WRC free for the weekend on ESPN

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

Fans of the World Rally Championship living in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland will receive a special bonus this weekend thanks to ESPN.

By D.Darrall

The world’s leading multinational and multimedia sports entertainment company has an exclusive agreement with North One Sport, the promoter of the WRC, to show the championship on television in the UK throughout 2011.

This weekend marks ESPN’s Free Weekend beginning at 06:00hrs on Friday 4 March and running until 06:00hrs on Monday 7 March. It will make ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN America and ESPN America HD available to all Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk viewers in the UK, and to all UPC and Sky viewers in the Republic of Ireland.

ESPN’s Free Weekend will allow more than 16.5 million households across the UK and Ireland to access its line-up of live British and international sport, including Rally Guanajuato Mexico, round two of the 2011 WRC season, for free.

Further information, including Rally Guanajuato Mexico broadcasting times, can be found at http://tv.espn.co.uk

Credit: www.wrc.com

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Solberg swaps seat’s with co-driver on Power Stage

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

A strange incident happened on the final ‘Power stage’ of Rally Sweden, when Solbergs co-driver Chris Patterson took to the wheel to drive the final Power stage in Rally Sweden.

By D.Darrall

2003 World Champion Petter Solberg failed to pick up any bonus points during  Rally Sweden’s final ‘Power Stage’ because he was clocked speeding at 112kph on Friday afternoon, on a road restricted to 80kph. In Sweden, exceeding the limit by more than 30kph is a criminal offence and the offender’s driving licence is taken away from him or her after 48 hours have elapsed.

By D.Darrall

In the case of the Norwegian driver, this period expired at 1:30pm Sunday, just before the final stage in Sweden. Swedish were out in numbers to make sure that the Citroën privateer complied!

Petter Solberg consequently handed his licence over before the start of the last, 4.16km test, handing the wheel of his DS WRC to co-driver Chris Patterson who posted the worst time, 51 seconds off the pace of stage winner Ogier, and finished 5th on Rally sweden overal.

By D.Darrall

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WRC Sweden 2011 – Hirvonen wins Ford 1-2-3

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Daniel Darrall
 

Mikko Hirvonen Win an eventful Rally Sweden to head a Ford 1-2-3. Ogier wins First power stage.

 

By D.Darrall

Round 1 was the most anticipated weekend of rallying for a long time. And we weren’t dissapointed. The new cars looked and sounded great for the fans and media. And it was a level playing field with all the drivers in the same machinery.

By D.Darrall

Mads Ostberg made the most of that and was easily the driver of the weekend. After an great drive on day 1 to lead Mikko Hirvonen by 14.8 seconds. When asked if he was really pushing he said, “I took it steady, its easy to get excited after talking to all the press (at midday service) so I took it steady and still fastest. I don’t understand why everyone is so slow.” With Petter being the highest placed Citroen in 3rd.

Day 2 kicked off with Mikko trying to chase down Ostberg, But the young norwegian doing

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a great job of keeping his pace up. Henning rolled his car on stage after clipping a snow bank and sliding down the stage, Almost a repeat of what he did in 2006 in the Peugeot. By midday service Hirvonen caught up with Mads but only led by 0.3. Petter 3rd 31 seconds. On the second loop of stages some of the guys really struggled in the rooted stages on the second run through, all except for Fords Jari-Matti Latvala, who was flying through the stages. On the second to last stage of the day Jari swapped positions with Petter after he had a spin and had to drive up the stage the wrong way to find a place to turn around. Petter wasn’t the only driver to do that, PG and Loeb have a close call After PG had a spin and had to drive up the stage the wrong way to fin a place to turn.

Day 2 ended with less than 16 seconds separating the top 5. Works driver Hirvonen had Stobarts driver Mads Ostberg snapping at his heels in second, just 7.4 behind Mikko after the young Norwegian was just a few tenths quicker in the final Superspecial stage in Karlstad. privateer driver Petter Solberg gained back 3rd from Latvala on the last 2 stages of the day to finish 8.9, with Latvala 4th 10.9, after Ford team covered all bases with their two drivers and asked Jari to slow down before the end to ensure a good position for day 3. With Ogier getting back in to the fight finishing in 5th just 15.8 away from the leader.

By D.Darrall

Day 3 Started with the excitement of the battle, with any of the top 5 in with a chance of victory for the first time in the new 1.6 litre pocket rocket world rally cars. Hirvonen, running first on the road, was fastest on all three stages in the morning loop. Speaking at the midmorning service halt in Hagfors, the Fin said: “The lead is good but I could use another 10 seconds more. The car has been absolutely perfect and maybe running first on the road has helped for a change. But Mads is driving very well and it’s not over yet.”

Mads doing a great job in second, showing that he can do more than just keep up with the best drivers in the world, confident with his car and pushing but not talking to many risks. Petter finished the morning still in 3rd but 30 seconds off the leader due to a problem with the front damper. Latvala dropped to 5th behind Ogier after hitting a snow bank on stage 17. making it a close fight for 3rd place as only 8.7s between the french man and Solberg, with just 3 stages to go after the final mid-day service.

By D.Darrall

On Stage 20, Ostberg and Latvala kept up the pressure on the leader. On the penultimate stage of rally Sweden, Ostberg narrowed the gap of Mikko’s lead on Rally Sweden to just 4.9s with just the final stage to go. With all the drivers at stage end saying that they will go for it to grab though’s bonus 3 points for the championship on the final ‘Power stage’, the excitement reached its max. Jari in 3rd, with Petter and Ogier not far behind.

The Power Stage. Broadcast live on Television around the world, with 3 bonus points up for grabs and a winner to take victory for the first round of the 2011 season. And what a finish it was to the first round of 2011. Loeb and Ogier set and incredible time, Ogier fastest to take the first ‘Power stage’ win. Petter Solberg launches on to stage, but slower than usual, after anther look in on the on-board cam shows that Co-driver Chris Patterson was driving and Petter was sitting in the co-driver seat. Its said that Petter’s driving licence got revolked after caught speeding by swedish Police. Loebs car then has problems getting away from stage end, and last seen pushing to get it started.

by D.Darrall

Mikko Hirvonen Launches through the stage, 5th fastest to win Rally sweden, Round one of the 2011 World Championship in the brand new Ford fiesta RS World Rally Car. But driver of the day has to be Norwegians Mads Ostberg. showing what he can do in the same machinery as the top works drivers to take 2nd in Sweden. With Fin Jari-Matti Latvala coming home to take the bottom step of the podium. Ogier, after winning the power stage finishes in 4th. Solberg dropped to 5th after his co-driver drove the DS3 through the final stage and 7 times champ Sebastien Loeb finished in a disappointing 6th overall after a difficult weekend, if he can make it back to service.

Provisional Overall Results

1st Mikko Hirvonen

2nd Mads Ostberg +6.5

3rd Jari-Matti Latvala +34.0

4th Sebastien Ogier +47.7

5th Petter Solberg +1:31.2

6th Sebastien Loeb +2:30.3

7th PG Andersson +6:22.0

8th Kimi Raikkonen +7:02.3

9th Mathew Wilson +10:11.5

10th Khalid Al-Qassimi +10:31.1

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Dan’s WRC Blog – The WRC stir up

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Daniel Darrall

WRC 2011 is just about to kick off in Sweden this weekend. And I personally am very excited. I’m told there is a massive buzz around Hagfors. Not just because its the beginning of a new season, but because every Team and every driver is starting from scratch. Its the beginning of a new era, and the new cars are built and ready to go.

By D.Darrall

The most interesting part about it is how will Citroen and Ford compare? we won’t get a true comparison untill round 3 in Portugal because Sweden and Mexico are such specialist events. But Portugal is where we get on to the proper gravel stages. Citroen have an incredibly strong Driver line up with the two Sebs, but they haven’t had long to test and build the cars, and have struggled to get just 4 ready in time. Ford on the other hand, had the basic chassis and set-up of the car in the S2000 form a year ago, and Mikko in Monte proved that it was a winner straight out of the box. Ford have had to prepare and build 9 cars it time and test them with the new 1.6 turbo engine. And remain with their two Fin’s.

Anther Factor are the privateers. The Drivers that are normally further down the field shall find them selves in exactly the same machinery as the top Works drivers. Making it a level playing field for anyone in a WRC car. I think we will see some of the true talent from further down come through now that they have a chance to really compare themself’s with the top boys. I think Norwegian Mads Ostberg will be ‘one to watch’ this weekend, He’s a great driver, but never had the machinery to be able to fight for a top 6th position. it will also be interesting to see what Dennis Kuipers can do entering this year in his new team Ferm Powertools, and will be great to see PG battling it out in the snowy forest’s of Sweden. As well as Petter and Kimi in the new DS3’s.

But, the big stir at the moment in the UK is the TV coverage. The ‘pay to view’ one year deal NorthOne Sport have made with ESPN. The initial reaction from most, if not all, british rally fans wasn’t a good one. And i can understand why! – For a start, the cost. Rally GB spectator passes were £99 for the weekend, add to that the cost of travel, fuel, hotel, food. UK fans had to pay out a lot of money to watch the stars on the stage. (compared to WRC spain, which was free to spectate) And now after that, UK fans have to pay, on top of SkySports package, anther £120 a year, just to watch it on TV. Most are outraged by this. Many feel betrayed by the sport, and that it has taken a step backwards.

By D.Darrall

However, due to the economic climate, everyone is struggling with cost’s and budget. Even the WRC its self is struggling financially. And that goes for television companies too. The way I understand it is, NorthOneSport have approached many companies for a deal, and only ESPN and one other company took any notice. ESPN was the only decent deal they could get, with more air time, and coverage than ever before. ESPN have big plans for the coverage, with Highlights, Reviews, Access all areas previews and live stage’s along with documentaries. And all of this comes at a huge cost.

Add to that, the lack of interest British media has in the sport. And for me, that is the

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biggest problem with the sport. Here in the UK the WRC isn’t a ‘must have’ sport, unfortunately Football and F1, among many others, come first. The reason I think, is because the ‘McRae & Burns era’ is long gone, and there is no British driver racing at the top. I remember a few weeks ago, reading an article in Motorsport-News about the deal with ESPN. Neil Duncanson (CEO of NorthOne Sport) said, “I understand that this may be seen as disappointing from a fans point of view, but we haven’t just taken a shilling here. This coverage will be very good and regular, and I believe people will pay for high quality of the coverage they’re going to get. We are trying to build some heroes for different countries with programmes like the WRC academy, and that is very important.”

So lets hope that the few people who are luck enough to have ESPN, will have great coverage and that it is worth the money. At the moment I don’t have ESPN, but luckily for some, Motors TV will still be broadcasting their coverage of the WRC. And lets hope they have made some big improvements on their ‘bore fest’ of coverage last year.

By D.Darrall

Getting back to rallying, this weekend will be very exciting. Who knows who will make the podium at the end. My money is on Mikko Hirvonen! He always does well in Sweden, and the snow seems to suit the Fin’s and the Fords better. So grab your beer and order your pizza, or grab your popcorn. Because Stage 1 is underway!…..

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