WRC Argentina Day 1 midday wrap – Latvala’s flying

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Its Fiesta time in Argentina as Fords Jari-Matti Latvala Leads after the first loop of stages on day 1.

Photo: D.Darrall

The crews are currently in Service getting the cars ready to get back out onto the long road section to repeat this mornings stages as Latvala leads overall by 12.3 seconds to Petter Solberg. The final stage of the morning before service was the classic El Condor stage which new for this year contains a 20Km Tarmac section.

Loeb was first on the sandy and rough gravel stages and at the end of SS4 El Condor stage, Loeb was not happy about the final tarmac section, “Terrible, its undriveable. It’s really, really dangerous, it’s doing what it wants. It’s too fast you cannot keep the cars straight just a little bit of brake and the car goes everywhere”.

Loeb was only 4th fastest and was in 4th overall. But we are hearing that he may have picked up a 1 minute penalty for coming in too early to Service B.

Photo: D.Darrall

Petter Solberg has been going well this morning. At the end of SS4 said “I struggled a lot on the tarmac that was unbelievable. Jari did a very, very good time – he killed everyone on the tarmac”. Solberg is in 2nd place overall, 3.9 seconds ahead of Citroen’s Sebastien Ogier who isn’t finding it easy on the tough stages but is still ahead of Fords Mikko Hirvonen who is now in 4th after Loebs Penalty.

Ken Block gets the ‘Quote of the rally’ so far for describing the final tarmac section as “At times it’s like driving on hot Gummi bears!” Block is down in 9th behind Villagra. The Two Stobart boys are going well, no dramas so far and Mads Ostberg holds 6th overall 12.2 ahead of team mate Matthew Wilson.

Mr Block may have ‘Quote of the Rally’, but fastest driver so far is Flying Fin Jari-Matti Latvala, who is totally on a flyer and has won all 3 of this morning stages, and took SS4 by nearly 10 seconds. A change to the ride height before El Condor helped him to gain some time on the last tarmac section, but was a bit risky due to the rough Gravel of the first part of the stage. “I’m happy that i’m going well on tarmac. I feel much happier in the fiesta than the Focus. I went 20mm lower on the road than on any other stage.” Latvala currently leads overall by 12.3 Seconds.

Further down, PWRC driver Martin Semerad stopped on SS4 and has retired after ripping the front right wheel off. Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon is in 3rd overall and at the end of SS4 said “We took it pretty easy in there, the second stage made this look smooth – the next run through this is going to be rough.” Hayden is 19.1 sec behind 2nd placed Michal kosciuszko. Patrick Sandell wasnt comfortable on the tarmac section at the end of SS4 but leads overall.

The drivers are now on their way out for the afternoon run through the stages.

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WRC Preview – Rally Argentina

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

The next round of the world championship takes us to South America and onto the rough and rocky roads of Argentina, with a twist.

Photo: D.Darrall

The tough South American round gets even harder for the crews as it will be the first time we shall see the WRC’s ‘new generation’ take to asphalt on this weekends mixed surface event.

The stages. Friday’s first leg will be held on technical roads, which contrasts with day 2, which is based in fast, sandy stages and characterised by jumps and water crossings. Day 3 contains what is probably the longest test in the championship this season and will start off with the long 48km stage. Due to the surface mixture and tough high altitude rocky classic stages such as Mina Clavero and El Condor, it will be important for the drivers to adapt to the changes in rhythm each day.

Who will win? Argentina last appearance in the world championship back in 2009, and Citroen have remained undefeated in Argentina since 2004, and after four straight victories for the French team in the DS3 by Loeb and Ogier, they are feeling very confident in the build up to the event.

With the last performance in Sardinia and his unbeaten talent on sealed surfaces, Sebastien Loeb is favourite to win and is confident he can make Citroen’s 5 in a row this weekend. “It’s a good sign to see that the Citroën DS3 WRCs seems to have a slight advantage on gravel, but the gaps are tiny at the end of each rally,” Loeb said, talking to WRC.com. “We’ll have to be quick right from the start, and go pedal to the metal till the end as with a stage of 48 kilometres to start the last day, there’s no question of letting up.”

Photo: D.Darrall

But the Fords aren’t far behind in the championship, Hirvonen just 7 points behind Loeb but hasn’t won a rally since Sweden at the beginning of the season, and hasn’t won on Gravel since 2009. The boys of the blue oval admit that it will be a tough event but Hirvonen Believes he can repeat the result and pace from Sardinia. “There is a little bit of everything in this rally – gravel, asphalt, river crossings, long stages. May is late autumn in Argentina and we can’t be sure how the weather will be. It could be warm and dry, which will make conditions tough for soft compound tyres, or it could be wet and muddy, which will make the asphalt slippery. My speed on the last round in Italy was good and I was happy with the pace of the car, so I’m confident I can reproduce that here.”

Petter Solberg is anther man who will be determined to go for glory, and will no doubt go ‘Flat out’ on the back of a great performance in Sardinia 3 weeks ago, where the Norwegian claimed his first podium of the season in his privately run team and Citroen’s DS3.

The others. M-Sport Stobart Ford world rally team will be one short this weekend as Petters Brother Henning Solberg will miss out this weekend to seal the deal with sponsors for the rest of the season. Britain’s Matthew Wilson will be making his fifth appearance on the rally, which was the scene of his first world championship point and stage win back in 2006. Mads Ostberg will be competing on the south American event for the first time. Making a return to the WRC since Portugal’s shake down smash will be Monster World Rally team driver and American super star Ken Block.

Also competing this weekend will be, Local hero Federico Villagra for the Munchi’s World rally team in a Ford Fiesta RS, Daniel Oliveira, who is using MINI’s new John Cooper Works WRC in competition for only the second time this season with the Brazil World rally team and Peter van Merksteijn Jr will be making his fourth appearance in the Citroen DS3.

PWRC

This weekends Rally Argentina will also hold the next round of the PWRC, the WRC’s Production class.

Martin Semerad, a 22-year-old from Czech Republic, leads the standings after his victory back in Sweden and claiming third spot in Portugal back in March. Portugal winner Hayden Paddon is second, 15 points behind Semerad and fresh from winning Rally New Zealand, a round of his countries national championship, Paddon will be full of confidence but has never competed in South America before. Anther driver who will be gunning for victory this weekend is Swede Patrik Flodin, as he bids to recover from his frustrating start to the season.

Photo: D.Darrall

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Atko aims for WRC comeback

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Former Subaru World Rally Team driver and Aussie, Chris Atkinson wants WRC come back starting from Rally Australia.

Photo: D.Darrall

Atko lost his Seat in the world Championship in 2008 when Subaru pulled out of the WRC. His last appearance in the World championship was in 2009 on rally of Ireland with a private drive in a C4. During his time in the WRC Atko achieved 6 podiums, his best result in WRC was 2nd place in 2008 on Rally Mexico and Rally Argentina.

Since then he has competed on selected rounds of IRC with Proton and Asia Pacific Rally Championship and back in April this year took a win on The Malaysian rally. In 2010 he had been rumoured to join Ken Block in the Monster World rally team. When we caught up with him back on Rally Spain 2010 while he was gravel crew for Block, he dampened those rumours and said that his main focus was on the Asia Pacific championship with Proton, but would make a return to WRC if funds and seats were available.

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Currently Atkinson is talking to the teams about a drive for Rally Australia based in Coffs – Harbour in September.

“I’m determined to get back to the World Rally Championship and this is a step towards that goal,” the 31-year-old told Autosport magazine. “It’s not decided yet what car I’ll drive [but] it’s fair to say all of the cars look pretty exciting. Right now, I’m focused on getting everything in place, the car I’m driving is integral to that, but it’s about getting the funding right.”

Atkinson’s former boss and now MINI WRC Team principal, David Richards admitted he would be keen on having the Australian in one of his cars if the Prodrive-run squad added a seventh event to its existing schedule.

Atkinson 06

“I’ve spoken to Chris about it and I’d welcome him back, if there’s a budget to do it,” Richards told Autosport.

Rally Australia takes place 8-11 September.

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The Rally Show 2011

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

The rally show this weekend was held at Cornbury park near Oxford on the 14th – 15th of May.

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The British public had a WRC exclusive as it was the first public outing for both the Brand new Mini John Cooper Works WRC car and the Ford Fiesta RS WRC car. Dani Sordo, fresh from the Mini’s WRC Rally Sardinia debut where he finished in 6th place, joined Fords Henning Solberg as star guest’s for the show. Fans had the chance to get up close to the WRC stars for photos and autographs, and were highly entertained by the impressive driving skills of the WRC aces as they took to the short 1.5mile rally stage.

It was a great day out for rally fans and I think it was a reminder that Rallying as a sport is still very much alive in the hearts of British rally fans.

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Photo:D.Darrall

Among the WRC stars with their cars, other rally show treats included the displays which acted as a service park where many other cars awaited to get out onto the stage. Cars ranging from many Escorts, one of them from Phil Mills run company Viking motorsport, Group B cars such as the legendary Audi quattros and Lancia’s 037, Sunbeam Lotus, a rare visit of a Ferrari 308 GTB, the Subaru Impreza that Colin McRae drove to victory on Rally China in 1997, Triump Spitfire, Ford RS200 and so many other types of cars to many to try and list here.

As well as the cars, the Cornbury show also had the stars of the past for the fans to rub shoulders with and listen to their thoughts and stories on the interview stage, the likes of Phil Mills, Jim McRae, Vic Elford, Russell Brookes, Andrew Cowan and the Legend that took the Mini to Victory in the 60’s, Paddy Hopkirk.

It was a fascinating day out with all things rally. And even the Battle of Britain memorial Fly over display from the RAF, and a great stunt driving routine by Terry Grant and his donuts.

But by far the best attraction for me and for most of the fans there was the 1.5 mile asphalt Rally stage. Which was part of the test last used on the great RAC rally back in 1999. All the cars including the Mini and Ford WRC took to the stage many times throughout the weekend, and at one point Dani and Henning both went out together as a one off for a bit of real wheel to wheel racing, luckily no contact, throwing them around the corners and flying over the jumps. Both teams also using the weekend rally stage as a public unofficial test to collect a small amount of valuable data to keep the cars up to date for their attack on the WRC.

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Photo: D.Darrall

Check out photos from the event here https://insiderally.com/2011/05/14/the-rally-show-photos/

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