Paddon expects tough fight on home rally

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Production Car world championship ace Hayden Paddon expects his toughest fight yet on this weekend’s International Rally of Whangarei in his native New Zealand.

The Kiwi, currently joint top of the PWRC standings in his Subaru Impreza, has won the gravel event, a round of the Asia Pacific championship, on three previous occasions.

However, the inclusion of several star names on the bulging entry, including ex-WRC aces Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae, has forced Paddon to lower his expectations.

He said: “This will be the most competitive year here, with a lot of APRC teams plus our Kiwi competitors to consider,” said Paddon, 24. “The weather in July can also play a big part, but I’m feeling good and also feel we have made some more good improvements with the car.

“Straight after we got back from Argentina we did another test with our New Zealand car, focussing on specific areas that we struggled with in Argentina and at Rally New Zealand, particularly the rear suspension and geometry. Before each event we have made a good gain and we feel we have made another good gain with the testing we’ve done before Whangarei.”

As well as driving on the event, Paddon has prepared his older Mitsubishi Lancer for FIA WRC Academy driver Brendan Reeves. The Australian ranks the event as one of his favourites and got the opportunity to sample the car during a short test earlier this week.

“We did a 50-kilometre shakedown earlier this week to get a feel for the car for the first time,” said Reeves, a member of the Pirelli Star Driver training scheme. “It took a few runs to get the right feeling of the Evo as it had a lot more initial understeer than my Subaru, but after giving it a bit more of a sideways set up into the corner, it is now more suited to my driving style.”

International Rally of Whangarei on New Zealand’s North Island features 16 stages over a competitive distance of 301.9 kilometres. It gets underway on Saturday morning and finishes on Sunday afternoon.

Credit: WRC.com

Posted in WRC | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Toughest Monte Carlo rally for season opener

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Rally Monte Carlo organisers have revealed preliminary details of the route of next year’s World Rally Championship opener – and crews should be braced for an early shock to the system.

20110711-082338.jpg

Compared to this season’s centenary edition of the event, which ran outside of the WRC schedule, the 2012 version will feature an additional 100 competitive kilometres and an extra 240 kilometres of liaison, making it the longest Rallye Monte Carlo since 1995 when Spanish legend Carlos Sainz claimed victory for Subaru.

The all-asphalt event, which returns to the WRC calendar following a three-year absence next season, will get underway with shakedown and a ceremonial start in the Champ de Mars in Valence, the capital of the Drome region of France, on Tuesday 17 January 2012.

Wednesday’s itinerary will feature two runs through the classic Le Moulinon-Antraigues and Burzet-St Martial stages in the south of the Ardeche separated by service in Valence, where the permanent service park will be housed.

Thursday’s route takes in six stages in the northern parts of the Ardeche and Haute Loire departments and includes the famous St Bonnet le Froid run.

On Friday crews will head south to Monaco via the St Jean en Royans-Font d’Urle, Cimetiere de Vassieux-Col de Gaudissart and Montauban sur Ouveze-Eygalayes stages, which will be broken up by a remote service halt.

Following a rest on Saturday morning action will resume on Saturday afternoon for the final loop of stages based in the hills above Monte Carlo, including two runs over the infamous Col de Turini.

The 80th running of the event will then conclude on the morning of Sunday 22 January with the Power Stage held between Sainte Agnes and Col de la Madone and covering a distance of approximately five kilometres. The traditional prize giving will be held on Sunday afternoon at the Place du Palais.

In a statement, the event organisers, Automobile Club de Monaco, said: “The ACM general commissioner’s office has worked out a concept which remains faithful to the reputation of the winter road rally, so that competitors, manufacturers and spectators can rediscover the elements that forged the legend of the Monte Carlo Rally, allowing amateurs to compete with professionals.

“With a total of 17 stages, including 433 kilometres timed and 1246 kilometres connecting roads, this Monte Carlo Rally is certain to uphold the long tradition of a highly challenging course, requiring great endurance on the part of drivers and vehicles alike.”

Credit: WRC.com

Posted in WRC | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Citroen launches WRC game on topgear.com

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

TopGear.com have added some exciting new content to their website and have a dedicated WRC section, www.topgear.com/wrc/

This week TopGear have just released the new, Citroen World Rally championships online game. The game features three races in the Citroen DS3 WRC in France, Sweden and Jordan. With conditions and surfaces on Snow, Gravel and Asphalt, with a high score leaderboard and also an opportunity to win a limited Edition Citroen DS3 Racing.

Check out TopGear’s new game here

Posted in WRC | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dan’s WRC Blog – Don’t lose the closest rallies in history

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Last month the World Motorsport Council and FIA met to decide various things in the world of motor sport, and know doubt F1 was their priority. But It was also to discuss the WRC. And they decided two things.

20110627-014057.jpg

The first was the 2012 Calendar, with the return of the Monte, ect. The other was the current running order. They decided on using Pre-event shakedown as a Qualifying session to decide the road position.

This at first seemed like a great idea. It makes Shakedown more important and exciting for fans and media. Plus it stops the highly controversial Tactics (Which would make life much easier for the boys in the Citroen camp) – But have the FIA gone completely mad?!

This season we have had some of the closet rallies ever seen in the World Championship. Back in Jordan, Ogier claimed a stunning victory by just 2 tenths of a second from Fords Jari Matti Latvala. Even since then, no one has won by anymore than a hand full of seconds. Take Greece for example. Petter Solberg had incredible pace on day 1 and led the rally by 51 seconds. Unfortunately he lost a lot of time on Day 2, but it brought the rest of the pack back into contention for the victory. On 2 stages of day 3, the lead changes twice and there was still only 0.1 seconds difference between 1st and 2nd by mid-day.

If the order had been reversed then Solberg ‘may’ have won by several Minutes and Loeb would have probably taken his 8th title already, which would have made Greece less excitement than last weekends Grand Prix in Valencia.

My biggest worry about the change to the running order is that we will lose the excitement of the close battles that we have seen in Rallies of recent times. The FIA need to concentrate on making rallies as exciting as possible. Only then will the interest build in what has almost become a Forgotten spectacle in the eyes of day to day Media. The FIA appear to be re-thinking their plans for a ‘Shakedown Qualifying session’. Lets hope they make the right decision and we don’t lose the great battles of the WRC.

To quote Prodrives David Richards, “We have seen the closest Rallying in the history of the WRC this year and we want to change it – That’s Nuts!

Posted in Dan's WRC Blog | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment