Inside Rally

So here we are at the half way point of the 2013 WRC season. Its been full of drama and some impressive performances from some unexpectedly good talent. However despite the all conquering, title grabbing driving god Loeb, now going into semi-retirement, we still haven’t had the brilliant unpredictable fights for victory as we would have hoped.

Photo:D.Darrall

Although not surprisingly, with a budget bigger than some F1 teams, Volkswagen have obliterated the completion along with Seb 2.0, The new driving god, Ogier. Or as I now like to call him, ‘The Prince of Rallying’.  Every rally has kinda been the same since 2004 when instead of wondering who can win. Its been more about who can catch him. However we mustn’t complain. At least not yet anyway. Because what VW have done and the dedication that they have given to the WRC is something we should all be applauding them for. The WRC is still a lonely sick poor child in the big scary wide world of motor sport these days, and it needs massive and successful manufactures to come in and spend all its money and show off their products and talent. And its very rare for any team to just turn up and be so successful in their first year of completion. VW’s target for this year was to get some scratch times, some podium places and then by the end of the year, be in a position to win a rally or two. Well…. what they planned to do in a year they nearly did within just their first WRC rally, that’s how good this team is.

January, The Monte Carlo rally. Ogier took his and Volkswagens first stage win on their first ever special rally stage – First objective complete. Then Ogier and VW finished the rally on the podium in 2nd place 1 minute 39seconds away from winner, King Loeb – 2nd objective complete. On their following Rally in Sweden, Ogier proved he was better than the Rally king and beat him to the finish line and won the rally outright. – 3rd Objective complete. Now how many teams can you think of that managed to complete a years goal in just 2 rallies.

Photo:D.Darrall

Sebastien Ogier then went on to win in Mexico & Portugal. unfortunately the young Frenchman was beaten once again by Loeb in Argentina but only by 55 seconds. Then in Greece Volkswagen encountered their first mechanical failure which put Ogier out of the rally on the first stage. Wasn’t all bad though, as Ogiers team-mate Jari Matti latvala took the win instead. Latvala struggled to get comfortable with his Polo R at first after spending all his career in Fords, but finally got to grips and took his first win with the team. Then onto Italy where, of course, Ogier was back to winning ways.

Photo:D.Darrall

Else where in the championship, Citroen has really been struggling. With no longer having the Rally King being able to win in anything he drives, Citroen have had to find a way to operate without the frenchman, and don’t seem to really know how to do it. And Citroen certainly don’t know how to loose, having won almost everything over the past 9 years. The returning Dani Sordo was less than impressive on the first few rallies, and Mikko Hirvonen, the once flying finn and the only driver that could get close to the greatest driver of all time, has been shot down by car problems and mistakes. This year should be Hirvonen’s best chance of taking the world title which he has missed out on twice by just a few points in the past. But the finn never seems to have that ‘X-factor’ about him. He always seems to only be able to drive up to a certain limit and struggles to drive past that and push himself to go faster. But then we must also ask ourselves… how good is that DS3 WRC? is it really as good as we all thought, or did Loeb make the car look good with his magic driving boots?

On the other side of the Service Park however, there is a car which I think is possibly the fastest car in the championship. M-sport’s Ford fiesta. Even in the hands of the unexperienced, that car always seems to deliver brilliant results and speed.  What Malcolm Wilson did was questionable at first when he took on a bunch of young drivers. But remember, we need new comers to the sport. its changing all the time and we need fresh talent, we need the next generation for the future. And Mr Wilson’s team has been magic in finding just that. He has given ‘up and coming’ drivers the chance to shine on the world stage and most of them have done so. M-Sport will never win the title this year, but he has got his drivers experience and some maybe possible champions for the future. M-sport are looking long term and have made the best of the situation after Ford pulled out as title sponsor. With Neuville, Novikov, Ostberg & in Sardinia Evans, Qatar M-sport is the most exciting and interesting team in the championship. And have even put in great results. In many ways, M-sports young team have put the old experienced boys to shame. especially with Thierry Neuville sitting 3rd in the drivers standings on more points than Loeb.

Checkout the 2013 WRC mid-Season Driver Analysis CLICK HERE

Kris Meeke and Co-Driver Chris Patterson will replace Khalid Al-Qassimi’s to driver for Abu Dhabi Citroën Total World Rally Team at WRC Finland as Al-Qassimi is unable to compete due to business commitments.

Meeke hasnt competed in WRC since 2011 when he drove for Mini, he then drove a Bentley in Wales in 2012 for BBC’s Topgear.

Meeke said. “This is an incredible opportunity for us! Taking part in Rally Finland in a DS3 WRC is a dream that I didn’t think would become reality one day. I’d like to thank Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Citroën Racing for the trust they have placed in us. We’re going to benefit from the advice and expertise of a team that has won the world championship eight times. We therefore have every chance of securing a good result.”

Yves Matton, Citroën Racing director said, “On top on the fact that Kris Meeke will please the British fans driving the World Champion rally car, I am very satisfied to see that Citroën Racing, with the support of Abu Dhabi, is once again offering a seat in WRC to a driver having competed in its customers racing division.”

Three months before the start of the Croatia Rally 2013, the organizers announced details of the exciting Poreč Super Special Stage.

With the presentation of the Poreč SSS the organizers have completed the information about the itinerary of Croatia Rally 2013, which is the major annual Croatian international automobile event that will be held from 26th-28th September 2013 and will be scored for European Rally Championship (ERC).

Poreč SSS which is 1.7 kilometers long, will play a major part in generating excitement, in fact the rally fans will have an opportunity to enjoy watching 2 competitors competing in parallel at the same time. This duel will be run twice: as an opening stage of the Croatia Rally 2013 (Porec SSS 1), on Thursday 26th September at 18:17 and the same will be run as last and maybe decisive stage, (SSS 14), closing the Croatia Rally 2013 on Saturday 28th September at 16.30 .

Speaking about the Poreč SSS, the President of Croatian Car & Karting Federation Matko Bolanča, said: “In order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Croatia Rally, whole team is committed to organization of this innovative event that will stay in the minds of millions of spectators on Eurosport and other TV programs. Poreč SSS will ensure this! ”

Poreč SSS will be held in the center of Poreč, 50 meters far from Service Park and 200 meters far from the podium and will be an extremely exciting and spectacular duel for which the organisers expect to attract thousands of fans.

http://www.rallycroatia.com

This afternoon, June 25th 2013. Citroen Racing has made an announcement at their HQ about their plans, along with 9 times WRC champ Sebastien Loeb, about there plans to compete in the World Touring car Championships (WTCC).

Photo: Citroen Racing

Frédéric Banzet, Citroen managing director said, “Motorsport is in the DNA of the Citroen brand. We won 5 titles in cross country and 8 in WRC. I wanted to announce you a great and long-awaited news, I’m proud to confirm that Citroen will compete in the 2014 FIA WTCC with Seb Loeb. A new challenge for Loeb, our driver since more than 10 years. We wanted to continue our story all together. A new challenge for @Citroen, which wanted to pursue its involvement in international motorsport. With our FIA WTCC program we are able to reduce the Citroen motorsport budget. Thank you to our historical partner Total, which will follow us in WTCC. The World touring cars will bring us a huge TV coverage and a visibility in key markets such as China, Russia and South America.

“I want to thank Yves Matton for the work done in the last months, to imagine what could be this FIA WTCC program. Now the hard work begins, we have to be ready for the 2014 season. You’ll build our future wins”

Team principle Yves Matton said, “First of all I want to thank Frédéric Banzet, who shows a great support for motorsport and Citroen Racing. I think that all of us are very excited with this new challenge. I talked to Seb, he would have like to be with us now, he can’t wait for the next steps with ‘his’ team. We’ll have to work hard to be ready for the 2014 season. That doesn’t mean that we give up with WRC! Thanks to our partnership with AbuDhabi Racing we’ll be in WRC next year, with new targets.”

The rally world will be relieved to hear that they plan to continue with the WRC for next year, despite rumours that Citroen may pull out of the WRC due to their lack of winning results. The WRC now takes its mid season summer break and starts up again for the 2nd half of the season in Finland.