H&H-190

s e k a r b Hand s n i p r i a H & of rallying ld r o w e h t o t in t h your insig

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011

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On test with Mark Cronje Start Ramp Service Park Parc Ferme

Tough and exciting Volkswagen Rally next weekend Markko Martin enters Rally Estonia L’Estage wins his 100th rally

“We watched our competitors and maintained a comfortable lead without pushing so hard that we made errors” - Andreas Mikkelsen on his win of Rally San Marino, p9.

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Contents Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 04 START RAMP 04 Start Ramp - News Shorts

06 SERVICE PARK 06 08 08 09 09 10 10

On Test with Mark Cronje New route for Sun City 400 Markko Martin enters Rally Estonia 2012 Multi-national line-up for APRC Mikkelsen wins in Italy for Skoda Safety plays key role in MINI WRC development L’Estage wins 100th rally

12 PARC FERME 12 CRC: Rallye Baie des Chaleurs review 14 MERC: Pafos International Rally review

EDITORIAL INFORMATION Editor Evan Rothman

Photojournalist Eva Kovkova

Contributors Liga Stirna, Patrick Vermaak, RallyBuzz, Motorpics, Newspress.

All content copyrighted property of HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS, 2007-11. This publication is fully protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the editor. While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of information from sources and given to readers, the editor cannot accept responsibility for any inconvenience or damage that may arise therefrom.

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WRC Monte Carlo Rally 2012 programme and itinerary out Words: Staff Writer As part of the 2012 World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar, the Automobile Club de Monaco has drawn up a programme and itinerary in keeping with tradition and the expectations of all keen road-racing fans. The ACM General Commissioner’s office has worked out a concept which remains faithful to the reputation of the winter road rally, so that competitors, manufacturers and spectators can rediscover the elements that forged the legend of the Monte Carlo Rally, allowing amateurs to compete with professionals.

Although the main thrust of the itinerary has been decided upon, the exact route will only be confirmed officially after approval by French administrative authorities.

For now, Shakedown will be on Tuesday 17 January on the roads of Ardeche near Valence, the Drome capital, in order to avoid moving the Parc d’Assistance. The latter will be at the Palais des Expositions in Valence, as usual. The Starting Ceremony is scheduled to take place at the end of this practice session, in the Champ de Mars.

• First leg on the roads of southern Ardeche, Wednesday 18 January: Le Mouilinon – Antraigues, followed

by Burzet – St Martial, are planned for Day one and will be driven twice by competitors, with a stop at the Valence Parc d’Assistance at the halfway stage.

• Six stages on Day Two, Thursday 19 January:

Labatie d’Andaure – Lalouvesc. St Bonnet le Froid/St Julien Mohesabate/ St Bonnet le Froid, Lamastre/Gilhoc, Alboussiere will complete the programme for the northern part of the departments of Ardeche and Haute Loire, with a stop at the Valence Parc d’Assistance.

• Drome roads in programme for Friday 20 January: St Jean en Royans – Font d’Urle, Cimetiere de Vassieux (Vassieux Cemetry) – Col de Gaudissart are the route planned for the morning, followed in the afternoon by a return to Monaca via Montauban sur Ouveze – Eygalayes, the last Drome stage. On arrival in Monaco in the evening, cars will be placed in Parc Ferme.

• Night of Saturday 21 January on the country roads behind Nice: Competitors will Monaco late Saturday afternoon in the final Monaco/Monaco lopp, arriving in Moulinet for the start of SS14.

Moulinet – Col du Turini – La Bollene-Vesubie followed immediately by the traditional Lantosque – Luceram, driven twice, with a stop at the Parc d’Assistance in the Port of Monaco.

• Power Stage grand finale on Sunday 22 January: To continue the excitement to the very end, a power stage of approximately 5km will be held between Sainte Agnes and Col de la Madone, starting at 10am.

This will be last contest of the 80th Monte Carlo Automobile Rally.

The Prize-Giving Ceremony is scheduled to take place in the afternoon, at Place du Palais.

With a total of 17 stages, including 433km times and 1246km connecting roads, this Monte Carlo Rally is certain to uphold the long tradition of a highly challenging course, requiring great endurance on the part of drivers and vehicles alike. H&H

Molly Taylor at Goodwood FOS Words: Staff Writer Molly Taylor heads into the next stage of her World Rally Championship campaign with renewed confidence after receiving a special award at the famous Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Molly was nominated by the International Rally Drivers’ Club to be a demonstration driver on the 2.7km forest rally stage designed by 1983 world rally champion Hannu Mikkola.

Because there is no official timing on the stage, marshals and officials judge a ‘Driver of the Day’ for each of the three days of the event with each winner being presented with a commemorative medal and a bottle of vintage champagne. It’s judged on entertainment and sportsmanship, and on Day Two the honour belonged to Molly.

“I did some demonstration runs and also took some of the corporate clients, sponsors and official guests for rides. It was all about putting on a good show for them and for the spectators and I really enjoyed it. Getting the award was an absolute bonus and topped off a fabulous weekend.”

While Molly enjoyed her experience of the Festival – limited because of her own commitments – she didn’t have much time to savour it. Her rally car, recce car and service van had to be prepared for transport on a freight ferry to Helsinki, ready for a rally in Estonia (July 16-17).

Molly and new co-driver Seb Marshall will compete in the Auto 24 Estonia Rally (one of several events Molly is contesting to maintain race fitness, in addition to her regular WRC and BRC commitments) and then begin preparations for the next round of the WRC Academy Cup, which is Rally H&H Finland from 28 - 31 July.

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Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 05

Tough and exciting Volkswagen Rally on cards for 2011 Words: Staff Writer Picture: Evan Rothman The Volkswagen Rally 2011 will see a brand new stage added to the traditional favourites on the list.

This stage will see the national rally field competing in the area around the Nelson Mandela Bay 2010 World Cup stadium – a first for the event.

The current season has been a full-scale war between the various teams and with Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Peugeot all involved in the race for S2000 honours, the action is fast and highly unpredictable. The annual Volkswagen event provides an excellent opportunity for rally fans to see just how challenging the national championship has become.

The Volkswagen Rally 2011 will get underway from Auto Pavilion on Friday, 15 July and finish at its traditional venue, the Kings Beach parking lot on Saturday, July 16, with competitors having covered 12 stages in total.

Six stages of gravel action will take place in the Longmore Forest

– three on each day – with Uitenhage hosting the first of the tar stages on Friday afternoon, the action-packed Winterhoek stage which will be run as a Super Special – that’s two rally cars instage simultaneously – and it will be run back-to-back!

The Longmore stages and PEOTR (Port Elizabeth Oval Track Raceway) are providing the organisers with some pre-event headaches. Heavy rains over the past few weeks have caused some problems.

“We’ve had two bridges washed away in the Longmore Forest – one has been fixed and we’ve avoided the other by changing the stage layout,” says Joe Fourie who organises the Volkswagen Rally on behalf of the Algoa Rally Association. “That area has as much rain in the last month as they normally see in a year!

“Overall though, the roads are in good condition and we’re expecting a good event. PEOTR is still under water and we haven’t even video taped the route for the competitors yet, that’s a problem but we’ll deal with it. We’re

planning a pre-event run-through a day or two before the actual event and then we’ll make decisions based on that information.”

With the move to a more WRClike (World Rally Championship) class structure, the face of national rallying is changing in South Africa. The S2000 category is the top level of competition in the country, followed by the junior championship which comprises the S1600 and S1400 categories. The A7 category is in its last year of competition this season and will no longer be run from 2012.

Not only is S2000 the most exciting and competitive class, it is also the most popular and the entry list keeps growing. The fight in this class this season is between the Volkswagens, Toyotas, Fords and Peugeots – and each event has proved unpredictable in terms of results with the Volkswagen Rally, round five of the 2011 season, expected to be no different. H&H

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On Test: Mark Cronje Words: Evan Rothman Pictures: Evan Rothman Rallying in Longmore Forest presents unique challenges to rally crews and cars alike. Slippery forestry roads, frightening drop-offs, fallen trees and tyre-sized rocks lining the tracks with hundreds of hairpins and switchbacks thrown in, it comes as no surprise that drivers relish the opportunity to take on the Volkswagen Rally.

“It is actually a technical rally, but one that sees us going flat-out,” said Mark Cronje. “To be quick here, one needs to fully commit to the notes, the car and the grip. The stages for this Volkswagen Rally will be tricky, but we’ll be pushing hard from the first stage.

This rally suits me and my driving style.”

Indeed it does. Cronje claimed the top step of the podium at this

event in 2009, his first full season in the Castrol Team Toyota S2000 squad.

That year he overcame especially tough competition on his way to victory, beating the three formidable factory BP Ultimate Volkswagen S2000 crews on their home event.

For this year Mark Cronje pilots a Ford Fiesta S2000 for Team SASOL. A two-car team, Cronje is teammate with Jon Williams and Cobus Very in their similar Fiesta S2000 while Robin Houghton reads the pace notes for Cronje. This pairing is brimming with confidence coming off a win in the last rally, the Toyota Dealer Gauteng Rally in June where they won by over 01min 30sec. It is, however, not the first event that they have been at the forefront of this season, as this crew has snatched the second most stage wins thus far in 2011.

Seat time is vitally important

to success, to learn the new car’s characteristics and abilities. With each session completed, Cronje grows in knowledge and experience. It was 24 June, a typically cold and overcast Port Elizabeth Friday that Cronje, Houghton and his service crew blew into town.

Heading directly to Longmore Forest for a test session, Cronje and his team were aiming to familiarize themselves with the conditions likely to be experienced at next weekend’s rally. The test sections were representative of the stages competitors will encounter over the six stages scheduled for the event. And, boy, were these shakedown sections fast!

Finding a setting where the driver felt comfortable with his car didn’t take too long: after three runs, Cronje was pinning his right foot flat on the accelerator pedal when attacking the inside line into sweeping bends. On his

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 07

final “warm-up” run, yours truly heard the car screaming through the forest in sixth gear on the rev limiter for more than ten seconds. Only the wind was competing with that motor as it pushed the car to speeds in excess of 170km/h on the flowing and cambered bends.

“The car felt good in our shakedown stage here,” said Cronje.

“It is behaving unbelievably well in Longmore Forest today, exactly as I wished. This car is phenomenal; the best I’ve ever driven.”

Shooting the breeze with the Johannesburg-based businessman, we chatted about all things rallying in South Africa. It was his comments on the car that I found to be most revealing of this talent: “The car reacts to my every input. There is no lag, just direct feedback. I tell this car what to do, and it reacts to me. It is not like other cars I have driven where I need to react to it in stages.”

This I experienced first hand

when I was strapped into the co-driver’s seat, and we literally chased flat-out on the test stage. Attempting to read the pace notes, keep an eye on our position relative to those notes and to somehow keep my jaw shut long enough to not drown Cronje in my drool, I was treated to a true sample of rallying at full chat.

Apart from being off the notes at times, Cronje had fortunately completed several runs to memorize the route despite his rookie co-driver’s smoothtalking delivery of the corners and change in conditions, I experienced what few outsider can lay claim to: in a rally car being driven very close to its limits in a very narrow, rocky, bumpy, and fast gravel road.

“The suspension soaks up everything, yet allows me to still feel exactly what the tyres are doing on the gravel,” commented Cronje through the in-car intercom. “Testing the car is important. We need to put in lots of effort if we want to see the results like

we saw last time out. We’ve got the upgraded engine from M-Sport, and it gives us all the necessary grunt low down in the rev range. This is exactly where we’ll need it for this rally.

“The field is so very tight this season, and I have heard everyone else saying that just a hesitation can drop a place in a stage, and that is true. Saying that, I’m not too concerned about the other cars in this rally. I’m just going to drive my own rally. It is how I drive.

We are feeling very confident at the moment; actually, from the first day in Durban already. We know we can win and we proved that in the last round. So, we will definitely be looking to repeat that here.”

Team SASOL is looking strongest to claim their second win of the season, and Cronje will be spearheading the Ford challenge on Volkswagen’s home event. This is one H&H rally not to be missed!

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 08

New route for Sun City 400 Words: Staff Writer Picture: Motorpics The winds of change will blow through this year’s Sun City 400, round five of the Absa Off Road Championship, in the Pilanesberg on 29 - 30 July.

The event will be run over roads never before used on the Sun City 400.

The organisers, Off Road SA, have found 200km of new roads which will add to the challenge of what is traditionally one of the toughest events on the Absa calendar.

“We felt it was time to come up with something different,” said race director Adri Roets. “A lot of hard work and man hours went into finding new roads, but it has been worth it.

“The Sun City 400 has always been a tough event. This year will be no exception but we think the route will be a fair test.”

The 60km Donaldson Prologue on Friday 29 July to determine the race grid will be run in the Bakubung area to the west of Sun City. Bakubung means “hippo” in English but at this time of the year competitors are unlikely to find much water along the route.

The race on Saturday 30 July will be run over two loops of 200km each. The first 30km of each loop will follow the prolong route before traversing koppies at Mahobieskraal.

The route then swings further west toward Bapong and Tweelaagte before swinging north to Makgope.

Competitors will then head south to Witrandtjies and back to Sun City via Mahobieskraal.

As with previous Sun City 400 events the route will be spectator friendly. Access to spectator areas along the route will be free of charge.

Race headquarters, the designated service park and the start/ finish will all be located at Sun City, and spectator access to these areas is also free of charge. The Donaldson Prologue will start at 12h30 on Friday and the race at 08h30 on Saturday. H&H

Markko Märtin will defend his victory in auto24 Rally Estonia Words: Staff Writer Picture: Evan Rothman Just nine days before auto24 Rally Estonia, last year’s event winners Markko Märtin and Kristo Kraag have entered the rally to pleasantly surprise all rally fans. Märtin will drive the same car as last year, a Ford Focus WRC03. It will be interesting to see how drivers with different WRC cars will fight for the victory at the auto24 Rally Estonia, which will be held on South-Estonian roads on 15 - 16 July.

As Märtin drives with his Ford Focus WRC03, Georg Gross will use his Ford Focus WRC08, Rene Kuipers will pilot his Ford Focus WRC06 and Ivars Vasaraudzis will compete in his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 2005. Besides the former WRC cars, two crews will start with new WRC cars: Kris Meeke (MINI John Cooper Works WRC) and Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta RS WRC).

These cars are technically very different, as each car has some advantages and disadvantages over the rest.

Urmo Aava, auto 24 Rally Estonia Director said: “Markko Märtin’s participation in auto24 Rally Estonia is very good news for rally fans. For the organizers, this means more

publicity, good competition and a great opportunity to introduce Estonia to Europe. As Markko is starting in auto24 Rally Estonia, there is a very big possibility that the victory of auto24 Rally Estonia will come to Estonia.”

Currently in the sixth place in the WRC Drivers’ Championship Standings, Mads Östberg and Jonas Andersson will fight for victory in the auto24 Rally Estonia next weekend.

But, like the other drivers, they are also doing preparation for Neste Oil Rally Finland.

Mads Ostberg said: “We’re going to fight for the victory, for sure.

Besides that, we are working with different setups and our goal is to get a good feeling before Neste Oil Rally Finland. Its good that Kris Meeke will be in Estonia too, and now Markko Märtin is starting in the rally it will be a really good rally.” auto24 Rally Estonia is held on south Estonian roads on 15 - 16 July. It is the fourth round of Estonian Rally Championship, the second round of Baltic Rally Champoinship and the only Estonian race that is on the FIA calender and is a candidate rally for the FIA European Historic Sporting Rally Championship. H&H

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 09

Multi-national line-up for APRC Words: Staff Writer Seventy-six teams from nine countries have confirmed their entry for the International Rally of Whangarei which runs from 15 - 17 July on roads through the Kaipara and Whangarei districts.

Heading the entry list is Japan’s Katsuhiko Taguchi who drives a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X and is one of 22 teams contesting the event as fourth round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC).

The International Rally of Whangarei also counts as the fourth round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), which includes local competitors in the Group N production car categories. A subsidiary event for NZRC Open, Kiwi 2, Historic Class and Clubmans competitors makes up the rest of the 76-strong field.

“Our APRC competitors are seeded according to their international ranking, and are followed by local competitors based on their position on the Championship points table. Other drivers are then seeded based on past or potential merit,” explains the event’s sporting manager Willard Martin.

Top-placed New Zealand team and current NZRC points’ leader, Richard Mason, has accepted a deal to drive for the Chinese Soueast Motor Kumho Team headed by driver Fan Fan, meaning he’ll be driving for the overall rally win, prestigious APRC points for the team, and also for points in his usual New Zealand Rally Championship category.

Rather than his usual Subaru, Mason will be driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. “It is an opportunity with a quality team,” says Mason, a two-time NZRC Champion. “We have been to China a number of times and admired the way Fan Fan ran his team. We have always been keen on doing some form of event with them and it worked out being a good time to do it at Whangarei.”

Emma Gilmour will also be looking to score APRC points as the she is entered by India’s MRF Tyres team and is expected to have a similar benefit as mason.

Malaysia’s Karamjit Singh, the

2001, 2002 and 2004 APRC Champion, also returns to New Zealand, this time driving a two-wheel-drive Proton Satria Neo. “It’s great to have a mix of familiar and new faces from such a range of countries,” added Martin. “New Caledonia’s Jean-Louis Leyraud (Subaru) and Daniel Palau (Subaru), Indonesians Rifat Sungkar (Mitsubishi) and Subhan Aksa (Mitsubishi), and China’s Fan Fan (Mitsubishi) and Hao Yuan (Mitsubishi) show the range and interest the APRC has attracted this year.”

Four Kiwi teams have selected by the APRC executive as wildcard entries for the rally. They are Ben Jagger (Subaru STI), Sloan Cox (Mitsubishi Evo X), Ben Hunt (Ford Fiesta ST150) and Matt Jansen (Subaru STI).

The field for this year’s International Rally of Whangarei also includes current top-ranked Kiwi driver Hayden Paddon (Subaru STI).

Also among the top-runners in the NZRC Group N production category is defending NZRC champion Dean Sumner (Mitsubishi).

The International Rally of Whangarei commences with pre-event testing and promotional activities on Friday 15 July, with the event based at Whangarei’s Quayside Town Basin. The rally action on Saturday and Sunday takes competitors as far south as Maungaturoto and back to Whangarei for the super special stage at Pohe Island before wrapping up with the ceremonial finish at the town basin on Sunday afternoon. Teams cover 301.12km of gravel road broken into 16 special stages over the two-day event.

H&H

Italian victory boosts Mikkelsen for Azores Words: Staff Writer Picture: Motorpics Andreas Mikkelsen’s SKODA UK Motorsport team boss Pierfrancesco Zanchi reckons his driver’s victory on Rally di San Marino last weekend will hand him a major boost as he prepares to tackle Sata Rallye Acores for a second time next week.

Mikkelsen, who was competing on the Italian Gravel Trophy round in a SKODA Rally Team Italia Fabia Super 2000, similar to the one he uses in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, finished fourth in the Azores last season in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000.

“We needed to win in San Marino and that’s exactly what we did,” said Zanchi. “We are pleased to be leading the [Italian Gravel] championship and are very confident ahead of Sata Rallye Acores.”

Of his victory on the gravel stages in and around San Marino, Mikkelsen said: “The strategy was to take a lead and maintain it carefully. We watched our competitors and maintained a comfortable lead without pushing so hard that we made errors.”

Mikkelsen, from Norway, is seventh in the IRC drivers’ standings H&H after five rounds.

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 10

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Safety plays major role in design of MINI John Cooper Works WRC Words: Staff Writer Picture: MINI Motorsport The MINI WRC Team is setting new standards, and for its debut into world rallying has made an important step forward in the safety of its car by designing a ground breaking roll cage.

The MINI John Cooper Works WRC’s roll cage has a unique sideimpact structure which the engineers from Prodrive believe make it the safest rally car ever. In any accident, be it on the public highway or on a rally stage, a side-impact is the most dangerous, as the distance between the occupants and the point of impact is the smallest.

To overcome this, the car has innovative door beams which curve outwards, allowing them to withstand much greater impact forces and to begin the deceleration of the car sooner and over a longer period of time. This significantly reduces the G-forces experienced by the crew.

The MINI WRC Team’s Technical Director, Dave Wilcock, explained the simple but very important philosophy behind their work in this area: “The new generation of rally cars are more compact than before, however we wanted to ensure that the crew were

safer than ever and also that the car felt as spacious as possible. This brought some unique challenges.”

It was in the early days of the project that this work started with the engineers doing an exhaustive study of crash data. “The Eureka moment was the redesign of the side impact protection bars, routing them farther away from each crew member and subtly changing their shape,” explained Wilcock. “In an impact, this brings the structure into play much sooner, allowing softer materials to be specified to safely decelerate the crew over a much longer period of time.”

The convex curve shape of the door beams allows them to withstand much higher impact forces than traditional straight bars, as well as feeding the loads into nearby welds in a controlled direction, minimising the chance of failure by tearing. The beams are now so far outboard that they pass through the car’s B-pillars, to which they are welded, contributing further strength to the structure.

One important factor that helped this part of the project was the strength of the MINI Countryman bodyshell. “For previous rally cars, we have effectively ignored the original road car bodyshell in calculating the

design of the roll cage. However, the Countryman is such a strong and safe car that we very much used this to our advantage and integrated it into the roll cage design, reducing the material we needed to add and so saving weight,” said Wilcock.

To evaluate how different roll cage joints and welds performed, Prodrive specially prepared more than 50 roll cage joint samples and carried out physical tests on each one to see how each would fail. This led to the complete redesign of many of the joints and the use of a different welding process, as well as the application of a new grade of steel for the cage tubing.

The team is justifiably proud of its achievement which has come at no cost to the car’s performance. Also so safe is the new design that the FIA is now looking to make the unique side impact configuration mandatory in future designs of motorsport roll cages. H&H

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 11

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Victory at Antoine L’Estage’s 100th Rally!

Words: Staff Writer Picture: H&H Archive Driver Antoine L’Estage and his co-driver Nathalie Richard won this past weekend’s Rallye Baiedes-Chaleurs in New Richmond, Québec, Canada. At the wheel of their Rockstar Royal Group Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, the duo overcame multiple obstacles at this event to eventually walk away with their sixth consecutive victory in the Canadian Rally Championship, increasing their lead in the series as well as in the North American Rally Cup. This win is extra special for Antoine L’Estage, as this past weekend’s event marked the 100th rally of his career.

Already winners at the Rallye Perce-Neige and the Rocky Mountain Rally earlier in the season, Antoine L’Estage, Nathalie Richard and the entire Rockstar Concerto team worked extremely hard to claim this victory.

“We just experienced a crazy rally,” explains L’Estage. “Friday night we built up a significant lead right from the first stage before losing two and a half minutes with our rear differential problems, which dropped us into second place by nine seconds. We took back the lead on Saturday morning, but just before the final stage of the rally we were forced to change the gearbox that caused us to check out of service later than the allotted time and therefore incurring a penalty. Luckily, we had a

big enough gap ahead of second place that the penalty and another frustrating problem on the last stage were not enough to knock us off of the top spot.

This was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, one I’d rather not repeat!”

This success goes to a driver celebrating his 100th rally, a co-driver who did another perfect job, and especially to the Rockstar Royal Group team of mechanics who can be extremely proud of their accomplishments this weekend, as explained by Nathalie Richard: “This is a really big team victory, because without the fast and efficient work of John Buffum and our mechanics Paul and Mathieu, we are fairly certain that we would not have just won our sixth Canadian rally in a row.”

The road conditions were equally difficult for this edition of the event thanks to hard rainfall on the days leading up to the rally, leaving the surface extremely slick and muddy.

Antoine L’Estage emphasizes that this was not a concern of his: “My mechanics prepared a very reliable car for me, we were the fastest team, and with my Yokohama tyres, we had a great selection of possibilities. For these conditions, we opted to start the rally on a soft compound tyre, which was the right choice for Friday night’s stages.”

This 2011 edition of the Rallye Baie-des-Chaleurs was a challenge for all the top teams, each of which suffered their fair share of major mechanical problems. This win marks Antoine and

Nathalie’s third victory in New Richmond, and makes it almost impossible for any other team on the continent to claim the North American Rally Cup. The team is now preparing to head to the New England Forest Rally in less than two weeks for the final round of the Rally America Championship. Antoine and Nathalie currently sit in second place in that series.

Antoine L’Estage holds three North American Championship titles (2007, 2008 and 2010), three Canadian titles (2006, 2007 and 2010), one American title (2010), and twentynine overall victories in Canada and the USA. Nathalie Richard holds six overall national championship titles (3 in Canada and 3 in the USA), as well as thirty-five overall rally wins on both sides of the border. She is also a six-time North American Co-Driving Champion (2004 – 2010, excluding 2006). H&H

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L’Estage triumphs at tricky Canadian event Words: Staff Writer Pictures: Andrew Harvey Photography Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs features some of the fastest stages in the Canadian Rally Championship. A challenging combination of rough roads and slippery conditions demands respect from rally teams.

By meeting these challenges and overcoming mechanical gremlins, Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard won the Rallye Baie Des Chaleurs, their sixth Canadian Rally victory in a row. Both L’Estage and Patrick Richard nearly retired twice from the event with technical

difficulties.

“The crew are the ones who made us win this event,” said L’Estage.

“On Friday they had to rebuild the differentials, and then [on Saturday] they replaced the transmission in record time - just 40 minutes. There’s no way we’d be here without their work.”

L’Estage’s main rivals Pat Richard and Leanne Junnila also suffered multiple problems during the rally. “We lost boost and damaged our lights on Friday, and then [on Saturday], broken suspension, damaged differentials,” said Richard. “It’s been a real rollercoaster of an event. This is what happens though when you’re trying to fight for a win.

Things break.”

Richard and Junnila finished second. The pair had dropped well back of L’Estage when troubles hit early in the rally, but fought back to within 20sec of first place after L’Estage encountered difficulties of his own. “I know where I could have found 20sec [on Saturday], so it’s a frustrating result,” said Richard.

“The main thing is we got points towards the Championship.”

Leo Urlichich and Martin Brady finished third, repeating their podium position from the Rocky Mountain Rally, despite problems of their own. “The car has been very difficult to drive.

The throttle response is like an on/off

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 13

switch, so it has been difficult to commit to corners fully,” said Urlichich who had to battle back after a flat tyre and boost problems on Day One set them well down the order for the start of the second day.

Urlichich was able to claw back enough time to pass Bruno Carre, who was also struggling. Max Riddle and Aaron Neumann finished fifth, a personal best for the rookie driver, who is having success in his very first rally season.

Two wheel drive cars were not immune to the tough conditions. Simon Dube was fastest early in the event, until two flat tyres cost he and co-driver Pat Levesque approximately 05min. The pair battled back over the next day and a half, eventually beating main rivals David Berube and co-driver Yves St-Pierre

after Berube and St-Pierre suffered suspension problems that forced them to slow down over the final two stages.

“The rally went through some changes after last year,” said organiser Stephane Roussel. “Although we lost some old stages that were favourites, we came up with a new stage that will become a favourite soon.”

The 2011 season resumes at the Rallye Defi, 9 - 10 September, held in Ste Agathe, Quebec. L’Estage has won the rally more than anyone else, but Richard will need to win to keep hope alive for the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship title. H&H

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION 01) A. L’Estage/N. Richard Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX - 01h 58m 10.1s 02) P. Richard/L. Junnila Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 20.6s 03) L. Urlichich/M. Brady Subaru Impreza BEAST 07 - + 02m 17.3s 04) B. Carre/Y. Joyal Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 02m 59.0s 05) M. Riddle/A. Neumann Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 05m 20.2s 06) J. Levac/S. Lewis Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 08m 39.5s 07) M. Bourassa/D. Paquette Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 09m 48.5s 08) N. Narini/M. Narini Subaru Impreza WRX RS + 10m 10.3s 09) M. Losier/P. Poirier Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII + 10m 14.7s 10) M. Bois/A. Madon Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 12m 26.8s

Issue 190 • 08 July 2011 • Page 14

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Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah sweeps to Pafos victory Words: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah swept to an emphatic victory this past weekend at the inaugural Pafos International Rally, Round Four of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC). The win, which marks Al-Attiyah’s ninth Cyprus MERC victory, also pushes the star Qatari driver to the top of the MERC leaderboard with a healthy 75pts.

Al-Attiyah arrived in Cyprus with 50pts, just one point behind then Championship leader Sheikh Abdullah Al Qassimi of the UAE. A tough battle was expected between the two drivers, each of whom fielded Ford Fiestas S2000s, but Al Qassimi and his British co-driver Steve Lancaster, struggled to find pace on Day One and were further slowed by steering problems on Day Two. Al-Attiyah and his Italian co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini led the event from the off, storming through the event’s opening asphalt special stage on Day One and going on to take five of the day’s remaining stages under the hot Mediterranean sun. Cypriot Constantinos Tingirides was the only other driver to take a special stage (SS2), hoping to boost his position in the local Championship through the event’s coefficient 1.5 status. Tingirides’ good fortune seemed to run out later that afternoon, however, with gearbox problems forcing him out of the running in SS6. Something he made up for on Day Two, when he restarted under SupeRally.

Al-Attiyah’s blistering pace on Day One was enough to give him a 04min 18.6sec overnight lead over

his closest rival, Cypriot driver Simos Galatariotis (fielding a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X). After struggling to make good times on Day One, Al Qassimi found himself starting Day Two chasing the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Rashid Al Ketbi, also of the UAE, for valuable MERC points.

Once Day Two’s morning action got underway from the Service Park, located at the heart of Pafos’ tourist area and just metres from the Mediterranean, Al-Attiyah left no doubt about his dominance of the event, taking the 32.84km Anadiou stage by 21.9sec faster over Tingirides, his closest rival.

Galatariotis was out of the event before the end of SS7 with mechanical failure.

Tingirides upped his pace further in SS8 (Galataria) but Al-Attiyah still took the stage 08.8sec faster than his Cypriot rival. With Al Qassimi struggling with steering problems, Lebanon’s Nicolas Amiouni set the fourth fastest time through the stage, ahead of Al Ketbi. Attrition rates continued to be high on Day Two, with Kuwait’s Essam Al Nejadi among those failing to reach lunchtime service. Amiouni would exit the event in the final afternoon.

Al-Attiyah continuing to show scintillating pace in the last stage of the morning, SS9 Agios Nikolaos, to seal an emphatic lunchtime lead of 08min 24.8sec over the Cypriot crew of Petros Panteli and Chrysostomos Panteli in their Evo IX. Lunchtime service proved disastrous for Al Qassimi where replacement of his steering rack and power steering pump proved problematic and resulted in him leaving service 21min late. Meanwhile, Al-Attiyah

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continued to take no prisoners, flying through SS10 a full 30.2sec faster than second fastest Tingirides, and SS11 by 10.1sec.

Al-Attiyah went on to seal the deal in style by charging through the final stage of the day - and the rally – with a clear 28.3sec lead over Tingirides and a 46.2sec lead over Panteli.

In the Middle East Rally Championship, Al-Attiyah leaves the island as the frontrunner with 75pts, Al Qassimi drops to second place with 63pts, Al Ketbi is close behind with 61pts, and Mufeed Mubarak retains fourth place with 42pts. The MERC battle now moves to Lebanon in September, on H&H the 16th to 18th.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION 01) N. Al-Attiyah/G. Bernacchini Ford Fiesta S2000 - 03h 58m 42.2s 02) P. Panteli/C. Panteli Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X + 10m 43.6s 03) C. Tingirides/P. Shialos Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 11m 38.3s 04) C. Zenonos/S. Laos Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 17m 02.1s 05) E. Velissariou/V. Xenophontos Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 18m 58.7s 06) R. Al Ketbi/K. Al Kendi Skoda Fabia S2000 + 19m 44.0s 07) M. Mubarak/S. Al Melaifa Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X + 22m 33.4s 08) A. Al Qassimi/S. Lancaster Ford Fiesta S2000 + 24m 40.0s 09) G. Paphitis/C. Constantinou Subaru Impreza WRX STi + 26m 35.1s 10) Y. Yiangou/S. Avgousti Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX + 34m 03.5s