Nasser confirmed as VW driver

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Qatar Driver Nasser Al Attiyah, who won the Dakar driving with VW, revealed today on World Rally Radio that he is all set to sign a deal to drive for VW.

Photo: D.Darrall

Volkswagen Confirmed in Sardinia that they will enter the WRC in 2013 with their Polo R. After 3 consecutive wins in the Dakar Rally, their attention is now on the World Rally Championships. Its believed that they could have a budget of 100 million to spend on their Motorsport plans, and will contest the 2013 championship with the Polo R.

VW Motorsport

Nasser Al Attiyah said that deal is done and just needs the pen to sign the contract. “Yes, already I have contact, I need my pen to sign and i’m going to Germany next week to the Nurburgring to the 24 hour race and sign then. I have good connection with the team and I’m happy to be apart of the team and VW Motorsport.”

The VW team and crew are already underway to get the car and team ready when they begin their assault on the World Stage in 2013. “We do somethings already, a bit of testing. But first test for our rally car will be in December.”

VW launch video below

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WRC Greece day 2 – Loeb Takes lead after night stage

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Sebastien Loeb leads after an action packed day 2 of Rally Acropolis, and will be first on the road for day 3.

Photo: D.Darrall

After a much needed service for the crews, it was back to the action. Solberg still pushing but due to the varying lines it still took some cleaning, Loeb was again quicker than Petter but lost time to the others. Loebs main aim for the afternoon was to keep within a reasonable distance of Ogier, and not let him extend too much of a lead. But that would be a tough job, as Ogier was on a total flyer. Not only was he faster than the front runners and grabbed the 2nd fastest stage time and took the lead from Solberg. “I hope to continue like this.”

Unfortunately he couldn’t match his team mate on the following stage and dropped 2 seconds to Loeb. But reclaimed his stage winning pace on SS12 and was 3.1 seconds faster. “We tried very hard on this one”. That was despite Loeb really pushing hard to catch him. “I’m pushing to the maximum, don’t want to let Ogier go to far” said Loeb. Solberg was still struggling and lost a lot of time throughout today. “I just…. That one was very loose. I’m pushing very, very hard, I can’t do any more – The last two stages have just killed me, I don’t want to lose too much for tomorrow.”

Photo: D.Darrall

The final stage of the day Nea Politia (SS13), was something special, as it was a 17.71Km night stage. something that’s very rare in the World Rally Championship these days. The first section of it is very sandy, almost like the ‘fesh fesh’ you would get on the Dakar rally, and caused alot of problems in terms of hanging dust in the night, and a small tarmac section towards the end. With the cars equipped with their lamp pods, they launched into the darkness. Solberg didn’t set the best time, and explained to the stage end reporters on World Rally Radio, that they had a problem and Chris Patterson got lost in the pacenotes. By the time Loeb came through, the damage was done and Solberg endded the day in 3rd place, but some consolation as it would be a good road position for day 3.

The battle of the Seb’s continued. Loeb came through the night stage, 13.4 seconds quicker than Solberg, despite losing time at the beginning in the dust he gained the lead of rally Acropolis. Ogier came to the end of day 2 and stage end rather confused. But he did what he needed to do and finished the day in 2nd place overall, 2.2 seconds from his team mate Loeb. “I don’t know where I am!? Very difficult to drive this stage” But the Frenchman in a great road position for victory tomorrow.

As Loeb takes the lead, the stage end became hectic. Full of spectators with nothing to hold them back but a jobs worth Marshal blowing the ‘living night lights’ out of his whistle. The excited fans being well behaved while trying to grab a photo of drivers and cars.

Hirvonen lost time to Loeb but is also in a good position to fight for victory if he can get on the pace. “It was ok, dusty in some places and couldn’t see anything, not a level playing field (on this stage). Good road position tomorrow, game is on!” But The night stage glory went to Hirvonen’s team mate, Latvala who once again proved what could have been if it weren’t for the problems this morning. The fin very much enjoyed the stage. “I kept it going, I wanted to go fast. Enjoyed driving in the dark, I could carry on all night now.”

Photo:D.Darrall

The action further down came in the shape of the M-sport Stobart Ford World Rally team. with Henning Solberg leading the ‘best of the rest’ holding 5th place. Although he had his fair share of problems. On SS8, Henning lost his brakes. The problem wasn’t so bad on the following stage and did what he could, felling happier with his time. After the problem was fixed in service, he went into the afternoon loop of stages and despite making a mistake on SS10 he was comfortable with his position. The Norwegian struggled on the night stage saying, “A lot of dust, oui oui….. very difficult to see.” although the Norwegian seemed more interested in what was going on at the front, and spent more time ‘interviewing’ the stage end reporters than they were interviewing him to get the latest on the battle at the front.

His team mate Mathew Wilson didn’t have to bad of a day and ended it in 6th, although hampered by a misfiring car. The other Stobart driver Mads Ostberg had been setting some great times, and regularly in the top 5 fastest stage times and holds 14th after crashing off yesterday

Photo: D.Darrall

Kimi Raikkonen hasn’t had a bad day, sitting comfortably in 7th. Racing in the dark was a new experience for the ex-F1 Champ, he didn’t enjoy it much due to the dust on the night stage, but felt that his performance was much stronger today than on day 1 and enjoying driving the stages.

Click here to see official overall results for day 2.

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Day 2 Greece Mid-day – Solberg struggles to hang on to lead

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Day 2 was a game of catch me if you can for Petter Solberg. After an inspiring drive from the Norwegien on day 1, he had a massive lead of 51 seconds and left the rest of the field wondering if it was even possible to catch the 2003 World Champion.

Photo: D.Darrall

But with the lead, comes the road cleaning, and that had a massive affect on his performance throughout the day. On stage 7, the first of the days stages, he made no mistakes, but lost 11 seconds to Loeb in 2nd place. On the following stage he was still struggling with road cleaning, but in the middle part of the 26.28Km Ghymno stage, Solberg had a half spin at a junction and had to turn around to get going again in the right direction. But the damage had been done, and the Norwegian lost 17.4 seconds to Loeb. Sebastien Loeb was hunting him down at a rate of nots and after the final stage of the morning loop before service, he had closed up to 15 seconds away from Solberg.

But the hunter became the hunted. Despite Loeb pushing hard and having Petter in his sights, he lost his 2nd place to his resurging team mate, Sebastien Ogier. Yesterday, at the end of day 1, Ogier wasn’t sure if it was the best decision playing tactics, but it really paid off for the Frenchman. “Not a bad decision” he said after the first stage of the morning after being 6 seconds faster than anyone. He carried that pace on throughout the morning, taking stage wins on the next two stages and with that, he moved into 2nd position overall before mid-day service.

Its been 50/50 for the Ford boys. Jari-Matti Latvala’s problems continued today and his rally went from bad to worst. On the first stage of the morning he had turbo problems and wasn’t sure if it was down to a pipe or the actual turbo. With lack of power, he had to pull over on the stage to let others behind pass. He made it to service without the turbo, but lost masses of time. It was a problem with the turbo its self, so once changed he should be back up to full power in the afternoon loop. Hirvonen was there or there abouts, but pushing very hard to try and keep with the boys at the front. It was a case of needing to find more seconds, the final stage in the morning loop before service, he was closer to the pass. 8.4 seconds faster than Solberg and only half second slower than loeb. But came to service in 4th overall and 8.8 seconds behind Loeb.

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Ogier takes lead on SS10 in the acropolis

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Sebastien Ogier has taken the lead on SS10 in Rally Acropolis from Petter Solberg in the afternoon of day 2.

Photo: D.Darrall

Solberg started day two leading by 51.6s in his privateer Citroen DS3 WRC but on stage 10 he slipped down to second place behind Ogier following the repeated stage 10, Klenia Mycenae stage. “It definitely cleans a bit and I am losing a bit but I am pushing, trying hard,” said Solberg. “I will do whatever I can to win.” Due to Petter being first on the road, he has been dropping time throughout the day as he sweeps the stages clean for the chasing pack, especially in the morning loop of stages.

Ogier, who was second fastest to Latvala through the stage, now leads by 6.3s in his factory Citroen. He said: “It’s very good and I push very hard. I have a good feeling with the car and we continue like this. The plan is to go for it and see what happens.”

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