Loeb set to contest Pikes Peak!

Sebastien Loeb is set to tackle the legendary Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado, bringing back the T16 title to the infamous and terrifying ascent.

Peugeot recently announced their their intention to return to the event, and then announced that nine-times World Rally Champion and renowned tarmac ace Sebastien Loeb would drive their prototype creation in the Unlimited class.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Citroen for this one-off 'loan' of its exceptional champion. Our objective is to win, so we needed to stack up as many cards as possible in our favour by joining forces with the very best partners for this unique project, namely Total, Red Bull, Michelin and Sebastien Loeb.” said Maxime Picat, director general of Peugeot Automobiles.

Very little is currently known about the car Loeb will drive, other than it will be based on their 208 model and will carry the name T16, in homage to the legendary 205 T16 and 405 T16. The latter of which winning the 1988 event with Ari Vatanen and the 1989 event with Robby Unser. The new car is also expected to feature upwards on 600bhp as well, which is twice the power of a normal WRC car, but around what is expected at Pikes Peak. More technical data for the car will be released next month it is expected.

However, in stark contrast from when Vatanen won it 25 years ago, the Pikes Peak route features absolutely no gravel sections, something that will play into the hands of Loeb, who has won almost all of the tarmac rallies in the WRC since 2005, failing to win only four in eight years.

The race runs for a distance of 12.42 miles (19.99kms), over solely tarmac roads, featuring 156 corners ascending 1,500 metres. The record stands at 9 mins 46.164 secs, set last year by Rhys Millen in a Hyundai Genesis in the Unlimited 'anything goes' class. Given Loeb's appetite for shattering records, it wouldn't be too untoward to expect the Frenchman to lower the record even more this year!

Kopecky makes it two from three!

Jan Kopecky today made it two wins from three ERC 2013 appearances onboard his Skoda Fabia S2000, by winning the Rally Islas Canarias after early leader Robert Kubica's late exit.

Kopecky on his way to his second win of the year

Kubica, making his ERC début in a Citroen DS3 RRC, lead from SS1 and dominated the rally, winning all of Friday's eight stages, up until SS10. He was caught out by a downhill right-hander, 5kms from the end of the stage, hitting a barrier with the back of the car, which sent the front of the car into the barrier and the Pole out of the rally.

“It was a shame but unfortunately we were in a high-speed downhill section. It was a quite fast corner but easy flat out. It was not very heavy braking but quite big braking into a third-gear corner. Unfortunately when I hit the brakes I lost the rear of the car and I had to reduce the pressure otherwise I would spin and the road was very narrow. Then I just didn’t manage.”

“I was completely sideways before the corner. Not completely but quite a lot of sideways. I tried to do the corner but I hit the barrier. I didn’t reduce enough speed but I hit the barrier with the rear-left corner. Then with the front we dived into the barrier. It’s a shame but unfortunately this can happen.” he said.

However, the sheer speed in which he dominated the rally until his exit showed glimpses of Colin McRae's style, and Kubica was awarded the 'Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy'.

“It’s a great pleasure for me to win this award. Of course Colin was a great driver and I have been supporting him when I was young. Normally winners are only at the finish but this trophy gives us a bit of satisfaction after this hard end and Colin is always in our hearts.” he added.

With the Czech driver elevated to first overall, Irishman Craig Breen took over second place in his Peugeot Rally Academy 207 S2000. Breen was 1 min 52.4 secs behind Kopecky at the end, his 10 sec penalty for leaving service late (Breen had to run back and collect his glasses after forgetting them, clocking into the time control one minute late as a result) made little difference to to the end result.

He said: “Of course we’re very happy. We came to the finish of the rally in second place and gained some very good experience of the roads in the Canaries and everybody has worked well this weekend. It was a very difficult rally for us for the first time to come here with no experience of the roads. It was difficult at the beginning but now we have good pacenotes to come back in future years.”

Luis Monzon took third place in his MINI John Cooper Works RRC, 3 mins 20 secs off Kopecky's pace. He hailed his result as a “dream come true”. Andreas Aigner was 3 mins 31.9 secs off Monzon and the final podium place, driving a Subaru Impreza R4.

Germain Bonnefis was the highest placed 2WD car, taking his Renault Megane to fifth place. Sixth went to Gorka Antxustegi's Suzuki Swift, who beat the S2000's of János Puskádi (seventh) and Jean-Mathieu Leandri (eighth). Ninth and tenth went to Robert Consani and Antonin Tlustak, respectively. Zoltán Bessenyey took ERC 2WD honours in his Honda Civic Type R.

Photo Credit: FIA ERC

Evans set to make RRC début

2012 WRC Academy winner Elfyn Evans is set to take part on Rally Portugal in a Ford Fiesta RRC, as part of his prize for winning the 2012 edition of the feeder series.

Son of the former WRC driver and British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans, Elfyn will drive a Ford Fiesta RRC in Portugal before the Ford Fiesta R5 is released later this year. He will then complete the rest of his season in the Fiesta R5.

Evans in action on last year's Ulster Rally

“Nowhere else could a young driver hope for such an opportunity and I am really looking forward to starting the season and developing my career with the team.” he said.

M-Sport team leader Malcolm Wilson praised Evans talent, saying he has a “promising career ahead of him”. Evans' Fiesta RRC will run a Qatar M-Sport livery similar to what is presently on the works Fiesta RS WRC's. His car will be run out of the same service area as the works team.

“Elfyn is a talented driver with a promising career ahead of him. Elfyn started rallying with the Ford Fiesta ST when he contested the FordFiesta SportTrophy series in 2007 and has grown with the Fiesta R2 through the WRC Academy. He’ll now progress to the Ford Fiesta RRC – and eventually the Fiesta R5 – and I am sure it won’t be long until we see him challenging for results at the highest level.” said Wilson.

Evans even attracted the praise of Michele Mouton, the legendary former Audi driver turned FIA WRC Manger. She praised the junior formulae that help young drivers get to the top of the sport, and wished the Welshman all the best in his future career.

She said: “Once again we are seeing how the FIA’s junior series is developing young drivers and giving them the opportunity to make that step in to the FIA World Rally Championship. We all wish Elfyn the best of luck with his career.” 

Image copyright to Jordan Murphy/Global Rally News. No unauthorised use.

Meeke in Citroen's sights?

Kris Meeke is one of the drivers being head hunted by Citroen team leader Yves Matton to drive Khalid Al-Qassimi's Citroen DS3 WRC on this year's Rally Finland.

With Al-Qassimi not being able to compete on the rally due to a date clash with a rally in the Middle East Rally Championship, Matton recently announced his intent to put Meeke in the car for the Finnish event. However he faces faces stiff competition for the seat from Aussie star Chris Atkinson, who recently drove the car on Rally Mexico and has already competed in Finland in a DS3 WRC.

Matton said: "I have known Kris for a long time. And the reason he is on the list is because of his experience from four-wheel drive cars and the speed I know he has. And because he is working with us testing some cars."

Meeke has been under the PSA wing for close to a decade now, nearly winning the J-WRC crown in a Citroen C2 S1600, and winning the Intercontinental Rally Challenge title in 2009 at his first attempt, driving a Peugeot 207 S2000. He recently tested a DS3 WRC in Italy, and is excited at the prospect of driving one of the French firm's WRC cars.

“Yves knows I would go to the end of the earth to get into his car in Finland. After I tested it a few months ago, I sent him a text telling him I'd sell my granny to get a rally in that car. I would absolutely relish the chance to get in that car in Finland. I know the DS3 is a simply awesome car.” said the Dungannon ace.

Meeke isn't the only man Matton would like to see back driving one of his cars. He recently conceded that he would ask their legendary driver Sebastian Loeb to return for an extra rally on top of his four event programme.

Originally intended to only compete in Monte Carlo, Sweden, Argentina and France, VW's unexpected winning streak and overall performance could see the nine-times World Champion back in the driving seat of a DS3 WRC for one more rally.

However, it might not be that easy. Loeb has already begun a Sportscar/GT campaign under his own team name. He originally hadn't intended to do any rallies this year, but given the chance to once again prove he is the master of any rally, anywhere and at any time, and against his arch-rival Sebastian Ogier, could could yet be back.

"I think you know it's not my decision. I think he doesn't want to, maybe. It's not on my mind for the moment. I have to be happy with what I have already this season; I have my four rallies with him - at the start he was doing nothing this year. At the end of the season, if I ask him to do one [extra] rally and with this rally we will be champion, then for sure I will ask.” Matton said.

Kubica adds four ERC events to programme

Former F1 race winner Robert Kubica will add four European Rally Championship events to his WRC2 campaign with Citroen, it was announced today at a press conference in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

The Pole will compete on the Canaries Rally, as was already announced, Rally Azores, Tour de Corse and his home Rally Poland. He will drive the same Citroen DS3 RRC that he will campaign in the WRC2 class.

It will be a tough year for the Pole's first year in full-time international rallying. Before he has only competed in selected national events whilst in the midst of a promising Formula One career, but this was cut short by the now well publicised injury he suffered two years ago. Now he faces this new challenge, but he wants to “learn, learn, learn” all about life in the professional end of rallying.

"I have no specific goals other than to learn, learn, learn. Rallying is the next challenge for me and I have a great opportunity to build my experience, learn the events and the pace notes with my new co-driver.” said Kubica.

Kubica says he is relishing returning to his native Poland competitively, with Rally Poland taking place at the end of September. The gravel event makes up part of the ERC this season, the high-speed stages making for some spectacular driving.

"Doing Rally Poland will be like a comeback for me because I haven't done a race in Poland since I was in karting when I was about 12 years old before moving to Italy. It will be great to compete in front of my home fans." he added.

Maciek Baran will co-drive for Kubica this year, and it was announced in Warsaw that Polish oil company Grupa Lotos will become his team's title sponsor. Lotos already sponsor the MINI John Cooper Works of Michal Kosciuszko in the WRC. He has already one day of testing under his belt, and will head to Gran Canaria on Monday for another test.

Ogier dominates in Mexico!

You could be forgiven for thinking that we're in for another 9 years of dominance by a Frenchman in a near infallible team, given how Sebastian Ogier and VW have only been competing together for WRC three rallies, and have won two of them, convincingly.

Ogier flying high on route to winning Rally Mexico 2013

Mexico was the first rally in ten years we haven't seen the all-conquering Sebastian Loeb in action, the record-shattering former-gymnast electing to cut down on his rallying this year with a view to retiring altogether at the end of the year. In the event itself, Ogier, Loeb's former arch-enemy, was only lead twice, after the first stage by Theirry Neuville and by Mads Ostberg over SS4 and SS5.

“The start of the season is just amazing for us. We want to thank the team because the car was perfect again all weekend. Okay, just a small alarm this morning with a sensor but it was not a drama, and here we are again at the end with a perfect amount of points. Now we have quite a good lead for the championship after just three rallies. For sure the season will be long, but already it’s not bad,” said Ogier.

Mikko Hirvonen claimed second but it could have been all over when he punctured 25kms from the finish of the Otates 2 stage. He managed to fend off the flying Neuville, who was closing on the Finn before he landed in a ditch SS23 and called quits on the fight for second, settling for third. However they had no hope of winning, after the puncture Hirvonen lay over three minutes off Ogier, with the Frenchman's winning margin being 3 mins 28 secs at the end.

The Belgian ace said: “We did a job we can be proud of and learned a lot. This morning I tried to push but okay, it went wrong, but we are still here with no damage on the car. It’s been a long wait for a podium, last year many things went wrong. We showed everyone we can learn, we took another step, now we are ready to go forward again and win,”

Such was the pace of the Top 3 and Ogier in particular, Dani Sordo was over six minutes off the flying VW in fourth place. Sordo, in the other works DS3 WRC, wasn't happy with the handling of his car but still managed to win the final stage of the rally.

Endurance specialist Nasser Al-Attiyah took fifth place in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, with the returning Chris Atkinson in sixth in Khalid Al-Qassimi's DS3 WRC. The ever spectacular Ken Block took seventh, and local hero Benito Guerra finished eighth on his WRC car début. Rounding out the Top 10 was Martin Prokop and Evgeny Novikov in ninth and tenth, respectively.

Mads Ostberg was the only driver able to take the fight to Ogier but he went out with an alternator failure on his works Fiesta RS WRC. His frustration got the better of him and he kicked the car, a normal reaction for some drivers but this time Ostberg hurt his foot, the icing on the cake of a bad day.

He said: “It’s the biggest disappointment I’ve ever had in rallying,” he said. “I’ve been disappointed previously but never this bad. It’s very frustrating after fighting for a good result. I can’t believe it’s the third rally in a row where we’ve had technical issues and I’m not happy with that. I hope this will change now.”

Ogier also won the Power Stage, featuring the infamous Brinco Jump. He lead Mads Ostberg by 5.9 secs at the end of the stage, with VW team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala in third.

In the WRC2 category, Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari blew the opposition away in his Ford Fiesta RRC. Co-driven by Killian Duffy and on his WRC2 début, the Qatari won all bar two stages. Nicolas Fuchs and Ricardo Trivino closed out the remaining places on the podium, both in Group N-spec Mitsubishi Lancers.

Photo credit: Willy Weyens

Mikkelsen gets 'own' team

Andreas Mikkelsen will get a VW Motorsport team all to himself, it was announced today when the FIA announced the confirmed teams eligible to score points in the Manufacturer's World Rally Championship, and also confirmed No. 2 drivers.

Mikkelsen, who is only 23, won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge two years in a row in 2011 and 2012, whilst driving for Skoda. At the end of 2012, the series was mothballed and the Norwegian was signed up by the German car giant, VW, for their WRC campaign. Whilst under the wing of VW Motorsport, he took part in eight WRC events driving a Skoda Fabia S2000, and on the rallies he knew, he was keeping up to the pace of team leader, Sebastian Ogier.

Today, the FIA announced that VW would register the “VW Motorsport II” team, a one-car entry solely for Mikkelsen. He was always promised a third works Polo R WRC, and by driving in what is effectively his own team he can avail of a full compliment of testing days, rather than having to share with team leaders Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala. He will also have his own designated service place in each of the WRC's service parks, again rather than having to squeeze into the 'main' team's area.

Sven Smeets, team manager, said: “The third car was always planned to come, and we chose to have a one-car team in order to give Andreas his fair amount of test days and not to have to share them with our other drivers. Also we are a manufacturer, so in order to have the proper space in the service park the complete package for a one-car WRC team was much more interesting to us.”

The Norwegian will be able to score both Driver's Championship points as well as points for the VW Motorsport II team in the Manufacturer's Championship.

Kubica lands WRC2 drive with Citroen

Robert Kubica today announced he will tackle a seven round campaign in the WRC2 class of the WRC, driving a Citroen DS3 RRC.

"I weighed up the different options before deciding this programme. I kept in touch with Citroen and both sides were keen to continue working together. I can't wait to start, but I haven't set myself any specific target. I still have a lot to learn and to improve I will need to rack up the miles on the stages." he said.

Kubica already has semi-works Citroen experience, having competed on two rallies at the end of last year in a works-supported Citroen C4 WRC. On the Rallye Du Var, he dominated the event, racking up a 5 minute lead before a pacenote error sent him into the trees. He and co-driver Emanuele Inglesi both escaped unhurt, but the C4 was nothing but a charred shell afterwards.

The Polish driver, who's 2011 crash still causes him problems, will campaign a slightly modified Citroen DS3 RRC, which stands for Regional Rally Car. The car will be equipped with a paddle-shift system, but which will be sufficiently slowed down to match the regulation 'gear stick' type change.

Citroen Racing boss Yves Matton praised the FIA for allowing them to bend the rules a little in order to give Kubica's injured arm a break. He also praised Kubica's “determination” and referring to him as a “resolutely positive individual”.

He said: "I am especially pleased to have Robert as one of our drivers in 2013. Thanks to the support of his partners, we are in the process of putting together a programme that will enable him to improve in a car that offers similar handling to a World Rally Car.”

The former F1 ace's full-time rally career will begin on the Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés, 21-23 March. His WRC2 campaign will begin on the Rally Portugal, 11-14 April. He will compete on a number of ERC events as well as his WRC2 drive.

“I’m really pleased now to be able to return to top-level racing. Taking part in Rally Islas Canarias will be an interesting challenge for me.” he added.

Sordo out to improve in Mexico

Spanish ace Dani Sordo is looking for an improvement in his Mexico result next weekend, when the WRC flies out across the Atlantic.

Sordo has competed on the gravel event four times, coming fourth twice. This was back when he drove for the Kronos WRT in his début season as a WRC driver in 2006, and then 2007 as team-mate to five-times Mexico winner, Sebastian Loeb (who won't be competing next weekend). Whilst driving for the doomed MINI World Rally Team, he didn't compete on neither the 2011 nor 2012 rallies.

The tarmac specialist competed his first gravel test in the Citroen DS3 WRC a few days back, hoping to gain a better grip of the car on gravel. However the weather didn't go to plan, but he still gained an understanding of how the car will handle.

“I had my first outing in the DS3 WRC on gravel in testing a few days ago, which enabled me to get an idea of it's handling, although the weather conditions were closer to what you might expect in Great Britain than Mexico. My understanding of how the car works is getting better all the time”. He said.

This will be his third competitive drive in the DS3 WRC, having rejoined the Citroen World Rally Team at the start of the year. He will partner Mikko Hirvonen in the other works DS3 WRC and will be nominated for to score Manufacturer points.

Sordo joked that Mexico feels like another home rally, owing to the fact most of Mexico speaks Spanish, along with Argentina and his native Spain.

“Along with Argentina and Catalonia, this is my third home rally! I like the event, especially the second runs on the stages. [On the second run of stages], there is a lot more grip. That means that the qualifying stage and the choice of starting positions for Day One will therefore be very important.” he added.