handbrakes &hairpins issue 29
INSIDE
Toyota Dealer Rally Action
IRC Istanbul Rally
Latest Rallying News
this week:
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Sasol South African National Rally Championship: Round Two - Toyota Dealer Rally (04 - 05 April 2008)
Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries.
Image: Motorpics
The Western Cape played host to the fast-paced Sasol South African National Rally Championship this past weekend, with thousands of spectators lining the gravel roads to be thrilled and entertained by the masterful driving skills on display. This, the second round of the 2008 Sasol SA National Rally Championship, the Toyota Dealer Rally was characterised by long straights, tight and tricky technical sections over varying surface conditions and the ever-spectacular water splash all added to the excitement of this year’s challenging event. Of the original 59 entrants, only 38 crews managed to cross the finish line after enduring a punishing 206-odd competitive kilometres of Special Stages this year. Jan Habig and Douglas Judd started this rally off on a high, as they proved victorious at the opening event of this year’s calendar. The BP Volkswagen team were confident of another overall win this past weekend, what with all three of their S2000 teams more than capable of claiming overall and class honours. The S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo has shown the rest of this country’s competitors its the one to beat, but will team orders come into effect soon? Hergen Fekken and Pierre Arries (S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo) have been charging hard from the word go this season, look more determined and have a more mature approach to the championship this season. Fekken/Arries are undoubtedly a formidable pairing in South African rallying, but now that Fekken has come to grips with the intricacies and subtleties of premier class rallying the results will be forthcoming. His first this season, and not his last, is the overall win at the Toyota Dealer Rally.
Wilken/Godrich. Image: Motorpics
Cronje/Paisley. Image: Motorpics
Fekken and Arries pushed hard all weekend long, and overtook first Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley (S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX) and then team-mates Enzo Kuun/ Guy Hodgson for first position. In fact, at the end of day one the top three S2000 runners were all tied for first place! The distinctively-liveried BP Volkswagen Polo of Fekken and Arries finished the 2008 Toyota Dealer Rally with a total time of 1h 48min 14sec, which was mere nine (9) seconds quicker than second place finishers Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson. De Wit/Redelin ghuys. Image: Kuun, who suffered from Motorpics poor luck on the Hitachi Power Tools Tour Natal Rally last month, regained his composure to produce a strong result in the Western Cape. Mark Cronje and Robert Paisley’s Castrol Toyota RunX S2000 was running at the top of the leader board, but settled for third position, some 21 seconds adrift of Kuun/Hodgson. Hot on his heels was the ever-spectacular Jan Habig and Douglas Judd in their S2000 BP Volkswagen Polo just 25 seconds behind Cronje/Paisley. If you have been adding up those times, you’d have seen that the first four cars were all within a ONE second gap! South African rallying is alive and kicking… Johnny Gemmel and Peter Marsh (S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX) finished this tough event fifth overall, after suffering from a mysterious engine problem on Day Two. Privateers Jon and Doug Williams (S2000 Guma Volkswagen Polo) brought their rally machine home in a highly commendable sixth place overall. What is important to note here is that this pairing are inching up the leader board slowly and steadily: perhaps they’ll challenge for a podium position soon this season? The young driver is gaining more and more confidence and experience with each rally, and is most definitely a future rally star!
Gemmell/Marsh. Image: Motorpics
Seventh overall went to JP Damseaux and Cobus Very (S2000 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) with S2000 rookies Nicholas Ryan and Schalk van Heerden (S2000 Philips/Jonnesway Toyota RunX) taking eighth spot. Charl Wilken and Greg Goodrich (N4 Sasol Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza) were the first of Production Car Championship
contenders to cross the finish line. After an unpleasant start to their 2008 championship campaign, Wilken/Godrich have produced a result that brings them firmly near the top of the Class N4 and overall Production Car Championship leaders. Japie van Niekerk and Robin Houghton (S2000 Castrol Toyota RunX) scooped tenth place overall, and scored valuable championship points as well as gaining invaluable experience in their mightily impressive S2000 charger. Fernando Rueda and Dave Lewkowicz brought their Total Evolution Mitsubshi Lancer Evo into second place in Class N4, but had they not suffered from propshaft problems on the opening stage of the rally this pair might well have won Class N4. You can bet your last Rand that Rueda will be pushing very hard for the class honours at the next rally‌
Visser/Snyman. Image: Motorpics
Visser du Plessis and Gerhard Snyman (N4 Pirtek Subaru Impreza) survived a frightening 184km/h incident to finish their first rally in the latest and greatest generation Subaru Impreza. The new Subaru impressed all, and will
be a force on future rallies this season. Class A7 winners were Chris de Wit and Dean Redelinghuys (A7 Total Evolution Toyota RunX), who also finished a commendable 14th overall. Nico Higgs/Menno Havel Aar (A7 HRD Racing Toyota RunX) finished second in this class, after a rally-long battle for the lead with De Wit/Redelinghuys. Craig Trott/Tony Ball (A6 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) dominated class A6 to take their second win of the season from two starts, and giving Toyota a class 1-2-3 thanks to the efforts of Andy Haigh Smith/Jonathan Bright (React Toyota Corolla) and Jose de Gouveia/Johan Aucamp (Friendly Grocer Toyota Corolla). Class A5 was once again won by the dedicated and determined pairing of AndrĂŠ Cleenwerck and Des de Fortier in their Class A5 BP Volkswagen CitiGolf. Rodney Visagie/Carolyn Swan (N3 Total Evolution Toyota RunX) took the Class N3 win after the day one leaders, Etienne Lourens/Elvene Coetzee (Ford Racing Fiesta ST) dropped to the back of the field with driveshaft problems. Second in class was the hard-charging privateer Toyota RunX of Kosta Koumatarakis and Barry White, while another N3 Toyota RunX piloted by Duncan English and Rob Williams finished in third place Class N3. The next event on the 2008 Sasol South African National Rally Championship calendar is the highly popular Sasol Rally (02 - 03 May 2008).
Final results of the 2008 Toyota Dealer Rally:
1 S2000 Hergen Fekken/Pierre Arries (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo) 1:48:14 2 S2000 Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo) 1:48:23 3 S2000 Mark Cronje/Robert Paisley (Castrol Toyota RunX) 1:48:44 4 S2000 Jan Habig/Douglas Judd (BP Ultimate Volkswagen Polo) 1:49:09 5 S2000 Johnny Gemmell/Peter Marsh (Castrol Toyota RunX) 1:49:49 6 S2000 Jon/Douglas Williams (Guma Volkswagen Polo) 1:51:18 7 S2000 JP Damseaux/Cobus Vrey (Total Evolution Toyota RunX) 1:52:01 8 S2000 Nicholas Ryan/Schalk v Heerden (Philips/Jonnesway Toyota RunX) 1:53:39 9 N4 Charl Wilken/Greg Godrich (Sasol/Konica Minolta Subaru Impreza) 1:53:56 10 S2000 Japie van Niekerk/Robin Houghton (Castrol Toyota RunX) 1:55:17
Cleenwerck/De Forti er. Image: Motorpics
IRC Istanbul Rally REVIEW: 04 - 06 April 2008 A total of 39 crews entered for this the first round of the 2008 Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Istanbul, Turkey. This event, which also doubled as the openign round of the European Rally Championship, comprised of 255 competitive kilometres, spread over two tough days of rallying. Peugeot Italia driver Luca Rossetti has maintained his 100% success rate in the IRC by taking three victories from three participations in the series. Rossetti, who won in Ypres and Sanremo last year, now adds the Istanbul Rally to his list of victories. Although it was only his fifth gravel rally, he claimed the lead from SS5 in the middle of the opening day and held onto it all the way to the finish, controlling his advantage to end up 22.9s seconds ahead of Peugeot Belgium’s Nicolas Vouilloz.
Images: IRC Friday morning, however, saw a short shakedown stage, before the ceremonial start in the evening. IRC newcomer Jan Kopecky completed his first serious kilometres in his new Peugeot 207 S2000 during the shakedown, as bad weather had plagued his preseason testing. The IRC Istanbul Rally got underway in earnest in the morning with nine Special Stages covering no less than 153,35km. Italian driver Luca Rossetti (Peugeot 207 S2000) topped the timesheets at the end of the firs day’s rallying, with a margin of of more than half a minute over the up-and-coming Spaniard Dani Sola (Abarth Grande Punto S2000). Rossetti is competing on only his fifth gravel rally, but he made consistent progress all day to avoid the punctures that plagued many of the competitors over the course of the stages. Conditions were particularly difficult during the second run through the stages in the afternoon, with some stones being pulled out of the road surfaces. One of the first people to lose time was Peugeot’s Freddy Loix (Peugeot 207 S2000), who picked up a puncture on SS3. He stopped to change the wheel and rejoined just in front of Dani Sola, who lost about 30 seconds in the Belgian’s dust. Nonetheless, Sola grew in confidence throughout the day as he became more familiar with his Procar-run Abarth Grande Punto. On the final stage a fastest time meant that he claimed second place from Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz. Vouilloz – last year’s winner in Turkey – had been a contender for the lead throughout the day, but he too lost time with a puncture during the second loop of stages. This time, the Peugeot driver was able to continue without having to change the wheel – but he was unable to maintain his challenge for the lead. The Frenchman’s worries were compounded during the final two stages of the day, when he felt an intermittent loss of power from his 207’s engine. Former European Champion Renato Travaglia was Rossetti’s closest challenger after Vouilloz dropped back, but he had problems of his own on the final stage following a heavy landing after a jump. He ended the day in fourth place, only six seconds ahead of the factory Abarth Grande Punto of Anton Alen. The young Finn, who led much of last year’s Rally Turkey before encountering some brake problems, felt that he had a slight engine issue and so was unable to mount an attack for the lead. Alen was still more fortunate than his team mate Giandomenico Basso, who tripped over a rock on SS4 and rolled heavily. The Italian was able to continue, but 10 minutes was lost and there was a lot of work in store for the mechanics at the service park. At least Basso remains in the rally – unlike Brice Tirabassi, whose BSA-run Peugeot 207 S2000 was forced into retirement on the final loop of stages with a double puncture. He is expected to re-start tomorrow. Luca Betti was also out on the final loop of stages,
breaking the radiator of his Mitsubishi Lancer just after the biggest watersplash in the rally. The similar Mitsubishi of Giovanni Manfrinato was also a victim of the same watersplash, with water getting into the engine and stopping him in his tracks. The two-wheel drive section of the rally, valid for the IRC 2WD Cup, is currently led by local driver Yagiz Avci, at the wheel of a Fiat Punto S1600. The weather for the second and final day of the Istanbul Rally took a turn for the worse, with the threatened rain finally making an appearance in the afternoon. As conditions worsened, the road surfaces degraded and became even more challenging. The day did not go entirely to plan for Rossetti, who picked up a puncture on SS12. However, the incident occured just two kilometres from the end of the stage – meaning that the Italian did not lose much time. This also enabled Vouilloz to close to within 30 seconds of him. The Frenchman was in contention for the lead throughout the first half of the opening day; however a puncture during the second loop of stages on Saturday meant that he dropped back from the lead battle. He pushed hard on Sunday, but could not quite close the gap to the leader. Anton Alen, however, claimed the final podium place in his Abarth on the very last stage, when his key rival Renato Travaglia also driving an Abarth, run by Grifone – dropped more than a minute after going off the road and collecting a puncture. The Finn, whose father is the legendary Markku Alen, did not have a good feeling with his car throughout the event but pushed hard over the final day to claim his podium place. Jan Kopecky was fifth after a sensible drive at the wheel of his newly-acquired Peugeot 207 S2000, keeping out of the trouble that affected many of his rivals. Nonetheless the Czech driver had a tense final stage, ending the rally just half a second ahead of promising young Spaniard Dani Sola. The Abarth driver, run by Procar, actually started the day in second overall, some 45 seconds behind Rossetti. But a puncture on the opening stage of day two dropped him 50 seconds to sixth place – where he was to remain until the end of the rally. Two early victims of punctures were local hero Volkan Isik (Abarth) and Freddy Loix (Peugeot) – who both had to stop and change a wheel on SS3 and never recovered from the time lost. They finished the rally seventh and eighth respectively – separated by just seventenths of a second! There was an equally tight battle for the two-wheel drive section of the rally, valid for the IRC 2WD Cup, which was only settled on the final stage of the event. Former Junior World Championship competitor Fatih Kara headed into the last stage with a three-second advantage, but Yagiz Avci went 12 seconds faster at the wheel of a similar Fiat Punto S1600 to claim the class win and ninth place overall. The retirements included Giandomenico Basso (Abarth), who did not re-start today following a heavy roll yesterday afternoon and Luca Betti (Mitsubishi) who broke the radiator of his Lancer at one of the watersplashes yesterday. Brice Tirabassi (Peugeot) also retired after accumulating two punctures on Saturday afternoon when he had only one spare wheel. Driver quotes: Luca Rossetti (Peugeot Italia 207 S2000): “I’m very surprised that we’ve managed to claim this win; I would never have guessed we had a chance before the start of the event. I just tried to steer clear of the sharpest stones as much as possible and I think that’s how we managed to win. This has been a very difficult rally – the speeds were very fast and it wasn’t easy to choose the right pace.” Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot Belgium 207 S2000): “I tried to push a little harder at the beginning of the final loop to see if we could put pressure on Luca, but it soon became clear that we would have to settle for second. I’m quite happy though: a second place is very good for the championship and we’ve come away with a lot more than many other people have.” - Additional Reporting: IRC Media. Final Results of the IRC Istanbul Rally: 1) Luca Rossetti (I)/Matteo Chiarcossi (I) - Peugeot 207 S2000 = 2h24m48.3s 2) Nicolas Vouilloz (F)/Nicolas Klinger (F) - Peugeot 207 S2000 = +22.9s 3) Anton Alen (FIN)/Timo Alanne (FIN) - Abarth Grande Punto = +1m27.1s 4) Renato Travaglia (I)/Lorenzo Granai (I) - Abarth Grande Punto = +2m09.2s 5) Jan Kopecky (CZ)/Petr Stary (CZ) - Peugeot 207 S2000 = +2m13.6s 6) Dani Sola (E)/Oscar Sanchez (E) - Abarth Grande Punto = +2m14.1s 7) VoIkan Isik (TR)/Kaan Ozsenler (TR) - Abarth Grande Punto = +4m46.8s 8) Freddy Loix (B)/Robin Buysmans (B) - Peugeot 207 S2000 = +4m47.5s 9) Yagiz Avci (TR)/Ersan Alkir (TR) - Fiat Punto S1600 = +10m28.9s 10) Fatih Kara (TR)/Bilge Ayan (TR) - Fiat Punto S1600 = +10m38.4s Drivers’ Championship standings: 1) Rossetti - 10 points 2) Vouilloz - 8 points 3) Alen - 6 points 4) Travaglia - 5 points 5) Kopecky - 4 points 6) Sola - 3 points 7) Isik - 2 points 8) Loix - 1 point Manufacturers’ Championship standings: 1) Peugeot - 18 points 2) Abarth
IRC 2008
P-WRC Rally Argentina REVIEW
Adverse weather conditions at the start of P-WRC Rally Argentina made the gravel stages even more challenging. P-WRC frontrunners fell victim to the low grip levels produced by the rain and mud, resulting in nine P-WRC crews having to restart Day Two under SupeRally regulations. Red Bull-backed Andreas Aigner made a strong start to the event, and fought off Toshi Aria (Subaru) on the opening stages. Aigner went about strengthening his lead, and this was key to his victory on this rally. His consistency and ability to produce fast stage times almost on demand meant his gap to second-place runners grew steadily. Ligato held on to second throughout the first day until a blown engine on SS10 allowed fellow Argentine Beltran to take his place. Beltran, a local guest driver entered by the organisers for this event, drove strongly but not strongly enough to keep Al-Attiyah behind him. The 2006 P-WRC champion started cautiously but found his rhythm midway through day one at the wheel of the all-new Subaru N14. From being nearly three minutes off the lead, he set multiple fastest stage times passing Beltran for second by the end of day two and closing the gap to Aigner to just 52 seconds.
Images: RallyStuff.Net
Final day heartache for Al-Attiyah, however, saw the Qatari sidelined with engine woes, allowing Beltran to win the closely fought battle for eight points. Al-Attiyah was consoled by winning the most stages and leading the Sprinter Standings on this event.
At the end of the rally it was Ketomaa who stole the final podium spot; running as low as 11th on day one the Finn powered his way up the leaderboard, a string of top five stage times helping him claim fourth by half way through the second day which he held onto until Al-Attiyah’s retirement on SS20, at which point he moved into third, on his first outing in Argentina. Despite all his problems, Nutahara finally finished fourth. Toshi Arai (Subaru) limped through SS2 with a bent steering arm and then had to stop and change it in the next stage after it broke completely, costing him 16 minutes and pulling him down the order from second to 22nd and a broken suspension on SS6 eventually saw him sidelined for the day. Day two started better but broken dampers towards the end of the day denied him any possibility of working his way up the leaderboard and the Japanese preferred to retire from the rally to spend time looking into the cause of the problems instead of restarting. On his first P-WRC event, Evgeny Novikov (Subaru) broke a front shock absorber and the two front anti-roll bar supports on SS1, claiming the car to be un-driveable, and after a tricky day he opted not to drive the superspecial stage to make repairs. A fuel pressure problem early on day two also saw the P-WRC’s youngest ever driver (DOB 19.09.90) sidelined for the day and electrical problems saw him unable to restart for day three. Not unlike his outing in his Junior car in Mexico, Patrik Sandell’s (Peugeot) story in Argentina was one of fighting back in the wake of a string of problems. He lost the use of his handbrake SS1, by SS2 the clutch had stopped working as well and by SS3 he also had no power steering but two stage wins in the afternoon helped him power his way up the leaderboard, as did a couple more stage victories on day two. Bit disaster struck on SS19 when an overheating engine marked the end of his rally. Travis Pastrana (Subaru) had a bad start to his rally as he rolled his Impreza on SS1, although still managing to continue; he had no brakes through SS2 and SS3, managing to make some repairs for SS4. But with so much damage to the front of the car after the accident, he incurred a minute in penalties leaving the midday service late. Then on SS7 he hit a rock 1.5 kilometres in and broke the front suspension. From day two things improved and he set a string of top five stage times, until a broken steering arm only a kilometre before the end of SS16 stopped him short, adding 15 minutes of time penalties to his tally. The final day wasn’t any better as a broken rear axle truncated his rally on the penultimate stage. - Additional Reporting: www.wrc.com.
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Fuel Stop: News Briefs “Bad luck” plagues Suzuki in WRC Rally Argentina
According to reports, the Suzuki World Rally Team principal Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima says that sheer bad luck played a big part in his team’s disappointing performance on WRC Rally Argentina and that some of the previous reliability issues of the SX4 WRC have now been solved. The two Suzuki SX4 WRCs arrived in Argentina with a revised head gasket designed to prevent a repeat of failures that forced Toni Gardemeister out in Monte Carlo, P-G Andersson out in Sweden and an early double retirement in Mexico. In Argentina both Suzuki drivers experimented with set-ups on the soft and wet stages and concentrated on learning as much as possible for the future, but both experienced their share of mechanical problems. The first day of Andersson’s rally was halted by a turbo boost pressure sensor failure, while a suspension breakage stopped his run on day two. He restarted on Sunday and set the eighth-fastest time through the Giulio Cesare stage, hinting at the potential of the SX4 WRC on a clean run with no problems. Gardemeister had a reliable run on the opening day before hitting a rock in the afternoon. He re-joined for day two but was held back by a combination of hydraulic and electronic problems that prevented him from completing the leg. Gardemeister re-started the final day in order to rack up some test kilometres but did not make the finish. - Credit: www.wrc.com.
WRC Rally Jordan entry list published A total of 55 entries have been received for the WRC Rally Jordan (24 - 27 April), round five of the World Rally Championship calendar. Championship leader Sebastien Loeb tops the entry list for this event as the top seeded driver in the line-up. A total of 16 WRC class entires have been received, from all the factory-backed teams and the privateers. Total Citroen, Suzuki, Subaru and the Munchi’s Ford teams will enter the same two car squads as they did on the previous round in Argentina but there are three cars each for the BP Ford Abu-Dhabi and Stobart VK M-Sport outfits. Matthew Wilson, Gigi Gall and Henning Solberg will each drive Ford Focus RS WRCs for the Stobart team, with Galli and Solberg eligible to score manufacturers’ points. While after missing the rallies in Mexico and Argentina, the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi is back alongside points nominated Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala at the works Ford team. The man who finished fourth Argentina, Conrad Rautenbach, and Estonia’s Urmo Aava will each tackle the event in privately run Citroen C4 WRCs. Ten Jordanian teams have entered, including 2004 Jordan Rally champion Amjad Farrah who is competing this year on the Production WRC series. Jordan’s Abir Batikhi is the only woman in the start line-up and could make history as the first Arab woman to compete in the WRC. The Jordan Rally is the second of seven rounds that count towards the FIA Junior World Rally Championship and the rally has attracted 16 entries in the 1600cc two-wheel drive category. After a sensational series debut in Mexico, the championship leader Sebastien Ogier will start his second J-WRC rally in Jordan in the FFSA backed Citroen C2. Also driving in Jordan will be the Suzuki drivers Jaan Molder and Michal Kosciuszko who are the second and third in the contest. The event will start with an opening ceremony on Thursday 24 April, followed by three days of challenging competition on routes that are close to the Dead Sea and through the Jordan Valley. - Credit: www. wrc.com.
All images: RallyStuff.Net.
Electrical fault found for Solberg’s retirement
The Subaru World Rally Team has confirmed that Petter Solberg’s dramatic last day retirement from Rally Argentina was caused by a broken connection on his car’s main electrical wiring harness. Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills began the final day of Rally Argentina in second place and on course to record their best result since Rally Portugal in 2007. But midway through the first stage of the morning their Impreza WRC2007 coasted to a halt after losing all electrical power. The team’s operations director Paul Howarth said the car had been examined in detail since it returned to the UK from Argentina on Friday 2 April. “We’re still investigating the exact circumstances of the failure as it’s not something we’ve seen before,” said Howarth. “We can say for sure that the failure was caused by a broken connection on the main wiring harness but we’re still looking into why it broke. The harnesses on our two cars for Jordan Rally have been double checked and we’ve made a small modification to the area that failed.” Howarth said the nature of the problem, and the inaccessible location of the wiring harness, meant Solberg was unable to make any sort of repairs on the stage. “There was no prior warning, it just stopped and that was it,” said Solberg. “Up to that point the car had been working well and there was no indication that anything was wrong. But then the dash screen went blank, the engine stopped and that was it. It was quite shocking. Once we pulled over we checked the normal things. Phil was on the satellite phone to the team while I checked all the connections I could - starting at the battery. I couldn’t reach too much of the main loom because it’s buried so deep underneath the car. In the end we ran out of time and had to stop. I was very disappointed of course, but I accepted what had happened. I think Phil was more upset than me - two cars on the podium would have meant so much to all of us in the team.” Solberg said that despite the retirement, his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 had performed more strongly in Argentina than ever before. “The car worked properly for one and half stages on Saturday morning and all four in the afternoon and that was very good,” he said. “Okay, sometimes it wasn’t perfect but in general I was very happy with things, we could attack harder than we’ve ever managed to before.” Given continued progress with the car, Solberg believes a win might be possible on the next round in Jordan. “David Richards and the whole team are flat out at the moment, they’re working very hard and I’m very impressed with how things are progressing,” he said. “Our performance in Argentina was good for our motivation. In Jordan I’m sure that if the car is right we could fight for a win. It’s up to the team to get the car right before the start - then it’s up to me.” - Credit: www.wrc.com.
Hungarian Rally: Rally Eger REVIEW 04 - 06 April 2008
The first outing of Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère’s European campaign with the PH Sport-run Citroën C2-R2 MAX took the French pair to Hungary for the Rally Eger. Despite the difficult conditions, the event was fiercely contested throughout, but the new Citroën came through it to win the two-wheel drive category. The two-day rally was based in Eger, 150km northeast of Budapest, and featured a selection of fast but extremely slippery asphalt stages. A little more than 170km of competitive action awaited the C2-R2 MAX which was making its competition debut following its Group R homologation by the FIA on March 1. For the rally itself, Simon Jean-Joseph and Jack Boyère were seeded number one and consequently headed the field out to Saturday’s early stages. The weather then took a turn for the worse during the morning and the remainder of the leg took place in incessant rain, while fog was an additional hazard during the night-time tests. “The conditions were very difficult,” observed the Martinique-based driver. “During recce, we realised that the asphalt wouldn’t give much grip in the dry, and the rain only served to make matters worse.” However, that didn’t prevent the Citroën from constantly challenging for the lead in the two-wheel drive category. The second leg took place in milder weather, although the stages were just as treacherous as the C2-R2 MAX continued to fight for supremacy in its category. The outcome was finally decided on the last 13.10km stage which the Citroën driver completed with a lead of 2.4 seconds. ”Our maiden run with the Citroën C2-R2 MAX went remarkably well,” concluded the 2007 European Champion. ”We received a superb welcome from the organisers, fellow competitors and spectators and we had a great fight all weekend. The terrain wasn’t easy but we came out of it on top despite some very stiff opposition. This result is a fitting reward for all the guys at Citroën Sport and PH Sport who have worked so hard to make the C2-R2 MAX both competitive and reliable, whatever the conditions.” “It was the Citroën C2-R2 MAX’s first event and its first win, and that’s very satisfying,” confirmed Jean-François Liénéré. ”Contesting the Rally Eger was a great success on several fronts. The experience of our crew meant they were able to make the most of the car to showcase its ability, potential and reliability. Our win in the two-wheel drive category proves that the C2-R2 MAX is capable of taking on cars from superior categories. Simon, Jack and PH Sport did a remarkable job which has got our 2008 programme off to a flying start.” - Credit: Citroen Press.