Inside Rally

United Business can celebrate : Molly Taylor and her codriver, Englishman Seb Marshall win the LADIES ‘ TROPHY IN THE 2013 EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP with two races to go.

An awaited victory for the duo of the Citroen DS3 R3 who won with utmost security the LADIES ‘ TROPHY after all their opponents slowly lost the pace during the season, this allowed the leaders to be able to drive with even more caution during the Croatia Rally and get to the finish celebrating the title with two races to spare.

Two intense days in Porec, where this weekend the tenth round of the 2013 European Rally Championship took place and where Molly Taylor hit the target she had set at the beginning of the season. ”It was tough, but eventually we made it – she said – I wish to thank the Team, Seb and United Business who believed in me, I had the opportunity to work in a highly professional structure, they have always provided me the best, I thank Paolo Butelli and all the boys, they were fantasctic throughout the season. When you win it all seems easy and completely granted, but the season was tough , Seb and I tackled eight events of the European series, seven of which for the first time, we worked hard to reach this goal. The Ladies’ Trophy was won on the field race after race along with the entire team”.

Seb Marshall: “I am happy. We are a great team , we have proved it throughout the season, we all do a sport that we love, we do so with the utmost professionalism and always give our best. We dedicate the Title dedicate to ourselves and to the whole team, who always gave us an excellent Citroen DS3 R3 which has always been performing and reliable”.

Pier Liberali of United Business , an Italian company which takes care of Molly Taylor’s sports management: “Molly and Seb ended Croatia Rally in the best way, in a difficult season but with a perfect final result. United Business was very keen to do well in Croatia Rally, an event which we won twice with Luca Rossetti and where we were the event promoter. For Molly and Seb it was not easy, everything was new, the special stages were difficult and technical, Molly also had a physical problem caused by the petrol fumes inside the cockpit but in the end the title came, the danger and the possibility of error on Croatian roads is always around the corner, they were good not to make mistakes. And now it’s nice to be here to celebrate all together. The Ladies’ Trophy was our goal as stated at the beginning of the season, Molly Taylor and Seb Marshall reached it, they have proved two excellent professionals. Winning the title with two races to go allows us to carefully consider the season finale, we are considering what may be the best opportunities for our crew, their process of sports and professional growth must not stop with winning this title, we will probably be making some changes to the sports program announced earlier this year, we will decide in the next two weeks. For now I want to congratulate Molly, Seb, Paolo Butelli, Citroen and Pirelli, each of who with their own expertise contributed to this victory. Goal achieved !”

LADIES’ TROPHY – 2013 EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP – Standings

1 Molly TAYLOR (AUS) Points 14
2 Ekaterina STRATIEVA (BGR) Points 12
3 Melissa DEBACKERE (BEL) Points 3
4 Asja ZUPANC (SVN) Points 3
5 Martina DANHELOVA (CZE) Point 1
6 Julie DEVALET (BEL) Point 1

After pre event shakedown, it seems that the ‘War of the Sebastien’s’ is level pegged. With both Seb’s setting an equal time of 2 minutes 39.4 seconds. Of course Shakedown is not always a true test of the rally stages. But gives us a glimpse into the sort of battle we can expect to see over the weekend. It was Citroen’s Dani Sordo who set the fastest time through the stage.

Photo: D.Darrall

Rallye de France Shakedown Results
Strasbourg Hautepierre (3,8 km)

1. Dani Sordo: 2min 36.5sec 
2. Thierry Neuville: +1.5s 
3. Mikko Hirvonen: +1.5s 
4. Jari-Matti Latvala: +2.5s 
5. Sebastien Loeb: +2.9s 
6. Sebastien Ogier: +2.9s 
7. Andreas Mikkelsen: +3.1s 
8. Evgeny Novikov: +3.4s  
9. Mads Ostberg: +4.1s 
10. Romain Dumas: +5.9s 
11. Tomas Kostka: +6.5s 
12. Martin Prokop: +7.1s

The new Rally Film Documentary – ‘Easier said then done’- Is now avaliable to download and buy from here: http://vimeo.com/ondemand/estd

Easier Said Than Done explores the ultimate motorsport – rallying. Following an international cast of characters including top drivers, mechanics and co-drivers from around the world. The film focuses on young three time U.S champion Chris Duplessis while he makes an attempt to reach the top level of the sport, the World Rally Championship. Rallying is extremely difficult. It’s expensive, dirty, rough and one of the last pure motorsports in the world. Also featuring Ken Block, Petter Solberg, Antoine L’Estage, Alex Kihurani and more.

Trailer for the film is below, Produced by Matt Johnston.

The 2013 edition of Rally de france will once again be based in Sebastien Loeb’s home region of Alsace and with this being the Frenchman’s last WRC outing before full retirement, the event is expected to be packed with fans over the 4 days – And will be the current WRC drivers last chance to try and beat the greatest rally driver in the history of the sport.

Rally France will be kicking off on Thursday morning with shakedown, this being a tarmac event there won’t need to be a qualifying stage. and then the action kicks off with a bang, with SS1 in strasbourg, which will be used for the 4.55km  Power Stage, where Volkswagen driver Sebastien Ogier is expected to claim enough points to make him World Champion. Then Once that is out of the way, the action continues on Friday morning, when the drivers will tackle the 10.6km Bas-Rhin and Vosges. three stages in the morning with a 30-minute service. And then the morning stages will be repeated, ending the 116kms of competitive stages on day 2 with the 34.34km Vosges-Pays d’Ormont stage.

On Saturday, Day 3 of the Rally, crews will face the longest day of the rally, with 134.93 kilometres in the Haut-Rhin region. The challenge begins with the classic Hohlandsbourg and Soultzeren-Pays Welche stages followed by a shortened (16.72km) version of last years Vallée de Munster . The morning stages are again repeated.

Photo:D.Darrall

The on the final day of the rally will be very much the same as last year, the drivers will again have to tackle 6 stages, but will be the shortest day of the rally, with the longest stage of the day being the 14.6km Vignoble de Cleebourg. Sebastien Loeb’s hometown Haguenau will once again host the final stage of the rally before the crews return to the Zenith in Strasbourg for the finishing ceremony and celebrations.

Who will win, well this weekend is all about the war of the Sebatien’s. (See War of the Sebastien’s feature) Both will be battling it out for top honours. the question is, which one would you bet against.

The full Itinerary of this weekends Rallye de France is below.

Appendix-Annexe_1 1_Itinerary-Itineraire_france_2013