighting a close battle for most of the event with fellow Skoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen, Hanninen started the final day of the event just behind Mikkelsen, but an unbelievable run through the fog-stricken SS14 saw him wipe out his deficit and take the lead. Mikkelsen was, by his own admission, too cautions through the stage, while Hanninen went hell for leather, taking big risks that ultimately paid off. Mikkelsen hit back in the Super Special, but orders from the Skoda hierarchy saw the two drivers stop attacking. With Jan Kopecky in third, it rounded out a dominant rally for the Skoda team.

Closest finisher to the Skodas was Bryan Bouffier in fourth, over 3 and a half mins behind. Patrick Sandell landed himself a minute penalty, but he still took fifth. Ricardo Moura took sixth, as well as Production laurels, in his Lancer Evo IX. Vitor Lopez was almost 4 mins behind Moura in the Production class, but nevertheless he still took seventh. Vitor Pascoal, Sérgio Silva and Paulo Maciel rounded out the Top 10. Maciel took a commanding 18 min winning margin over Tiago Mota, his closest challenger.

Jan Kopecky scored his first win in well over a year at the next event in the Czech Republic. Being Czech, and driving a Czech car, there was really no better place to launch himself back into title contention. Skoda came away from their home rally a happy bunch, taking a clean sweep of the podium places and decimating the Peugeots in the process.

After a tight fight throughout the rally, Freddy Loix has to settle for second, albeit 1.2 secs behind Kopecky. Juho Hanninen, in the other works Fabia, took third. A mistake saw the Finn, mistakenly, believe he had a puncture, and so dropped to third, afterwards electing to keep third and preserve his Championship lead.

Thierry Neuville was best of the rest, and indeed the Peugeots, in fourth, Sunday's stages proving more to his liking. Andreas Mikkelsen nearly took fourth, but mistakes towards the end of the rally denied him the position. An extremely rare double clutch failure, plus a 10 sec jump-start penalty, left Toni Gardemiester in sixth. Irishman Craig Breen, making his European Tarmac début, drove a consistent and mistake-free rally to take seventh. Breen was in awe of the fact he was fighting for position with former WRC regular Gardemiester at the end of the rally.

Another former WRC regular, this time Roman Cresta, took eighth. His priorities being maximum points in the Czech National Championship. PG Andersson took ninth in a good showing onboard the Proton Satria Neo S2000. Karl Kruuda took tenth in his Fabia S2000.

The IRC stars were launched into the unknown at the next event, the Canon Mecsek Rallye. As the playing field was level (ie. No-one knew the stages), it was a tight end to the rally.

Andreas Mikkelsen lead most of the way, seemingly heading towards his first IRC win. He backed off until Jan Kopecky started to fight back, but a lapse in concentration lead to the Norwegian sliding into a tree on SS13. Theirry Neuville stepped up to the plate, taking the fight to Kopecky. 8.1secs dropped to 0.8 secs in the 17km final stage, but it wasn't enough to deny Kopecky his second straight win of the year. The ever consistent Freddy Loix took third, exactly 1 min behind.

Bryan Bouffier took fourth, ruing a lack of trust in his pacenotes. Hermann Gassner Jr. took fifth in a very consistent rally, steadily moving up the order as others fell by the wayside. Highly popular local driver Gyorgy Aschenbrenner used his considerable local experience to take sixth in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4. Toni Gardemiester suffered brake problems and a misfire throughout Day 1, leaving him in seventh at the end.

Hungarian National Championship points were the priority for Robert Butor, but eighth would come as a welcome result for the local driver. The local's pace caused problems for Bruno Magalhaes, and combined with set-up and gear-ratio problems, left him in ninth. Beppo Harrach rounded out the Top 10 in his Lancer Evo X.

The IRC circus travelled to Scotland for the penultimate round of the 2011 championship. Andreas Mikkelsen put his Mecsek Rallye disappointment behind him to take his first IRC win. A pair of punctures nearly put paid to that hope, but he kept his cool and took a massively popular win. Hanninen took second, a slight contrast to his win here 12 months ago. As has been on so many occasions this year, Peugeot was quite a way back, with Bryan Bouffier in third, 1 and a half minutes of the lead.

Craig Breen put in a hugely impressive run to fourth in his Fiesta S2000, but could have been higher but for a cracked exhaust manifold. Jan Kopecky stays at the top of the Driver's Championship with fifth. Theirry Neuville took sixth after spinning on SS10. Seventh went to the very consistent Toni Gardemiester, who scored on every event he entered.

Alastair Fisher came home seventh in only his second event in the Fiesta S2000. Toshi Arai took eighth in his Impreza R4, while Matthias Kahle took tenth place in his Fabia S2000.

Heading into the final round in Cyprus, 6 drivers could all claim the title of Intercontinental Rally Challenge Driver's Champion. However, this became 5 when Peugeot announced that Bryan Bouffier would not be entered in the rally as he had completed his 10 event programme. The 5 drivers fighting for the title would be Juho Hanninen (the reigning Champion), Jan Kopecky, Andreas Mikkelsen, Freddy Loix (having finished second, third and twice fourth in the last 4 IRC Series') and Theirry Neuville (the sole Peugeot). And, to spice things up a bit, double points will be on offer.

Andreas Mikkelsen took off like a rocket, until he was caught and passed by Theirry Neuville. Neuville suffered a puncture SS4 and then, cruelly, alternator failure robbed him of his chance to fight for the title. With this Mikkelsen re-took the lead and held it to the end of the day, the overnight halt in Pafos on the West coast of the island.

The rest of the IRC title contenders had an up-down day between themselves. Reigning title holder Juho Hanninen make a shock and extremely rare mistake, rolling his Fabia S2000 on the first proper gravel test. The Finn, understandably disappointed, lamented it as a “stupid mistake”. Team-mate Jan Kopecky held third overnight, but he is 25 secs behind the leader, title rival Mikkelsen. The last title contender, Freddy Loix, had a lacklustre Day 1, having not driven on gravel for 3 years and hasn't driven in Cyprus since 2003. He sits fourth, well over 1 min behind Mikkelsen.

Day 2 dawned bright and early for the IRC crews. Mikkelsen kept his lead, but Nasser Al-Attiyah started to cut into his lead, until terminal engine failure dropped him out of the rally. This moved Kopecky into second and Loix into third, but it wasn't enough for either driver to take the title.

Freddy Loix' title hopes took a fatal blow after mechanical problems dropped him to fifth. At the end of the rally, Mikkelsen stood atop the Cypriot podium as rally winner and Intercontinental Rally Challenge Champion. A year of ups and downs was duly rewarded with the 2011 title.

Jan Kopecky took a disconsolate second place, losing the title by a single point. Patrick Sandell took his best IRC result of third, with Karl Kruuda impressing in fourth. The last surviving title contender in Freddy Loix was fifth. Rounding out a great rally all round for Skoda, who also claimed the Manufacturer's Title, taking an unprecedented 1-2-3-4-5-6, simply dominating the rally.

Toshi Arai took seventh in his Impreza R4, almost 5 mins ahead of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Mark Wallenwein in eighth. Jean-Michael Raoux took ninth in his Renault Clio, winning the IRC 2WD title in the process. Tenth went to the former circuit racer Doros Loucaides.

That rounds out GRN's review of the 2011 IRC series, a closely fought championship, leading up to a nail biting finish. Next up for GRN will be the Rallye Monte Carlo, which kick off the 2012 World Rally Championship on the 18^th January.

FIA Media Statement

From the FIA:

Press Release

08/01/12

Last Friday the FIA served notice to terminate its contract with North One Sport, the Promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship. The FIA sought urgent unequivocal assurances from NOS that it could fulfil its contractual obligations and deliver the promotion of the upcoming Rally Monte Carlo and the Championship for 2012 and for the future. It is with regret and disappointment that no such assurance has been given to the FIA, and therefore today the FIA has been driven to terminate its contract with NOS. NOS has conspicuously failed to deliver its contractual obligations and is in fundamental breach of contract.

Following the recent unforeseen circumstances which led to Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) the parent company being placed into administration in November 2011, the FIA has fully supported and co-operated with both NOS and the administrators of the parent company CSI in their efforts to secure a purchaser. Contrary to press speculation however, no firm offer to purchase NOS has been presented to the FIA during this period but only numerous non-binding expressions of interest subject to due diligence. The FIA has been notified of at least 7 expressions of interest, but none have come to fruition.

The FIA has given time and support to all the parties concerned to find the right solutions. Regrettably however, not only has NOS failed to perform in accordance with its contract, it has also been unable to secure the essential investment required to enable it to deliver the Championship.

This has placed the FIA in an unprecedented situation just 10 days before Rally Monte Carlo in that the FIA will now have to take urgent action to secure the staging of the Championship. The Fédération is now working tirelessly to ensure the WRC goes ahead as fully as planned to mitigate the consequences of the breach of NOS.

At the start of the 2012 season, the FIA wishes to take this opportunity to reassure all its stakeholders – the Automobile Club de Monaco and Rally Monte Carlo which makes a welcome return as the opening round of the Championship, the other vital commercial partners, Rally Organisers, the Manufacturers and Teams, and the vast loyal worldwide fan base – of its full on-going commitment to the World Rally Championship and its determination to see 2012 take place as planned.

The FIA has now launched urgent top level discussions with several partners and suppliers to guarantee the key organisational and promotional components of the Championships, including timing and tracking, TV production and distribution, as well as sponsorship servicing are put in place.

The FIA is fully confident that it will deliver a safe, successful and exciting 2012 season, adding that in the current context, and while there are still on-going discussions, it would not be appropriate for the Fédération to discuss these matters publicly until a final solution has been reached.

Quesnel out of Citroen Racing

Oliver Quesnel has been dropped as Citroen Racing's Team Principal, in favour of the man who walked away from the record-smashing squad in 4 years ago.

Quesnel, who replaced the legendary figure of Guy Frequelin when he stepped down at the end of 2007, has been replaced by Yves Matton. Matton was widely expected to take over the reigns of the team from Frequelin in 2008, but when Quesnel was chosen instead, he walked away from Citroen Racing. During his time away, he set up his own MY Racing parts distribution firm, as well as finding a place in Kronos Racing.

During Quesnel's 'reign' at Citroen Racing, the French team secured no less than 3 Manufacturer's Championship and 3 Driver's Championships. Even though Matton has been away from the team for a few years, Citroen General Manager Frederic Banzet has said he will demand the same “high level of excellence” from Matton.

During his 4 year term at the highest levels of Citroen Racing, Quesnel has been a rather controversial figure. He labelled the Ford World Rally Team as “dishonest” after they manipulated road-order positions during the 2008 Rally of Turkey for their two drivers, which resulted in a 1-2 for the team on the rally.

In-fighting was also a frequent occurrence in 2011 between Citroen's two star drivers. Quesnel attracted criticism from the then seven-times (now eight-times) World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb, accusing Quesnel of favouring team-mate Sebastian Ogier during the Acropolis Rally last year. Ogier went on to win the rally and Loeb came in second, 10 secs further back.

Quesnel was asked about the possibility of being let go by Citroen at the team's home rally, the Rallye de France. He had this to say: “I heard there is some rumours, we will see. You can imagine Guy Frequelin doesn’t like me. I don’t know why. I know exactly where [the rumour] comes from. I don’t have any problem but what do you do with a rumour. If somebody doesn’t like you they say you will leave.”

Quesnel will now focus solely on his role as Peugeot Sport Director. He lead the Citroen World Rally Team as well as the Peugeot endurance racing team during the past couple of years.

Banzet thanked the outgoing Team Principal, saying: “I would like to thank Olivier Quesnel for the job he’s done in his four years as Citroen Racing team principal. Under his management, Citroen has won the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championship titles every year with Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena. Yves Matton’s task will be to maintain Citroen Racing’s high level of excellence.”

Citroen's 2012 campaign gets under way on the 17th-22^nd January, with the team fielding two works DS3 WRC's for reigning Champion Sebastian Loeb and new signing Mikko Hirvonen. Belgian IRC star of 2011 Theirry Neuville's dream WRC chance will also begin in Monte, while Nasser Al-Attiyah will join the team from Sweden onwards.

GRN's 2011 round-up: Intercontinental Rally Challenge (Part 1)

Starting off Global Rally News' review of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the historic Rallye Monte Carlo, and this year was it's centenary.

Bryan Bouffier got his 2011 IRC campaign off to the best possible start after he took his first win of his IRC career. Piloting his Peugeot 207 S2000, he and co-driver Xavier Panseri took a 32.5 sec win over Freddy Loix after an inspired tyre choice launched him from seventh to first. A faultless drive for Guy Wilks on his début for Peugeot lead to a third placed finish.

SS7 turned the rally leaderboard on it's head. As ever in Monte Carlo, the right tyres became the deciding factor between flying up the order, and plummeting down it. Heading out to the stage, Bouffier and Francois Delecour, returning to the scene of his final World Rally win, went out on studded tyres. Most other drivers, including reigning Champion Juho Hanninen and former World Champion Petter Solberg, went out on intermediate tyres, virtually useless in the snowy and slushy conditions. The resulting shake-up lead to Bouffier taking the lead and Delecour taking sixth. Delecour won the next stage, taking full advantage of his studded tyre choice. Bouffier spun twice, but still took second. Hanninen dropped even further down, as did team-mate Kopecky.

Stéphane Sarrazin fought back to third after a stuck gearbox on SS11 and a poor tyre choice on SS7, but elected to drop time to let team-mate Guy Wilks into third, as this may be Sarrazin's only IRC appearance this year due to closed-circuit racing commitments, which includes the 24hrs of Le Mans. Francois Delecour took fifth, after admitting he wouldn't be able to hold on to the second place he gained after SS8. An older-spec car and a power problem in his car lead to him being passed. Nevertheless, he proved that age is but a number, beating a number of established IRC regulars.

Juho Hanninen took sixth after his poor tyre choice in the conditions of SS7 and SS8. Nicholas Vouilloz took seventh after a puncture dropped him right down the order. Fastest time over the first run over the Col de Turini showed what he might have been able to do on his first rally for almost a year. Jan Kopecky had a lacklustre rally, unable to find his usual pace, well down in eighth. Giandomenico Basso, the first IRC Champion, took ninth in a private 207 S2000. Tenth was Toni Gardemiester. The former WRC regular suffered at Day 1 puncture but fought back to tenth with an inspired performance.

Juho Hanninen made up for his Rallye Monte Carlo with a close win on the Rally Islas Canarias. The rally was close fought from start for finish, Day 1 ending with only 9 secs separating the Top 4 drivers. Team-mate Jan Kopecky made it a Skoda 1-2 with second, only 1.5 secs between himself and his rally-winning team-mate. Rising Belgian star Theirry Neuville took third after leading early on the final day, but worn tyres dropped him time.

Freddy Loix, on his début on the rally, took fourth after making some adjustments to his notes. Indeed, he fought for the top spot at one stage, but a misted up windscreen lost him time. Guy Wilks made it to fifth, after holding the lead at one point of Day 1, until a lack of confidence in his set up dropped him out of contention. Andreas Mikkelsen followed team orders, which were to finish the rally after crashing out of Monte Carlo, taking sixth spot.

Championship leader Bryan Bouffier ended the rally 7^th, a combination of poor set-up and lack of knowledge hurting him badly. Eighth went to Bruno Magalhaes, who was still recovering his confidence after his big Monte Carlo crash. Giandomenico Basso switched from a privateer Peugeot 207 S2000 to a works Proton Satria Neo S2000, taking ninth. Toni Gardemiester took the final point for 10^th after switching to a Skoda Fabia S2000 for the rally.

Theirry Neuville underlined his undoubted natural talent by taking his first IRC win on the very next round, the Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc. Neuville (23), who has only ever taken part in 9 IRC rallies prior to Corsica, became the youngest winner of an IRC event since Anton Alén (then 24), son of Markku, won in Russia in 2007. Jan Kopecky took second, 15.5 secs behind the Belgian, although the Czech driver kept Neuville honest throughout the rally, never being far away. Freddy Loix completed the Top 3 in his BFO Skoda Rally Team car, over 1 min off the lead.

Pierre Campana, who is actually from Corsica, took fourth in his impressive début in an S2000 car. An intercom gremlin lead to him focusing on finishing, but a puncture dropped him a lot of time. Then fellow Frenchman Bryan Bouffier crashed out protecting fourth, thus elevating Campana up to his final position. Brake problems are not something you want in Corsica, but Bruno Magalhaes managed to overcome them and improve his confidence to take a strong fifth. Andreas Mikkelsen ended up sixth after a puncture robbed him of a podium spot.

Julien Maurin was another to survive brake problems, as well as tyre wear issues, to take seventh in his Fiesta S2000 to his first IRC points for seventh, over 2 mins clear of Toni Gardemiester who had to contend with a broken gearbox on the last stage. Ninth went to Patrick Sandell on his IRC début. The final point for tenth went to Frenchman Jean-Mathieu Leandri, on a charge after suffering a puncture.

Reigning Champion Juho Hanninen became an IRC record breaker with victory in the Prime Yalta Rally, the Ukrainian event making it's début in the IRC. Hanninen's seventh win lifted him above his fellow Skoda driver Freddy Loix, who has six. Bryan Bouffier took second, 11.7 secs behind Hanninen, making up for his last-minute rally-ending crash in Corsica 3 weeks prior. Jan Kopecky made it a Skoda 1-3 by sealing third, thus lifting Skoda to the IRC Manufacturer's Championship lead.

Andreas Mikkelsen took fourth, chasing Kopecky hard for third. The margin between the Skoda-driving pair was narrowed to less than 13 secs until Mikkelsen crashed backwards into a tree on SS12. The collision damaged the exhaust and the right-rear corner of his car. He and co-driver Ola Floene devised a fairly novel way of fixing the problem, attaching the part of bodywork that was blocking the exhaust to a ratchet strap, which was connected on the other end to a lamppost, pulling the offending part of bodywork off. This approach to fixing the problem earned him the Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy, echoing McRae's various, and numerous, attempts at fixing cars on the road side (such as fixing his Subaru's suspension with a tree branch, in Wales 1995).

A puncture-filled weekend for Guy Wilks was rewarded with fifth, having suffered 2 punctures on Day 2. Another puncture greeted him after hitting a concrete block that held the stage flying finish board in place. Theirry Neuville took sixth after a high-speed crash and puncture on Day 2. Power problems in his Fabia left Toni Gardemiester in seventh. A puncture and pace-note issues gave Karl Kruuda eighth on his IRC début in a 4WD car. One of the few drivers managing to avoid punctures was Patrick Sandell, who took ninth. Tenth went to the IRC 2WD winner Jean-Michael Raoux in his Renault Clio, but with neither he nor Vlad Cosma eligible for IRC points, the point 10^th place gives went to Janos Puskadi.

'Fast' Freddy moved back to joint-top of the all-time IRC round winners with Juho Hanninen after taking his seventh win on home soil, the GEKO Ypres Rally. Bryan Bouffier originally took second, but he was excluded post-event. This promoted Hans Weijs Jr., on his IRC and Fabia S2000 début, up to second, albeit nearly 4 mins off Loix. Michal Solowow took third in his Fiesta S2000.

A lot of punctures and a spin held Guy Wilks back, leaving him fourth at the end. Karl Kruuda suffered many punctures too, and this time an intercom gremlin, but took fifth on his second event of the year. A puncture also held Toni Gardemiester back, but sixth was a strong finish for the Fabia-mounted Finn's first time at the Belgian classic.

European Champion and Ypres winner 4 years ago Luca Rossetti took seventh after punctures and spin cost him time. Bernard Ten Brinke took eighth, scoring his first IRC points. Irishman Robert Barrable, how was on his Ypres début, took ninth but suffered an overshoot on the last stage, but when PG Andersson, who he was trying to keep at bay, damaged his Proton Satria Neo S2000, Barrable kept the position. Julien Maurin was promoted up one place, along with the rest of the finishers, to 10^th and one point after Bouffier's exclusion.