GLAMOROUS! Hirvonen has reached Loeb in the drivers’ World Rally Ranking

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

CLAMOROUS!
Since creation of the World Rally Ranking, two years ago, Sebastien Loeb has always been in first place alone. After the Rallye de France Hirvonen has reached him at the top of the World Rally Ranking. From January 1st, 2010, the World Rally Ranking establishes with transparent and objective criteria the world ranking of rally drivers and codrivers, and since creation of the World Rally Ranking Sebastien Loeb has always been the Number 1. The ranking, obtained based on the results obtained by each individual rally driver in the international events entered in the FIA calendar. The ranking is updated at today, Thursday October 11th 2011.

20111012-081141.jpg
To know the name and the score of the rally drivers of each country in the World Rally Ranking you can visit the website http://www.worldrallyranking.com, register yourself with name and surname and immediately you will receive a password in order to know all the standings.

The drivers who have obtained the right to enter the World Rally Ranking are currently 1545

1) Mikko Hirvonen 6570 2) Sebastien Loeb 6435 3) Jari-Matti Latvala 5670 4) Sebastien Ogier 5535 5) Petter Solberg 5175 6) Juho Hanninen 5174 7) Jan Kopecky 4654 8) Matthew Wilson 4470 9) Andreas Mikkelsen 4263 10) Bryan Bouffier 3672 10) Thierry Neuville 3672 11) Mads Ostberg 3655 12) Karl Kruuda 3583 13) Henning solberg 3555 14) Luca Rossetti 3498 15) Nasser Al Attiyah 3278 16) Freddy Loix 3206 17) Antonin Tlustak 3092 18) Toni Gardemeister 2940 19) Dennis Kuipers 2897 20) Luca Betti 2858

The IRDA World Rally Ranking IRDA contains all the results from January 1st, 2010 to date of all the drivers and codrivers of all nations in all the events worldwide enterd in the FIA International Sporting Calendar. To see all the standings of the world rally ranking please visit the http://www.worldrallyranking.com website.
The official World Rally Ranking page on Facebook can be found at the address: http://www.facebook.com/pages/WRR-World-Rally-Ranking/184151181644551
http://www.worldrallyranking.com

Posted in WRC | Leave a comment

Impressive entry for WRC Spain

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

A total of 62 crews will contest Spain’s round of the World Rally Championship later this month with 20 new-generation World Rally Cars appearing on the provisional entry for the mixed-surface event, which runs from 20-23 October.

 

Ph

Photo: D.Darrall

 

Included on the list are entries from the Citroen, Ford and MINI factory teams, the return of the Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team following a prolonged absence with a sole registration for Federico Villagra and co-driver Diego Curletto, plus entries from several world championship regulars including M-Sport Stobart Ford, Motorsport Italia and Van Merksteijn Motorsport.

Pierre Campana is entered in the same MINI John Cooper Works WRC he took to his first world championship points in France earlier this month. However, the Corsican’s participation is dependent on him securing the necessary finance. Russian Evgeny Novikov will switch from a Ford Fiesta RS WRC to a Citroen DS3 WRC.

Ten drivers will contest the Super 2000 World Rally Championship finale with WRC Academy pacesetter Craig Breen among the notable highlights alongside title contenders Juho Hanninen, Martin Prokop and Ott Tanak. Irishman Breen has taken over Eyvind Brynildsen’s PS Engineering entry and will drive a Ford Fiesta S2000.

Sixteen crews will fight it out for Production Car World Rally Championship glory with overall champion Hayden Paddon and Production Car Cup winner Harry Hunt both in action.

Other notable entries include Yeray Lemes and Christian Riedemann in a brace of Volkswagen Motorsport-entered Skoda Fabias, while outgoing SWRC champion Xevi Pons, from Spain, is set to take part in a privateer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

Posted in WRC | Leave a comment

Mikkelsen wins IRC Rally of Scotland

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Andreas Mikkelsen’s long wait for his first victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is over after he won RACMSA Rally of Scotland to set up a thrilling six-way battle for the IRC title on the final event of the season in Cyprus next month.

Mikkelsen’s success combined with Juho Hanninen’s second place, hands SKODA its second IRC manufacturers’ title in as many years subject to official confirmation. It also means the 22-year-old from Norway becomes the youngest IRC event winner and the sixth different victor in this year’s IRC such has been the extremely open and competitive nature of the series in 2011. “What a fantastic weekend. We were so close to winning in Hungary and even closer in Sanremo, but we could not have found a better place to score our first IRC win on SKODA UK’s home event. The feeling is just amazing and this result gives us something to really build on for our next rally in Cyprus.”

For Hanninen, second place represented a remarkable reversal of fortune after set-up issues held him back on Saturday morning. The Finn, the winner in Scotland in 2010, was fastest on three of Sunday’s five forest-based tests. “It’s an exciting end to the IRC and second place gets good points for SKODA, which was the main target this weekend. It’s not been an easy rally but I am very happy to finish second.”

Bryan Bouffier was the leading Peugeot finisher in third overall to maintain his title push with Irishman Craig Breen a hugely impressive fourth overall in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta. Peugeot France driver Bouffier overcame brake problems on Sunday. “Of course you always want to be on the top but I have to be happy with my performance for my first time here and on gravel too. The stages were tricky but beautiful at the same time.”

Rally of Scotland results

1 Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ola Floene (NOR) SKODA Fabia S2000 1h55m17.2s

2 Juho Hanninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) SKODA Fabia S2000 +26.4s

3 Bryan Bouffier (FRA)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Peugeot 207 S2000 +1m35.3s

4 Craig Breen (IRL)/Gareth Roberts (GBR) M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 +2m05.1s

5 Jan Kopecky (CZE)/Petr Stary (CZE) SKODA Fabia S2000 +2m11.7s

6 Thierry Neuville (BEL)/Nicolas Gilsoul (BEL) Peugeot 207 S2000 +3m10.4s

7 Toni Gardemeister (FIN)/Tapio Suominen (FIN) SKODA Fabia S2000 +3m11.5s

8 Alastair Fisher (GBR)/Daniel Barritt (GBR) M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 +4m59.9s

9 Toshi Arai (JPN)/Dale Moscatt (AUS) Subaru Impreza R4 STI +8m17.6s

10 Matthias Kahle (GER)/Peter Gobel (GER) SKODA Fabia S2000 +9m36.1s

Credit: IRCseries.com

Posted in WRC | Leave a comment

Rally of Scotland LIVE

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Fans who are unable to make it to the forests of Stirlingshire and Perthshire to catch the action in person on this year’s Rally of Scotland will still be able to tune in to see and hear the live action.

20111007-080718.jpg

Live TV and on-line coverage
Top TV sports broadcaster Eurosport has announced timings for its coverage of this weekend’s (7-9 October) RACMSA Rally of Scotland that will be beamed live on television and on-line to a worldwide audience.

The event is the crucial penultimate round of this year’s globetrotting Intercontinental Rally Challenge and is being held on high-speed gravel stages through the forests of Perthshire and Stirlingshire.

Saturday’s Errochty 1 (12.00pm) and Errochty 2 (5.30pm) stages near Calvine in Perthshire’s Tummel Forest and Sunday’s High Corrie 1 (11.00am) and the High Corrie 1 (1.45pm) stage in Stirlingshire’s Loch Ard Forest will each receive an hour’s live coverage.

Errochty 1 and 2 plus High Corrie 1 will be shown on Eurosport’s TV channels as well as on-line via the Eurosport Player http://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk. Eurosport Player will then take over for another hour of live coverage of High Corrie 2 from 1.45pm. High Corrie could have a major bearing on the outcome of the result and the IRC title race – at 26km, it is one of longest and most daunting stages of the entire calendar and falls literally within sight of the Rally of Scotland finishing ramp later on Sunday afternoon in the grounds of Scone Palace near Perth.

Eurosport’s live coverage from Rally of Scotland will be further backed up with comprehensive replays and round-up highlights on Sunday evening. Its provisional timetable is:

Saturday 8 October (Perthshire)

LIVE Midday-1.00pm, Errochty 1 (Eurosport, British Eurosport 1 & Eurosport Player)
LIVE 5.30pm-6.00pm, Errochty 2 (Eurosport, British Eurosport 2 & Eurosport Player)
Sunday 9 October (Stirlingshire)

LIVE 11.00am-midday, High Corrie 1 (Eurosport &Eurosport Player)
LIVE 1.45pm-2.45pm, High Corrie 2 (Eurosport Player)
Highlights 9.45pm-10.30pm, High Corrie 2 (Eurosport & Eurosport Player)
Highlights 10.30pm-11.15pm, High Corrie 2 (British Eurosport 2 & Eurosport Player)
Tuesday 11 October

Rally Review 11.30pm-midnight (Eurosport, British Eurosport 1 & Eurosport Player)
Wednesday 12 October

Rally Review Midday-1.00pm (Eurosport 2 & Eurosport Player)
Rally Review 4.15pm-4.45pm (British Eurosport 2 & Eurosport Player)
Note: all times given are UK

Tune in to Rally Radio by iRally

Rally Radio by iRally will be live throughout all three days of Rally of Scotland, covering all the stages. Julian Porter presents the programme direct from Scotland with Colin Clark, Lisa O’Sullivan and Chris Rawes at the stage ends and Mark Jones producing.

Rally Radio can be heard on the official http://www.ircseries.com and http://www.rallyofscotland.com websites as well as through many of the IRC rally websites and http://www.rallyradio.com. It can also be heard on iTunes and, of course, iRally, the free independent rally App for the iPhone, iPad and Android.

Rally Radio will be live from Scotland at the following times:

Friday (7 Oct) 7.00pm-9.00pm
Saturday (8 Oct) 8.45am-8.00pm
Sunday (9 Oct) 8.15am-6.00pm

Posted in Other Rallies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment