Cetinkaya looking for luck before Rally Acores

Burcu Cetinkaya is looking for better luck when she tackles the Sata Rally Acores in mid-July.

Cetinkaya crashed out of the Ypres Rally and suffered mechanical failure in Sardegna. She is looking for her first finish in the Peugeot Sport Turkey 207 S2000. Her crash in Ypres this year is her third in as many Ypres appearances.

Despite this, she is confident that she can score points before season close and that her confidence is still intact.

“It was my mistake that we had the accident. Ypres has never been my most favourite event but I was actually starting to enjoy it and build up my speed when the accident happened on stage 14. Our goal is still the same: to take some points in the IRC and I am still on target to achieve that.” said the Istanbul resident.

Solberg announces Mills replacement

Chris Patterson has been announced as Petter Solberg's new co-driver.

Patterson was chosen as the new navigator after the shoot-out proved Patterson's potential. The test involved writing and then reading the notes at competitive speed.

Patterson has an unending list of drivers who he has navigated for, such as Kris Meeke, Alistair McRae, Gwyndaf Evans, Niall McShea & Nasser Al-Attiyah. Patterson has also won the Middle East Championship 5 times.

This is only the second time Solberg has been co-driven by someone other than Phil Mills, the first time was on the 1999 Safari Rally with Fred Gallagher, another Irishman.

“I am very happy with Chris as my new co-driver, and I am confident that our partnership will be good in the car. We did a really tough test yesterday, and Chris delivered perfectly all the time. He has a long experience as a co-driver, and that was really important to me. I know it will be a challenge in Bulgaria, but we are both more than ready for the rally there and to fight in the lead.”

“It’s not going to be easy. It will take some time to settle in with Chris on the first rally, but I’m sure it will be good. Chris has some big shoes to fill.”

“Chris was the best for me,” said Solberg. “I knew him from before, but that didn’t make any difference; I decided from what I saw and felt during the day. He’s a good guy, very motivated, honest and calm, he’s what I need. I want him to get into that winning feeling as soon as possible.” said Solberg

Patterson commented: “It feels like a big task to be asked to replace a codriver like Phil Mills, but when the offer came from Petter after the test yesterday, I knew I just had to do it. I’ve been a codriver for 12 years, and hopefully my experience will help me now, as the first rally is coming up in a few days. I so look forward to this job, and is 110% ready for the challenge! ”

'Fast Freddy' wins sixth Ypres Rally

Local hero Freddy Loix has won his sixth Ypres Rally by 21.4 secs to team-mate Jan Kopecky with another local driver Theirry Neuville third. Finishing the top six was Belgian Bernd Casier, Andreas Mikkelsen and Bruno Magalhaes. The latter benefiting from another Ypres legend Patrick Snijers retiring on the final stage with engine failure.

Missing from the Top 10, or even the Top 50 were Kris Meeke and Juho Hanninen. Meeke fought with Loix at the top of the standings until the Irishman rolled his Peugeot on SS8 rather spectacularly. Hanninen binned his Skoda late on Friday, but still holds the lead in the Drivers Championship.

“It was a mistake with the pacenote. We turned in a little too early and ran out of room on the exit of the corner. When you’re pushing like we were that kind of thing can happen.” noted Meeke.

This accident marks Meeke's third rally-ending crash and his fourth retirement this year.

Young local Theirry Neuville finished on the bottom step of the podium, claiming his podium on only his third IRC start. Neuville's podium brightened up things at Peugeot after Meeke and Belgian National Championship leader Peter Tsjoen both crashed out.

Kevin Abbring won the IRC 2WD class in his Renault Cilo R3 with Frenchman Pierre Campana, now leading the 2WD Series in his Renault Cilo R3.

Talented young Irishman Martin McCormack finished 21^st o/a in his Citroen C2 R2 Max. McCormack also finished second in the Citroens.

Solberg to choose new co-driver tomorrow

Petter Solberg has announced that he will select his new co-driver tomorrow (Monday).

Three candidates have been selected and will sit with Solberg through a small test, to demonstrate to the 2003 World Champion their potential.

One of the criteria thought to be necessary for the job is to be of a small stature, for weight saving purposes. Former co-driver Phil Mills was one of the larger people in the field.

“Weight is important, but it also needs to be someone who I have a good feeling with and who has a nice voice, with a good way of reading the notes. One thing’s for sure: it’s going to be very difficult to replace Phil. Whoever steps into his job is going to need big shoes.”

Shortly after news came through of Mills’ retirement, Solberg approached Giovanni Bernacchini, but the little Italian has prior commitments to Nasser Al Attiyah. Another person thought to be a candidate is Toshi Arai’s co-driver Daniel Barrett. The Irishman has a lot of experience in the hot seat, having sat with Conrad Rautenbach, Mark Higgins, David Higgins and Fumio Nutahara.

Solberg did not comment on whether or not a new co-driver would make a difference to his own performance.

“I really just don’t know. It’s one of those things that you only find out when it happens. But in all the time I’ve been rallying, there have always big stories and dramas and you learn to move on.” he said.

“It’s probably not fair to talk about who these people are until the situation is clear, but this is my idea. I’ve got a few people who could do it, but it’s a difficult task and very hard to know what is the correct decision.” added Solberg.

Loeb to contest R4 of the French GT3 Championship

Sebastian Loeb will continue his foray into endurance racing by entering the 4^th round of the French GT3 Championship at the Val de Vienne circuit.

Loeb will drive a Ferrari F430, prepared and run by the Pro GT team. Loeb will partner Jean-Pierre Champeau, who he has partnered before.

Loeb has more experiance driving a Porsche, so the Ferrari will be new to him.

Rumours have suggested that the six-time World Champion is palnning to switch to short-citcuit racing, but he says that this event is purely for fun.

Val de Vienne will celebrate its 20^th anniversary this weekend, which makes the event even more special for Loeb.

2011 WRC calander and changes announced

The 2011 World Rally Championship calender has been announced by the FIA, who met in Geneva earlier today.

There will be 13 rounds comprising the series (the FIA dismissed the possibility of a 14^th round), starting in February and ending in November. The control tyre rule has been dropped, with any manufacturers allowed to supply tyres to the WRC teams (the J-WRC will only allow one supplier).

Also, commencing with immediate effect, co-drivers names and flag will be seen on the rear side windows alongside the drivers name & flag.

The FIA sent out an invitation to tender to supply control paddleshift gearboxes to WRC teams and recieved some tenders, but all did not meet the criteria and so the FIA did not appoint a control supplier.

"The WRC Commission has been mandated to study the possible introduction of a paddle shift system in the future, in line with the evolution of similar road car technology," said the statement.

The following is the 2011 WRC calender:

13 February: Sweden

06 March: Mexico

27 March: Portugal

17 April: Jordan

08 May: Italy

29 May: Argentina

19 June: Greece

31 July: Finland

21 August: Germany

11 September: Australia

02 October: France

23 October: Spain

13 November: Great Britain

Çetinkaya to test in Belgium before Ypres

29-year-old Turkish rally star Burcu Çetinkaya will test in Belguim to help her with preprations for the upcoming Geko Ypres Rally.

Burcu Çetinkaya has competed on the event in the past, at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta ST, but crashed out of the rally on both occasions. Her third start will be at the wheel of a Peugeot Sport Turkey 207 S2000, prepared by Kronos Racing.

“Ypres has not been the best rally for me because I have crashed on both visits. It’s a very hard rally because there are lots of grip changes. We have done some testing in France but those roads were not very typical of what we will find in Belgium. Hopefully the test we do on Monday will help me to prepare. It’s also the first time we have used the Yokohama tyres on Tarmac so it’s important we get familiar with the tyres during the test.”

Ypres will be her second start of her 7-round IRC campain.

Donegal Motor Club statement

The Donegal Motor Club has expressed its deep regret at the death of a competitor in this year’s Rally.

Thomas Maguire, of Longwood County Meath, died when the car he was co-driving, went off the road during the Knockalla Stage south of Port Salon just after 3pm this afternoon.

The driver of the car is in a critical condition at Letterkenny General Hospital.

The Rally’s emergency services and the rescue services attended the scene within minutes.

In a statement the Donegal Motor Club said that in light of today’s tragic events and as a mark of respect to the Maguire family, the remainder of this year’s Rally would be cancelled.

Clerk of the Course Danny Gormley, said he and everyone in the Donegal Motor Club would like to convey their deepest sympathy to the Maguire family and to all of Thomas’s many many friends

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the Maguire family and the family of the competitor who was injured at this very difficult time. Thomas loved rallying and his loss has deeply affected everyone involved in the Rally. His loss will be felt by rallying fans all over the country. It was the view of everyone in the DMC that the remainder of this year’s Rally should be cancelled as a mark of respect ‘ Gormley said.

Competitors and club officials will attend a memorial service for Thomas at the Mount Errigal Hotel tomorrow morning at 11am.

Issued by the Donegal Motor Club

Topaz Donegal International 2010: Day 2 review

Day 2 of the Donegal International Rally has been cut short due to the death of a co-driver. Their car left the road at around 3:00pm

Before the tragedy, Gareth MacHale lead Tim McNulty by 1:00.6 with Aaron MacHale third. Seamus Leonard is fourth with Group N leader Alastair Fisher fifth & PJ McDermott sixth.

Craig Breen crashed heavily out of the rally on the Fanad 1 stage & so did Keith Cronin who was trying to make up time after SS2 turbo problems.

Brian Murphy, co-driver to Gareth MacHale, siad: “Tim’s going hard, so are we and we’re a long way ahead of the rest. Gareth is driving within himself and I suppose if we didn’t have that one minute buffer, we would up the game.”

Tim McNulty said: “We’re certainly going hard, we were 13s faster over Fanad than last years quickest time.”

Seamus Leonard lost 15secs with a misfiring engine, which has left rally guru Kenny McKinstry quite confused: “It’s a mystery! At the last service it was misfiring on the back left hand plug, we changed that and now it’s the front right hand plug off the bank. The computer is showing that Seamus lost 15s in that one stage.”

Alastair Fisher holds second in Group N with Damien Tourish leading. Rory Kennedy said: “We’re going as hard as we can. In this warm weather, the GpN car can’t compete with the world rally car.”

David Bogie went on a flyer over the Fanad 1 stage to set a time 10 secs faster than Rodney Wilton. David noted at service: “The oil light in the 6R4 is still flashing but it is only following a high speed section into a slow junction. We were pushing very hard over Fanad and it was great. So many Scottish flags, helicopters flying low, very exciting!”

In other news, Daniel McKenna has passed his exams, which means he has a degree in energy & sustainability management. Daniel can also add this to his mechanical engineering degree. Well done Daniel!

Topaz Donegal International 2010: Day 1 review

End of Day 1. Gareth MacHale maintains a lead just shy of a minute over Craig Breen. Daragh O'Riordan holds third but is coming under pressure from Tim McNulty, fourth, who sits 1.7 secs behind O'Riordan. Fifth is Seamus Leonard, who lost two places on the final stage when the WRC-spec Impreza stopped working. Aaron MacHale is sixth with current Championship leader Alastair Fisher seventh, a shade over seven seconds behind MacHale's WRC Focus.

With a commamding lead, Gareth could afford to 'hang the tail out' in the Focus over the course of the final stage. Though not on a charge, Gareth's Focus caused some excitment with some local residents. Gareth set third fastest time, 58.3 secs.

Tim McNulty won the stage, 'Big Tim' seeming well chuffed with the new gearbox fitted in the Carndonagh service, recording a time of 54.6 secs.

Reigning BRC Champion Keith Cronin, one of the pre-event favourites, suffered turbo problems during the second stage which plagued him for the rest of the day.

Daniel McKenna leads the National Rally overnight, with Gary McPhillips second & Rodney Wilton third. Wilton suffered a spin on SS2, showering the spectators & photographers with stones!

Early leader David Bogie in the Metro 6R4 holds fourth, comparing the car to a 'pizza oven'. The sound of the Metro thundering over the Donegal stages regales memories of the late, great Tony Pond giving the then supercar its debut (even though it only lasted six stages) & the equally great Billy Coleman beating all before him in the Rothmans sponsored Metro.

It also brings back memories of six-time Donegal winner Andrew Nesbitt wreaking a Metro on the Garrygort stage. The car leaving its doors up in some trees. Andrew had to resort to 'borrowing' a push bike to get to Letterkenny. Andrew dualy returned the bike with a new tyre & a present for the owner.

Tommy Doyle in his rather (incredibly) loud Cilo R3 holds 12th & Class 4 lead. Toni Kelly is third in class in her Civic Type R.

Also present at the rally were 1964 Rally Monte Carlo winner Paddy Hopkirk, BASCA Gold Badge winner Phil Coulter & the early 'Don of Donegal' Cathal Curley. All were present at the Buncrana Town Stage & thoroughly enjoyed it.

Citroen Junior 1-2 on Rally della Lanterna

Sebastian Ogier has won the Rally della Lanterna by 5.7 secs to Citroen Junior team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Ferricchi Maurizo finished third, 1 min 56 secs behind winner Ogier.

Raikkonen was fastest out of the blocks, leading the event up to the final stage when Ogier went fastest to take the win by 5.7 secs.

Ogier said: “It’s always great to win a rally, but above all I’m pleased to have been able to test a variety of different things on the car. I feel much better prepared now for the remaining rounds of the World Rally Championship, starting with the Rally Bulgaria that will be new for everyone.”

"Kimi was very fast today and it was very difficult to catch him because this morning we made a wrong tyre choice and lost 30 seconds.

"I can complement him [Raikkonen] because he did a very good rally for his first time on tarmac [in a WRC car]."

Raikkonen commented: “It was a good experience. The car was fun to drive and this day will be very useful to me to get ready for the second part of the season.”

"We didn't lose to such a bad guy [Ogier]," Raikkonen laughed. "It was a nice rally and good learning."

Citroen Junior Team manager Benoît Nogier came away from the Italian event happy.

“Another victory in the space of a few weeks and our first one-two are great moments for our team, which has been working nonstop,” he concluded. “Leaving aside the result though, we’ve made a lot of progress to prepare for the Rally Bulgaria. It’s extremely useful for the future to have tried out a wide range of tyres in different conditions.

"Sébastien was just as good as we expected him to be and I would also like to highlight the performance of Kimi, who set some very good times. We expected him to feel more at ease on asphalt and that has turned out to be the case. It’s very encouraging for the future. Finally, I’d like to thank the organisers and the spectators, who welcomed us enthusiastically to their beautiful part of the world.”

The win made up for the disappointment of the IRC event, the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna, where the Frenchman's Peugeot 207 S2000 overheated which caused his retirement from the event.

Phil Mills retires from WRC

2003 World Champion co-driver Phil Mills has made the decision to retire from the sport.

The 47-year old Welshman has navigated for drivers such as Armin Schwarz, Mark Higgins & more notably Petter Solberg. Mills also partnered Irish rally legend Stephen Finlay during the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

The Solberg-Mills partnership lasted almost 11 years, 152 WRC events, 13 wins & 39 podium finishes. In 2003, in only their fourth full season, Solberg & Mills claimed the 2003 World Championship, edgeing out Sebastian Loeb in a final round fight.

“This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, but I feel the time has come to concentrate on other parts of my life. We have competed on 152 events over the past 11 years and it has become more of a way of life than a job. I have enjoyed every single kilometre through the highs and lows that came along and I am sure Petter will win many more events in the future, given the right circumstances. I will miss the whole WRC scene very much and wish Petter and the team very great success in the future.” said Mills

Solberg said: “Phil is leaving the team and I feel really sad about that. I think it will be really difficult to find a co-driver with his skills to join me in my car again. We have been together for so many years, I’ve had him by my side for most of my career, so this is a tough break for me. Looking back on what we have achieved together, I feel especially sorry as I was sure out next win would happen this season and I was hoping to have Phil by my side when it happens. He has been the one who has meant the most for me through my driving career. Our relationship must have been the strongest between driver and co-driver ever!”

Solberg must now choose his new co-driver before the Rally Bulgaria in a month's time.

Raikkonen wins first rally

Kimi Raikkonen has beaten Taddy Blazusiak in a showdown organised by Red Bull.

Raikkonen beat the Pole over the rocky, 13km mountain course by 28 secs. Raikkonen was driving his Citroen C4 WRC, with Blazusiak on his KTM off-road bike. 30,000 people lined the course to watch Raikkonen & Blazusiak fight it out over the run.

Raikkonen said: “It’s the first time that I’ve ever done anything like this and I really enjoyed myself. It was a very close contest and in the end I think our better top speed in the rally car is what helped us. In the slow parts, it was much more evenly matched. I like bikes a lot, so it was great to meet Taddy and chat with him.”

“Really, it was all about the fun. It was a privilege for me to compete against Kimi and I hope that we put on a good show. I tried my hardest, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough, so now I just have to congratulate Kimi. And wash his car too!” Blasuziak said.

A part of the deal, the loser had to wash the winners vehicle on the finish podium. Taddy was tasked with the job while the winner, Raikkonen, watched on.

Raikkonen & Seb Ogier are now off to the Rally della Lanterna, a small tarmac rally in Italy which is being used to test for the upcoming tarmac events in the WRC, starting with Bulgaria (9-11 July).

Markko Martin to enter Rally Estonia

Former Subaru, Ford & Peugeot driver Markko Martin will drive in the 2010 edition of the Mad-Croc Rally Estonia.

Markko will drive a Ford Focus WRC03, a similar car in which he won his first two WRC events, Rally Finland & the Acropolis Rally. It will be Markko's first International rally since the Cork 20, where he finished 1 min 17 secs behind Mark Higgins.

The event will take place 16-18 July. It will run under IRC candidate event status.

Rally d'Italia-Sardegna review

In a rally of attrition, Juho Hanninen came through unscathed to win the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna. Local driver Paolo Andreucci beat Jan Kopecky to finish second while Theirry Neuville finished fourth in only his thrid IRC event. Bruno Magalhães came in fifth with Finnish driver Teemu Arminen sixth.

Peugeto UK driver Kris Meeke was fighting Hanninen for the lead until SS10, where Meeke put the 207 S2000 into a tree, 15 mins into the stage. Kronos Racing boss Marc van Dalen refused to blame Meeke for the accident, stating that the defending champion was 'blameless'.

“When you have a fight for two days like this and you drive at a minimum of 100 per cent, things like this can happen, this is rally and we have to accept this,”

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It could have been Kris, Juho [Hänninen], Paolo Andreucci or [Jan] Kopecký. They are all driving like crazy but Kris was the unlucky one.” said van Dalen.

Meeke's Peugeot understeered off the road on a fast left-hander, straight into a tree. The Peugeot came to rest on its side against the tree. Both Meeke & Nagle were uninjured.

The same could not be said for Guy Wilks. The Skoda UK driver slid off the road at a very fast section of road. The car hit a large rock & bounced into the air, landing & then carrying on through some rocky undergrowth. Navigator Phil Pugh was uninjured, but Guy broke two vertabrae in his lower back.

Double Junior World Champion P-G Andersson had fought his way up to seventh after a puncture early on Saturday, until a transmission failure put him out for good.

Burcu Çetinkaya restarted on Sunday after a wheel parted company with the car on Saturday. Sebastian Ogier did not restart on Sunday after an overheating problem in his 207 S2000 stopped him on Saturday's first stage.

Harry Hunt won the IRC 2WD Cup section of the rally in his Fiesta R2. The young Briton claimed the lead when Kaspar Koitla rolled out of the rally. Hunt finished 6 mins ahead of Colin R Smith in his Civic Type R.

Rally d'Italia-Sardegna: Day 1 review

Paolo Andreucci holds a lead of 7.4 secs over second placed Kris Meeke. Juho Hanninen is 3.9 secs behind the defending IRC Champion with team-mate Jan Kopecky fourth, 41.2 secs off the lead.

One of the pre-event favourites Guy Wilks survived a big crash on SS1 with the car coming to rest 40 metres off the road. Guy suffered two broken veterbrae in his lower back (follow this link to see the more detailed story).

Team Belguim-Luxembourg driver Theirry Neuville completed Day 1 unscathed in his Peugeot S2000 in his debut event in the IRC.

WRC rising star Sebastian Ogier retired on the Monte Grighine stage with overheating problems in his 207 S2000 after collecting a puncture.

“It was a fast section near the start where we had the puncture,” said Ogier. “I went over a bit of grass and realised these tyres are less resistant [to punctures] than the tyres we have in the World Rally Championship. It was not a big problem but seven kilometres before the end we had an alarm about the engine temperature and we stopped. We tried to check the problem with the cooling of the engine but realised it was impossible to fix on the stage because we had no more water in the engine. I don’t think [we will restart] tomorrow, besides there is no reason. This is rally, it’s a mechanical sport and it can be frustrating. It’s a bad feeling to finish the rally before end of first stage.” he said.

P-G Andersson has clawed his way back up to seventh after a puncture early on in the day in the JRM Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Guy Wilks to make full recovery from SS1 crash

29-year-old Skoda UK driver Guy Wilks is expected to make a full recovery after breaking two vertebrae in his lower back after surviving a high-speed crash in the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna.

Wilks had started seventh on the road but 7kms into SS1, the Fabia left the road at a high-speed section of road. The car went down a slope, hitting a large boulder & launching the car into the air. The car then landed & went through some rocky undergrowth. The car came to a rest 40 metres from the road.

Wilks extracted himself from the car on his own & then lay down on the ground to try & relieve his back pain. Navigator Phil Pugh was OK & preceeded to phone the service pack to summon the emergency services. A helicopter then arrived to airlift Wilks to Oristano, where he was then transferred to the San Martino hospital.

“We had a game plan to make the most of our good road position and push hard from the start. We arrived at an almost flat out left hand corner about seven kilometres into the stage and the pace note was wrong and we left the road at high speed.

“It’s just one of those things and part of rallying. Perhaps if we weren’t pushing so hard we might have got away with it, but that’s a very big might. Everything felt so right. The car felt good, Phil was doing a great job on the notes and there was no reason not to push. It was a wrong pace note that ultimately caught us out, and it doesn’t matter how well we were going up until then.

“I’m very annoyed to be lying in a hospital bed and looking at a hospital ceiling, and it’s massively frustrating to be injured and not out there competing. It’s a missed opportunity to score a good result and take home points – I know that, and I’m sorry for the team and everyone involved in the programme. But we’ll be back to fight another day.” Wilks commented

Medical checks carried out on Wilks showed that he had broken his first & second lumbar vertebra, but showed no signs of compression or any other injuries.