WRC France – Driver of the Rally

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

When Super Seb is away, the others come out to play. The 7 times champion retired on stage 3 of his home rally in france and not only has it blown the title fight wide open, but it made for a great battle to the end in France.

A few drivers put in some real ‘Stand out’ performances. First of all, Sebastien Ogier. He made the most of his team mates problems and battled faultlessly on to win his home event in France. A special moment for the young frenchman and his Co-Driver Julian Ingrassia. Anther Stand out performance was ex-Citroen works driver, Dani Sordo in the new Mini john copper works WRC car. The Spaniard led at the end of day 1, and was in the fight for victory up until the final stage of the rally, also proving the competitive pace of the new Mini to finish 2nd.

But the ‘Driver of the Rally’ has to go to FERM Power tools team driver Dennis Kuipers, who finished 5th overall on the event, his best WRC career result and is the best performance of a Dutch driver in the FIA World Rally Championships. With his Belgian co-driver Frederic Miclotte the Dutch driver also set a second fastest time on Stage 18. Kuipers Also won the Abu Dhabi spirit of the rally award. In a press release by the team he said, “I’m really excited with this result. In Germany we were already very fast, but to finish sixth [5th after the exclusion of Petter Solberg] here is beyond my wildest dreams. We have also just been awarded the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally Award which is the icing on the cake!”

Kuipers Co-Driver Frederic Miclotte said, “We worked hard this year to improve our skills and today’s result shows that we have made good progress”, says Miclotte. “This is without a doubt our best rally so far. But of course we still need to continue to improve.”

The Pair also received high praise from M-Sport/Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson. “Dennis and Fred’s fantastic result at Rallye de France is very well deserved. The pair have worked extremely hard this year and their pace this weekend has been reflected in their continued effort over the course of the season. It is also great to see Dennis awarded with the Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally Award in France – it is a prize which is presented to those who have made an outstanding contribution or achievement for each rally and I think it is very apt that Dennis is presented with the prestigious award for this event.”

Photo: D.Darrall

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THE GREAT ORME TAKES CENTRE STAGE ON DAY ONE OF WALES RALLY GB 2011

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Visitors to Wales Rally GB are now able to purchase a single ticket that gives access to both runs of the legendary Great Orme Stage on Thursday 10th November 2011.

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Fans will be treated to a true test of driver skill as competitors navigate the 3.3 miles of tight, twisting, tarmac road which make up The Great Orme Toll Road, last used on the Lombard RAC Rally in 1981. Drivers will face the challenge of 3” high kerbs on the seaward side of the road followed by a small wall adjacent to a vertical drop to the sea, providing a thrilling spectacle for rally fans and families alike.

Providing a full day of entertainment, there will be catering, commentary, merchandise and a big screen available to spectators on the Great Orme. Entertainment in advance of the WRC stage will include a thrilling display of driving skill from historic rally group Slowly Sideways.

The Start for Wales Rally GB 2011 will take place on Mostyn Street in Llandudno town centre at 2.30pm, with the first cars arriving on the Great Orme from 2.38pm. The second stage will run from 2.55pm, with the last cars running through the stage by 4.30pm, before heading to Clocaenog for the final competitive stage of the first day.

The official Opening Ceremony will take place later the same evening at Conwy Quay, in front of Conwy Castle. Free, family-friendly, medieval-themed entertainments will be taking place from 4pm onwards, with fireworks over the castle heralding the arrival of the first cars shortly before 6pm.

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BREAKING NEWS: Petter Solberg Excluded from Rally France

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Petter Solberg has been stripped of his third place on Rallye de France and excluded from the results altogether after his Citroen DS3 was found to be under the regulation minimum weight for a World Rally Car.

Event Stewards, including former World Champion co-driver Robert Reid, made the decision this evening after considering a report from the FIA technical delegate following a weight check carried out after the event closing Haguenau Power Stage.

Petter’s car, run by Citroen’s semi-works PH Sport outfit, was weighed three times and on each occasion registered 1196kg, four kilogrammes under the regulation minimum 1200kg.

Representatives of the Petter Solberg team were given the opportunity to explain the discrepancy but after deliberation the Stewards decided to exclude the car from the results.

Solberg’s team elected not to appeal the decision, which means all the drivers that finished behind Petter in the classification move up one place. The most significant beneficiary is Ford team leader Mikko Hirvonen, who collects three extra drivers’ championship points and pulls level at the top of the table with his championship rival Sebastien Loeb.

Credit: WRC.com

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Ogier wins Rally de France 2011

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Sebastien Ogier wins rally France after a weekend long fight, while Loeb becomes a spectator due to Engine trouble.

This years rally de France has been a rally of drama. Being a tarmac rally, and based in the home town of Sebastien Loeb in Alsace, it was expected to be an easy victory for the Frenchman. But on day 1, just 3 Stages in, his Citroen DS3 came to a halt with low oil pressure, which damaged the engine beyond repair. The 7 times Champion and 2011 Championship leader, went from an expected 8th championship title to being a spectator for the remainder of the weekend.

This blew the championship wide open. disappointment for Hirvonen though, as after being given this golden opportunity for the title fight, he lacked pace in the Ford Fiesta, not helped by a small off in the morning of day 1. By the end of the day it was in fact a Mini that was leading in the form of Dani Sordo, after setting some great stage times and swapping places with Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier and Privateer Petter Solberg. Sordo led Solberg by just a second and showed that the New ‘kids on the block’ weren’t afraid to fight the big boys. “I’m really, really happy,” said the Spaniard. “We have been working so hard for this and now we’re in a good place. There are still two days [to go] but today has been really good. To be leading Citroen at home is very nice but it’s only one day at the moment. I try to be flat again tomorrow.” Ogier finished the day in 3rd just 2.8 seconds off the lead. The 2nd Mini belonging to Kris Meeke once again will have a DNF after crashing heavily when going to fast into a corner.

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Day 2 began with sordo leading by one second in his MINI John Cooper Works WRC but was unable to fight off Ogier’s charge in afternoon as the factory Citroen DS3 WRC driver went fastest on four stages to open up an advantage of 9.5s. But was still showing great pace. also in the battle on day 2, was norwegian Petter Solberg. After being a little off pace in the past few rallies, he was really in the thick of it this weekend after making small changes in pre-event testing. This showed when he took the lead briefly on the 3rd stage of the morning, but bad luck struck again with a puncture on the following stage, dropping him down to 3rd some 51 seconds off the lead.

Jari-Matti Latvala set fastest stage time on stage 16 but overall wasn’t able to catch up with the battle at the top and completed day 2 as the leading Ford driver in fourth place but with fifth-placed team-mate Mikko Hirvonen desperate for points to boost his title chances, the Finns are expected to use team orders on the final day to give Hirvonen maximum points for the championship.

Day 3 and the battle at the front continued. Mini’s Dani Sordo had just 10 seconds to catch Ogier over the 40km’s that remained on the final day. In just 5.5km’s of the first stage, the Spaniard and his mini clawed back 3.1 seconds from ogier, and gain anther 1.5sec on the following stage and set the fastest time. On stage 20 both Ogier and Sordo set exactly the same time and the gap was down to a mear 4.9. Latvala was the man who was on it on day 3 of rally France, proving that despite the low results for the Fords, they still had the pace. the finn set fastest stages times on 18, 20 and 21. On the penultimate stage Ogier seemed more happy and set quickest time, beating Sordo and opening up the gap to 5.9, with just the short final Stage to go. Before the Final ‘Power stage’ begun. Ford, as expected, swapped their drivers around to give Mikko Hirvonen maximum points possible in his position for the championship, with Latvala taking a 2 minute penalty by checking in early to re-group.

Latvala was sent into the final Power stage by Ford, ‘Off the leash’ with hope that he would stop Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier from taking the full 3 bonus points. And it worked, as he set the quickest time. Dani Sordo was 2nd quickest, and Ogier was 3rd to take the final bonus point. But little did that matter to him as Sebastien Ogier in his Citroen DS3 took the victory on his home event. Making it his second tarmac victory of his career. Sordo brought the Mini to the finish in 2nd place, with a pleased Petter Solberg in 3rd.

Further down, Mikko Hirvonen took 4th place thanks to his team mate Jari Matti Latvala who dropped to 5th. In 6th place and doing a fantastic job this weekend in the FERM Power Tools Fiesta was Dennis Kuipers, showing that he can set good pace. Henning Solberg was the top Stobart driver and finished 7th, not too much drama for the Norwegian, although he was lucky to escape a freak accident with Kimi Raikkonen on the road section on Day 1 when warming up their tyres before the start of Stage 3 and crashed. His Team-mate Mads Ostberg finished 8th. American ‘Hooner’ Ken Block scored his first points this season, and the ‘quote of the rally’ by saying that “There’s been more Americans that have walked on the Moon than have got points in the WRC” After a close battle with Campana, he got to the end of the rally in 9th place, with campana rounding up the top 10.

There are now just 3 points separating the top 3 of Loeb, Ogier and Hirvonen for the 2011 championship fight, with just 2 events left, it will go down to the wire.

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