Peugeot's Pikes Peak monster specs revealed!

Peugeot have revealed the technical specifications of it's 2013 Pikes Peak challenger, the 208 T16.

The former WRC-winning manufacturer will return to the legendary Colorado hillclimb after a long absence, armed with a brand new car and a driver capable of dominating the whole thing on his own. Being a nine-times World Champion, Sebastian Loeb certainly knows how to get from A to B as fast as possible, and as he is now semi-retired he was Peugeot's perfect choice.

“Your imagination is the only limit” said the engineer given the job of designing the new car, Jean-Christophe Pallier. These words give a small hint towards what kind of machine he and his team have built.

Pallier's creation sports an earth-shattering 875bhp, created by a twin-turbo 3.2 litre V6 (originally designed for Endurance Racing) driving all four wheels underneath a pure carbon fibre body shell. And it's just that as well, the bespoke shell is mounted to a tubular steel space frame chassis. The car also sports a six-speed paddle-shift sequential gearbox.

Stopping is taken care of by carbon brake discs and one-piece alloy callipers, while cornering is left to a spectacular aerodynamic package, which hosts a two metre wide rear spoiler and specially designed underbody, (which generates half of the car's total downforce), and massive slick tyres.

The total car weighs in at 875kgs, bringing the Power-to-Weight ratio up to the near mythical 1:1, with one BHP taking care of one kilograme of weight. Allied to this are the relatively small dimensions, being only 4.5 metres long and 2 metres wide.

The vast majority of the parts in the car are of similar spec to the hugely successful Peugeot 908 Le Mans car. But, whereas the 908 could hit speeds near 200mph, the 208 T16 will only go to 150 mph. However, it'll get there in seven seconds!

Testing gets under way this week near Pau, South-West France. Endurance racer Greg Guilvert will take the wheel of the car for this test. Pikes Peak runs on 30^th June.

Photo Credit: Red Bull

VW, champions in their first year?

Even though they spent nearly a year just testing this brand new car, the VW World Rally team surely can't even be a little bit surprised by the first four rallies in the 2013 WRC season.

Even though they have never run a top-level WRC team, or a top level WRC-spec car, the VW team and star driver Sebastien Ogier have racked up three WRC wins from four starts. As well as that, Ogier took second place behind the retiring nine-times World Champion Sebastian Loeb in Monte Carlo, the only rally he has so far failed to win.

Ogier's smallest winning margin has been a massive 41.8 secs over Loeb in Sweden. On the next round in Mexico he obliterated the opposition to win by 3 mins 28.9 secs, VW's decision to carry out a test in Mexico paying huge dividends. His third win in Portugal was coincidently his third win in the Polo R WRC as well. This time he won by 58.2 secs.

“Maybe it looks easy for me, but Mads [Ostberg] and Dani [Sordo] were very, very fast before the mistakes. It will be a big fight to keep this kind of result all the year. Now we have the good advantage. Now we don’t need to win the rallies, but this is not my plan: I am a competitor and I like the taste of victory. But I know I have to be clever for the rest of season.” he said.

His team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala has been less successful in the Polo R WRC, however. 2013 marked the first year since 2006 that Latvala had driven anything other than an M-Sport prepared car in the WRC, and he struggled to get used to the handling of the new car. Two crashes in testing didn't his fragile self confidence neither, but neither were his fault. A member of the public drove their car onto the closed test road in Mexico, and collided with Latvala's VW, and in Portugal a 'mechanical failure' sent him into a ditch.

A patch of ice sent him out of Monte Carlo, but he came back with fourth in Sweden, only to exit in Mexico very early after a rock shattered his front suspension. He did manage to score his first VW podium in Portugal. He put this result down to a stronger mental attitude he took on heading into Portugal, pushing himself on.

“I was pushing myself, forcing myself to drive fast and it started to help. I have been letting myself think I can take the experience and the speed will just come, but it doesn’t work that way – you have to work for it.”

“My confidence is coming in the car. In Argentina I will have a different set-up which will suit me better, but still I am really, really happy with this result.” he added.

Team leader Jost Capito even revealed that their pre-season plan of learning and gaining experience might even be reviewed, such is their recent domination. Ogier's three straight maximum scores have him heading the Driver's table by 54 points, while VW lead the Manufacturer's standings by 14 points over the formerly all-conquering Citroen team.

“In terms of pace, we are among the front-runners and appear to be able to force our rivals to make mistakes, without making any ourselves. With that in mind, we might just have to change our goals for the season,”

Could we be in for another few years of domination by a single driver in a single car? Who knows, not many could have predicted Loeb's meteoric rise to superstar status, but with Hyundai and possibly even Toyota looming in the horizon, Ogier might just have his work cut out!

Hyundai filling more top level positions

Hyundai has announced several important positions within their new WRC programme have been filled, by people who have vast experience in the top level of the sport.

“We’ve been evolving rapidly since the beginning of the year and made great progress in filling all the main roles to establish our core team. We’re facing a big and exciting challenge in building a team from scratch and we have now only nine months to prepare for next year. I’m now surrounded by the best people in the business and I’m confident we’ll be ready to meet our ambitious goal to be ready at the start of the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship.” said Team Principal, Michal Nandan.

Since Hyundai announced their return to the top level of the WRC back in September 2012, they have wasted to time in getting a team set up, a car on the road and then in development. The team have been testing an 'interim' version of the i20 WRC since late December.

Michal Nandan was announced as Team Principal in January, around the time the i20 WRC was first shown to a small group of the media. Now, however, more names of the new team members have been announced.

Bertrand Vallat: Involved in the design of the massively successful Peugeot 207 S2000 and the new 208 R5, Vallat has actually been working with the i20 WRC programme since last December. He will take up the role of Chief Designer.

Stephane Girand: Hyundai's new engine manager. Formerly an employee of the Subaru World Rally Team, Peugeot Sport and Citroen Sport, he brings massive experience to the fledgling team. The engine's powering the DS3 WRCs are known for their 'pull' out of tight corners, so Girand's help could give the new car an edge here.

Alain Penasse: The Belgian will take up the position of Team Manager later this month, and is linked with TTE, Peugeot Sport and tyre supplier Michelin. He has also has helped in organising the infamous Ypres Rally.

Hyundai are still yet to announce a driver line-up, and they are presented with a driver market that is bursting at the seams with new talent. GRN will be compiling a list of drivers who we think deserve a Hyundai seat soon, so stay tuned!

Donagh Kelly wins Circuit of Kerry

Before he made the jump to the top level of Irish rallying, Donagh Kelly was already a very successful driver in the showroom Group N classes. However, since the purchase of an ex-Chris Atkinson and PJ McDermott Subaru Impreza S11 WRC, he has been nearly on the pace of the established top men.

However, today he proved that he is now on the pace of the regulars by winning the Circuit of Kerry Rally by 1 min 28.5 secs over the legendary Kenny McKinstry, his first closed-road rally in his latest purchase, an Impreza S14. Kevin Barrett took another of the Impreza's from the McKinstry stable home in third place.

At the start, Declan Boyle lead the rally in his Subaru Impreza S12 WRC after some stunning driving over the first stage, only 2.8 secs ahead of Kelly but an amazing 30.8 secs ahead of McKinstry, who was struggling to get used to the left-hand drive car. Boyle set an even more impressive time over the next stage to increase his lead to 11.5 secs.

On the very next stage, it was all over for the Glenties driver. He was caught out by a square right and the S12 slid off the road into the ditch, rolling once before coming to a rest on its wheels. Both he and co-driver Brian Boyle were ok, and luckily the car only suffered mostly panel damage. However they were out of the rally, and Kelly took over the lead, which he held to the end.

Alan Ring won Group N and took fourth overall in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, just ahead of Frank Kelly. Kelly, with Stephan Quinn on the notes, was fastest 2WD and winner of Class 14 in his Ford Escort Mk2 in fifth place overall. Eugene Meehan and Jonathan Treanor took rounded out the Top 6.

John McQuaid pushed Frank Kelly hard in the 2WD stakes, but the alternator belt slipped and he wisely decided to back off, but still managed to take seventh place. James Laverty, Frank Sweeney and Cal McCarthy rounded out the Top 10.

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.

McNulty lands Spring Rally laurels

Rallying is all about finishing, as Enda McNulty can now testify after winning the Omagh Spring Rally in his Subaru Impreza, watching as others fell by the wayside.

Enda McNulty
1st Overall

Martin Cairns lead the rally after SS1 in his Subaru Impreza S12, but he made an unexpected trip into the County Tyrone trees and straight out of the rally. Surely favourite to win the rally, owing to massive forest experience and a far superior car, it was a shame to see Cairns go out so early.

Gareth Sayers
2nd Overall

More known for his sideways and spectacular exploits in 'Baby Blue', his Ford Escort Mk2, Frank Kelly was stuck without an engine before the rally. Quite unexpectedly, Conor KcKenna stood up and offered his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo to Frank for the rally, marking Frank's return to 4WD for a good few years. It began well, and with only a brief test before the event, Frank was on or near the pace from the start. A puncture on SS2 cost him loads of time, but three straight fastest times brought him back up to third place. Closing on second place, Frank outbraked himself and the Evo found itself heading into a bog upside down. Little damage was done, but no spectators were about so it was game over for Frank and co-driver Sean Ferris.

Shane McGirr
3rd Overall

Gareth Sayers drove a superb rally to take second place, with the win only 7 secs up the road. Shane McGirr, in the sideways Starlet, took third, less than half a minute behind winner McNulty. Marty McCormack was back in the Historic-spec Escort Mk2, and took fourth. Amazingly, co-driver Liam Moynihan guided Marty to the Historic class win in Omagh, and then drove straight to Birr to win 2WD with Tommy Doyle in his new Clio R3!

Marty McCormack
4th Overall
Historic Winner

Desi Henry took his Citroen DS3 R3 into the forests for the first time this year, only 4 secs ahead of the flying Fiesta R2 of Jon Armstrong, who was amazing the spectators with his pace throughout the day. Desi and Jon took fifth and sixth overall.

Jon Armstrong
6th Overall

Adrian Heatherington took seventh overall, surviving a big moment with a ditch to bring his 'gravel' Mk2 home safe and sound. Oran Donnelly took eighth and dominated Class 6, for 2 Litre 8 Valve cars. Anthony Cairns and Joseph McGonagle took ninth and tenth, with Joseph taking the brilliant little Clio R3 into the forests.

Father and son team Robert and Darren McKelvey were out in force, with Robert back in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 and Darren in the other Mitsubishi, this time an Evo 6. Robert and co-driver Aaron Johnston took 19^th place overall, and third in Group N. Darren and Denver Rafferty fared a little worse, within seconds of father Robert all day but they bogged the Evo 6 on a particularly cut-up hairpin. Both crews running GRN stickers as well!

Malachy Loughran
25th Overall
4th Class 6

GRN's Jordan Murphy made his début on the stages on the Omagh Spring Rally, as co-driver to Malachy Loughran. The pair got off to a shaky start, but steadily climbed the leaderboard as the rally went on, ending the tough event only 7 secs behind third in Class 6, Declan Campbell. It was a baptism of fire for the young navi from Co. Donegal, who “took an awful battering” over the rough gravel stages!

Photos copyright to Adrian Begley, no unauthorised use without express prior consent.

Rally Italia Sardegna gets 2 day format

This year's running of the Rally Italia Sardegna will feature a new, more compact two day layout for the seventh round of the World Rally Championship.

Last year featured a four day long rally, with the bulk of the stages running on Friday and Saturday. Thursday featured two runs over the 28km Terranova stage, with Sunday playing host to the Gallura stage, the 8km stage that doubled up as the event-closing Power Stage.

This year however, Thursday will see the Qualifying Stage and the Ceremonial Start in the evening time. Eight stages will take place on Friday, the final one being under the cover the darkness. A Remote Service Zone will take place in Sassari.

Saturday sees another eight stages, the 19km Monte Olia stage being the Power Stage. This will be the second and final day of the rally, taking a lead from the Rally Finland, who have run a hugely successful two day format for a number of years now.

The Rally Italia Sardegna will move back to it's traditional summer spot, moving back from an October slot to June.

Cronin masters Galway!

Keith Cronin came back to Ireland with a bang, showing his level of talent by rocketing past the opposition in his Subaru Impreza S11.

Wet lanes coated with mud greeted the crews on Sunday morning and the Galway Rally got underway. Fastest out of the blocks was returning Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly, who was back driving the Colm Quinn-sponsored MINI John Cooper Works WRC. However this time it was in right hand drive form, with some subtle upgrades over last year's version. He was 12 secs faster than anyone else over SS1.

Other drivers weren't so fortunate, with Derek McGarrity bringing his Subaru Impreza S14 back only to suffer from intercom problems and Garry Jennings was suffering from gearbox problems. However Darren Gass came off the worst, the reigning Champion sliding off into a ditch and retiring on the very first stage.

Heading into the first service of the rally, Donnelly still lead but with a reduced lead after Derek McGarrity cut the gap to under 11 secs. Keith Cronin continued to get used to his car, holding onto third place.

At the end of the second loop, Donnelly continued to lead but by a minute 0.1 secs over an on form Cronin, who had begun to up the pace in his ex-Thomas Fitzmaurice S11. He won SS5 by 12 secs. Declan Boyle was getting a feel for ITRC pace, beginning to close on McGarrity for third place.

The beginning of the final loop was swept by drizzle and light rain, but it didn't faze triple British Champion Cronin. He laid waste to all around him, despite being on a set of old Pirelli's he went into a 12.5 sec lead overall. Donnelly maintained second place, with the conditions deteriorating he couldn't afford a mistake with McGarrity and Boyle waiting for one of the Top 2 to slip up.

The final stage saw Cronin extend his lead up to 13.8 secs over Donnelly, who joked he might buy a dress soon as he always appears to be the bridesmaid in Galway. It was a sterling drive for the young man who was only adapting to the car throughout the whole rally. Declan Boyle finally overhauled Derek McGarrity with a big push through the final stage for third place.

McGarrity took fourth place in the Kerrs Tyres-sponsored car, with Donegal man Donagh Kelly in fifth place. Garry Jennings took sixth place, curing his gearbox problems only to suffer from handling problems in his new Impreza S12, the car getting all out of shape coming into junctions and tight corners.

Highest Galway crew were John Joe Fleming and Robbie Ward in their striking Ford Focus WRC. They took a solid seventh place amidst the horrible conditions, with John Joe saying it's the nicest car he's ever driven, but is struggling to get used to left hand drive. He was promoted one place after Thomas Fitzmaurice retired his Subaru Impreza S12C with reported gearbox problems.

Alan Ring won the Group N award in his regular Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, finishing ahead of the Moffett brother's Josh and Sam in similar cars. Ring winning by 21 secs over Josh, with Sam finishing 7 tenths behind his brother in third place. Sam Moffett was putting Ring under pressure going into the final test but his Evo started to misfire and that was the end of his challenge.

Paddy Kiernan and James McCarville took a last gasp National Rally win in their beautiful Ford Escort Mk2. Leaving the final service the pair trailed then National leader Tom Flaherty by 3 secs, but put in a solid drive to take the lead by 9.2 secs after SS6, only for Flaherty to fight back and cut the deficit to 2.9 secs going into the final stage.

The final stage was Kiernan's finest performance of the rally, he and co-driver McCarville finishing the stage in the hope they had done enough, McCarville even saying “Young Kiernan I hope we done it boy!”. They had in fact done it, and the National crown was theirs. Fergus O'Mara rose to second place, demoting Flaherty to third place at the end of the final, treacherous, test.

Wesley Patterson lead the Historic section in his immaculately prepared Ford Escort Mk2 (built to FIA Historic specification), until his engine failed close to the end. This let James O'Mahony into the lead and he held it to the end, leading home Ray Cunningham in one of his famous Mini Cooper's. John Spiers took third in his Porsche 911.

Richard Moore took a dominating victory in the Junior class in his Honda Civic, finishing over 3 mins ahead of second placed Kenneth Quirke. Justin Ryan took third place as the final finisher on what proved to be a rally of attrition for the entire field.

Daniel McKenna to contest BRC

Daniel McKenna will swap his Class 14 Ford Escort MK2 for a Ford Fiesta R2 when he contests the British Rally Championship and fights for the Pirelli Star Driver Award this year.

McKenna, the Billy Coleman Award winner last year, announced recently that he will contest the BRC thanks to the €50,000 he netted by winning the Billy Coleman Award. He has already undertaken testing in his Fiesta R2, and reportedly took to the new car very quickly. The Monaghan driver plans to contest a round of the Irish Forestry Championship to gain competitive experience of the car, and will also complete a day of testing prior to the Rally North Wales, the opening round of the BRC.

With the Pirelli Star Driver Award running once again alongside the BRC this year, and once McKenna secures a nomination for the season-ending shoot-out (the prize being a fully funded drive in the 2014 BRC), he will upgrade to an R3 specification and go for the overall Championship.

Arthur Kierans will co-drive for McKenna this season as his regular co-driver Andrew Greenan has since emigrated to Australia.

Gronholm to test MINI WRC car

Marcus Gronholm will mark his return to a WRC car next week with a test in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC, six months after suffering injuries owing a horrific crash at the X Games which put him out of competition.

The big Finn will test for the Motorsport Italia team in Sweden with their regular driver Michal Kosciuszko ahead of the Kosciuszko's Rally Sweden next weekend. Gronholm is a five times winner of Rally Sweden, for both Peugeot (with whom Sweden 2000 was his first win) and Ford.

Bruno di Pianto, Motorsport Italia boss, praised Gronholm as a legend and was sure Kosciuszko would learn from the double World Champion's experience and skill.

He said: “He'll also take our Mini John Cooper Works WRC out for a spin and test her limits, which'll allow us to compare his and Michal's data on the 6km test stage, then work on speed-saving details like technical corner entry, mid-corner speed and corner exit.

"We'll run for about 100km and Marcus will help Michal with the particular style of driving needed for Sweden based on how much a driver can use or lean on the snow banks.”

Gronholm last competed in a WRC car on the Rally Sweden 2010 in a Ford Focus WRC for the Stobart VK M-Sport team. He retired from full time competition in 2007, narrowly missing out on the World Driver's Championship to Sebastian Loeb.

Atko gets Mexico drive

Chris Atkinson is set to make a return to the WRC when the series goes to Mexico, Round 3 of the 2013 WRC.

Atkinson, the reigning Asia-Pacific Rally Champion, piloted a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, Citroen DS3 WRC and MINI John Cooper Works WRC at various points in the year. He finished in the points on four occasions, his best being a fifth place in Germany on his début in the MINI.

However this time he will be back in the Citroen, driving Khalid Al-Qassimi's car, under the Abu Dhabi Racing team banner. Al-Qassimi has other commitments and personally requested 'Atko' take over his car.

"As Khalid is unable to take part in Rally Mexico, he wanted us to entrust the DS3 WRC of the Abu Dhabi Citroen Total WRT to Chris Atkinson and [co-driver] Stephane Prevot for this rally. Chris competed in the 2012 edition and we know he has the potential to do Abu Dhabi Racing proud." said Yves Matton, Citroen Racing boss.

Stephane Prevot will once again co-drive for Atkinson, having done so since 2007 in both the WRC and APRC.

Rally Mexico takes place from the 7^th-10^th March, and is a counting round for both the WRC 2 and WRC 3 classes.

Block back to the WRC

Gymkhana star Ken Block is planning to contest three WRC events this year, under his newly renamed Hoonigan Racing Division banner.

The YouTube sensation will not only compete in the WRC, however. His 2013 schedule will take in appearances in the X Games, Rally America, Gymkhana GRID and Global RallyCross. Block himself says he's fortunate to be given the opportunity to compete in sometimes wildly differing series'.

“Once again, I’m trying to fit in as much driving as possible. Unlike most drivers who only compete in one series, I’m very fortunate to be able to race in so many different disciplines. Between competing in X Games, Global RallyCross, Rally America, Gymkhana GRID and WRC, It’s going to be an awesome year. I can’t wait to get it started,” he said.

The Monster World Rally Team name will will be dropped in favour of the new Hoonigan Racing Division, derived from Block's well known 'hooning' ability. The striking new livery takes inspiration from many different places, ranging from 80's skateboarding styles to Miami Vice powerboats.

“With the name change to Hoonigan Racing Division, we wanted to take the look in a slightly different direction, one that has been inspired by my love of 80s and early 90s skateboarding graphics, as well as Miami Vice-era offshore powerboats and a dash of hair metal and old school hip hop mixed in for good measure.”

Block plans to contest the WRC events in his familiar Ford Fiesta RS WRC, with an even more striking colour scheme for 2013. Last year, he competed on a similar number of events and scored points of two of them, proving he can still cut it close to the sharp end even at the age of 45.

“For me it’s great to continue racing in the World Rally Championship. Last year I competed in three events and in two of them I finished within the top ten and scored points. I really enjoy being able to stay somewhat competitive in WRC, despite only competing part-time and not being able to log any testing in the car prior to the actual events. Hopefully I’ll be running a similar amount of WRC events in 2013.” he added.