H&H-93

s e k a r b d Han &Hairpins

2009 Edition 93 August

ld of rallying

he wor your insight into t

Cover

Pressure mounts as WRC heads to Spain

inside this week:

Events

Features

Vos takes Exciting action in X Games Rally event championship lead

Contents / Issue 93 Welcome to H&H! News • • • • • • •

Novikov gets new co-driver Kopecky under pressure in Skoda Meeke says fifth in Madeira tough Orsian Pryce wins in Latvia Rally Czech boasts 24 S2000s Eyes focus on Spain for WRC duel M-Sport builds Fiesta S2000

Features • Vos takes charge of title fight • Osram Rally action set to be hot

Event Reports • Menzi wins in Argentinean Rally • All Tar Rally action thrilling • Pastrana tames X Games, again

Welcome to issue 93 of HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS, your FREE weekly insight into the world of rallying!

With more and more rally action taking place around the world, reading news about this most fantastic sport is easy. Not only do you have this environmentally-friendly magazine HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS in front of you, but also websites such as South Africa’s www.rallynews.co.za and www.rallybuzz.com to keep us informed and entertained.

Without the dedicated and enthusiastic media, this sport would not be as vibrant as it is.

In this week’s issue, we feature the gripping X Games Rally, in which Travis Pastrana and his Subaru wowed the hordes of spectators on his way to a Silver medal. Also, the Dayco All Tar Rally, with a concept that I find truly exciting, makes for interesting reading.

Mike Nathan and Derek Jacobs won this event, in which it was drama-filled. Thanks to Patrick Vermaak for writing this article.

Next week, you will be able to read about a rising WRC star in an EXCLUSIVE interview wiht HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS. As always, I hope you enjoy this week’s exciting edition!

Yours in Rallying, Evan Rothman

Contact To receive your FREE weekly HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS e-magazine, or if you’d like to share this with a friend please send me your e-mail address to evan.hhmag@gmail.com.

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Stephane Prevot to return to Citroen WRC fold with Evgeny Novikov

rally such as Finland, which is not natural for me. I drive more easily on asphalt.”

- Credit: wrc.com

Belgian co-driver Stephane Prevot is to partner Russian Citroen Junior team driver Evgeniy Novikov for the rest of the season.

They are to start together on the Barum Rally, the IRC event which Novikov will contest privately in a Skoda Fabia S2000, then tackle the Spain and GB world championship events with Citroen. The 19 year old Russian Junior driver is nominated this season as the fastest young driver in the WRC. Prevot competed on six rallies with Citroen in 2005 with Francois Duval, parting company after an accident in Cyprus that year.

He will replace Dale Moscatt, which leaves Australia on the eve of their world championship event with no competitor in the WRC this year.

Best rally crews head to Spain for “greatest rally show” in the world One of the most popular features of the RallyRACC CatalunyaCOSTA DAURADA, Rally de España will return this October, when 25 of the sport’s most iconic rally cars take to the Spanish stages.

All of the great cars to grace the World Rally Championship will be represented as the penultimate round of the series celebrates 30 years of the championship. Cars ranging from all eras of the sport will drive the stages after the current World Rally Cars have been through and before they return for their second loop.

Novikov had not planned to compete in Australia, however.

Prévot was codriving the last two seasons for Australian driver Chris Atkinson.

- Credit: Willy Weyens and rallybuzz.com

The heroes of the Group 4 era will be represented by such fabulous metal as the Ford Escort Mk2 and the Fiat 131 Abarth.

The move into the brute force of Group B comes with, among others, the hugely evocative Audi Quattro - in a range of guises, including the fearsome E2 - and MG Metro 6R4.

Sebastien Loeb pleased to be back on the podium at Rally Finland

Post-1987 is not forgotten, either, with Group A well represented by one of the sport’s most successful ever cars: the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. And, as if that’s not enough, there’s a Ford Escort Cosworth in there as well.

Five-time world champion Sebastien Loeb has talked of his relief to make it back to the podium of a WRC round on last week’s WRC Rally Finland.

Loeb’s run of three rallies without a podium finish is the longest the Frenchman has been without collecting a top-three result on a world rally since the Cyprus Rally in June, 2003.

Loeb said: “I’m glad to get back on the podium. I have not been accustomed to victory for some time, or the podium, then to climb the stairs again, this is not so bad. I still collected big points even if I wanted to score some more.”

He also paid tribute to his Ford rival Mikko Hirvonen, saying: “Bravo to [Mikko] Hirvonen. He did a great race, very fast and without making a mistake.

“He made the difference. We both drove flat out for a long time and broke many stage records. I can tell you we were going fast.”

The Frenchman confessed the ultra-fast Finnish lanes still don’t come as naturally to him as the switchback asphalt roads of central and southern Europe.

“Finding the rhythm where we don’t take risks but are still advancing,” said Loeb, “that’s the difficult part, especially on a

After being shown at the ceremonial start in Salou on the evening of Thursday October 1, the cars will drive the La Mussara, Querol and El Monmell stages on Friday, before returning to service at Port Aventura.

On day two, the machinery can be seen on El Priorat/La Ribera, Les Garrigues and La Llena stages before traversing the Riudecanyes, Santa Marina and Serra d’Almos roads on Sunday.

- Credit: wrc.com

Pressure is on Kopecky, says Skoda Rally team-mate Juho Hanninen Juho Hanninen believes his Skoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecky will start Barum Czech Rally Zlin with the hopes of a nation on his shoulders.

Kopecky, who hails from Czech Republic, is currently second in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge standings and will be the favourite to land his first victory in the series on home soil later this month.

Finn Hanninen, who claimed Skoda’s maiden IRC win in Russia

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last month, said: “The pressure will be on Jan because he is a Czech driver in a Czech car and is very quick. It will be my first time there so I am not expecting anything too much. A topfive finish would be good for me.”

- Credit: ircseries.com

Meeke says fifth in Madeira tough Kris Meeke has described his fifth-place finish on Rali Vinho Madeira as being crucial in his bid to claim the Intercontinental Rally Challenge title, adding that his haul of four points was harder to achieve than the three maximum scores he has landed this season.

finish, his third victory on the island. Alex Camacho, also from Portugal, finished third.

Araujo said: “For many years we hadn’t seen the rally finishing with such a difference between the first and second places. It was an excellent rally with many people on the roads watching.

The competition among the drivers was very hot and hard and was incredibly competitive. We also had the pleasure of seeing two Portuguese drivers fighting for the podium places, which was remarkable. It was one of the all time best editions of the rally, at least for the competition we saw on the road.”

- Credit: ircseries.com

The 30-year-old Peugeot UK driver moved five points clear of Jan Kopecky at the top of the drivers’ standings.

IRC Barum Rally Zlin receives 119 entries, 25 S2000 crews

“I probably worked harder for those four points than I did for the ten I got in Brazil, Azores and Ypres,” said Meeke.

“It’s such a tough place to go for the first time. It’s such a specialised event and it’s very difficult to learn the roads. In Ypres you had maybe 100 corners per stage to learn but in Madeira it was more like 300.”

- Credit: ircseries.com

119 crews are entered for the 2009 Barum Rally Zlin which is round 8 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and round 7 of the European Rally Championship.

Alen hails Basso win in Madeira Giandomenico Basso’s first win in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge is just the fillip the factory Abarth squad needs in its efforts to get its season back on track.

That’s the view of Basso’s team-mate Anton Alen, who will return to the Italian team for the Barum Czech Rally Zlin later this month. He said: “It’s a great result and of course it’s a big boost for the team,” said Alen. “He has always been quick there but to prove it again with the opposition he faced is very good.”

The Abarth team is due to undertake a test before it resumes its IRC campaign in Czech Republic.

- Credit: ircseries.com

Albert Llovera endorses IRC’s TV packaging programmes Albert Llovera has revealed he was attracted to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge by the amount of television coverage on pan-European network Eurosport.

Llovera finished 21st on the recent Rali Vinho Madeira, which marked his debut in the series. He was driving an Abarth Grande Punto Super 2000. “The IRC gives you more possibilities of getting sponsorship because the TV on Eurosport is very good,” he said.

The Andorran driver, 42, typically contests a couple of international rallies each season but hadn’t competed in the IRC until the recent visit to Madeira. He uses special hand controls after being paralysed from the waist down in an accident when he was competing in a Super G skiing event in Sarajevo in 1985.

- Credit: ircseries.com

Portuguese celebrate classic IRC Rali Vinho Madeira Pedro Araujo, the clerk of the course of Rali Vinho Madeira, has described the recent Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier as one of the best ever.

Works Abarth driver Giandomenico Basso won the event, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Italian beat Portugal’s Bruno Magalhaes by 3,5 seconds in a scintillating

A record breaking 25 Super 2000 cars are entered with Juho Hanninen the number 1 seed in his Skoda Fabia S2000. Luca Rossetti is at 2 in the Abarth Punto S2000 courtesy of his FIA priority status. The BFGoodrich Drivers Team choice for Barum, Martin Prokop, is number 3 in a Kronos Peugeot 207 S2000.

Madeira Rally winner Giandomenico Basso will start at number four in his Abarth and IRC debutant Andreas Mikkelsen is seeded 5 in the Opel Corsa S2000.

Other entries of note include Roman Kresta at 8 in a Peugeot 207 S2000, IRC championship leader Kris Meeke at number 9, Pavel Valousek and Evgeny Novikov both in Skoda Fabia S2000s, the Protons of Guy Wilks and Bryan Bouffier, etc.

There are 12 Peugeots, six Puntos, four Fabias, two Protons and a Corsa entered in the Super 2000 category for the rally.

- Credit: rallybuzz.com

Loeb happy to find form once again in Rally Finland, adds more pressure After his five successive victories in the opening rounds of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, Sebastien Loeb is reeling from two crashes in Sardinia and Poland, and now defeat at the hands of Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen in Finland, who has extended his championship lead over Loeb as a result.

After dominating the early rounds, Loeb must now fight back if he is to claim his sixth consecutive WRC crown. “Mikko has been a great competitor all year and we never believed that our run at the start of the year would last all season,” Loeb said. “Ford is strong and Mikko is a great competitor, and right from the start of the year we looked at Finland and felt it would be tough to try and win there... and it was.”

For Stilo-wearing Loeb, the focus now falls on the remaining events in the WRC calendar. Coming up fast is the all-asphalt Rallye Catalunya which has seen Loeb victorious on each of the last four times that the WRC has visited the event. With that provenance and the combination of Loeb and Citroen on paved roads, the fightback can be expected to begin.

- Credit: stilo.it and rallybuzz.com

Welshman Orsian Pryce drives to faultless finish in Rally Gulbis 16 year old Welshman Osian Pryce put in a faultless drive on last weekends dusty Rally Gulbis in Latvia to bring his Renault Clio home second in class and 29th overall.

Osian, who is a member of the Junior Rallying Scheme, is taking advantage of the fact that minors over the age of 14

are able to compete in stage rallies in Latvia. Co-driven by the experienced Craig Parry the pair enjoyed a strong and faultless run to record Osian’s second finish in a row and his first ever class podium.

Pryce said: “Fantastic! Today went really well and everything just clicked. The conditions were tricky with the dust hanging but Craig and I had a great run and this is a brilliant reward for all the hard work we’ve all put in! Craig and I have worked hard on my pacenotes and it really paid off this weekend!”

Junior Rallying is a revolutionary project which allows teenagers, too young to compete in the UK, to learn the ropes in forest rallies in Latvia as the search for the next British World Rally Champion heightens.

- Credit: rallybuzz.com

Richard Burns Memorial Rally to take place this weekend in the UK Returning for its second year, this weekend’s Richard Burns Memorial Rally at RAF Marham in Norfolk will see 92 crews take part in the the event based over two days.

Spectator tickets are available on the gate at £10 for each day with children u/16 go free and free on-site parking. A concessionary price of £5 is available for MOD pass holders with display of Service passes on the gate. Gates will open at 7am each day with the following attractions have been confirmed.

Working in partnership with personnel from RAF Marham, the Kings Lynn & District Motor Club will transform the stations runways and link roads into over 160km of competitive stages.

Improvements for 2009 include spectator viewing access to the paddock area where the teams will carry out their rapid servicing and emergency repairs.

Dave TV’s Neil Cole will be co-driving for Tom Cave in his Ford Fiesta ST. Mark Higgins will be in his Aston Martin Vantage, with Alan Thistlethwaite in another Vantage. They are joined by 1 Audi, 2 BMWs, 4 Citroens, 2 Darrians, 26 Fords, 1 Hillman, 1 Litton, 1 Lotus, 3 MGs, 5 Mitsubishis, 1 Morris Minis, 4 Nissans, 10 Peugeots, 2 Renaults, 1 Rover, 1 Skoda, 11 Subarus, 4 Talbots, 8 Vauxhalls and 2 Volkswagens.

Owing to the unique location of the event the Royal Air Force will be represented in the sky on the Sunday 16th August by the world famous RAF Red Arrows Display Team and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. In addition there will be a host of family entertainments, classic cars, static aircraft and a range of refreshment stands making the event a fantastic attraction for all the family.

- Credit: rallybuzz.com

Pierre Campana to compete in Sanremo Rally in IRC this month French driver Pierre Campana, who is managed by Quadra Sports, will compete on the legendary Sanremo Rally in

September, round 10 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Campana, aged 24, will drive the latest-specification Renault Clio R3 run by the well-known Italian Power Car TeamMunaretto.

The Frenchman shot to fame when he finished on the podium of the Junior category at the Tour de Corse last year: France’s round of the World Rally Championship. However, this will be his first rally outside of France as a driver: although he contested last year’s Swedish Rally as a co-driver in order to build up further experience of international events.

The 51st Sanremo Rally will take place from September 24-26 in the mountains around the Ligurian seaside resort of Sanremo. Run for many years as part of the World Rally Championship, the Sanremo Rally is a mythical event thanks to its atmospheric and demanding asphalt roads. Amongst the many challenges that Sanremo offers are long night stages and uncertain weather conditions.

Pierre will be co-driven by his fellow Corsican Sabrina de Castelli, who has also accompanied him to two out of three wins on the French Suzuki Cup this season. Pierre has previous experience of Renault’s state-of-the-art Clio R3 from the Vins de Champagne Rally this year in France but his Sanremo outing offers an even greater challenge.

A highly-competitive field is sure to be in place, because as well as counting for the IRC, the Sanremo Rally is also part of the Clio R3 Trofeo Italia and the Clio R3 West European Trophy.

Despite the strength of his rivals and his own inexperience, Pierre is determined to push hard for class victory in September.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have this amazing opportunity: along with competing on the Tour de Corse this is one of the biggest chances of my career so far,” said Pierre. “I know that the other drivers are sure to have more experience with the car and better knowledge of international events in general, but this is not going to put me off: we have a really good package at our disposal and we intend to use it to its full potential.”

In order to reacquaint himself with the Renault Clio R3 and its BFGoodrich tyres, Pierre will benefit from a one-day test session in Tuscany in early September.

“I’ve been very impressed with the car and the team from what I have seen so far, and I would like to thank everybody who has helped to make this project a reality,” concluded Pierre. “Myself and Sabrina are aiming firmly to reward everybody’s faith in us with a result to be proud of in Sanremo.”

Power Car Team principal Fabio Munaretto commented: “We are proud to be working with another very promising young driver. We will do everything possible to ensure that he benefits from a top car and all our experience to achieve the result that his talent deserves.”

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M-Sport to begin production of all-new Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car Three months since the news that M-Sport would be starting work on a Fiesta S2000 rally car, the company has announced that it is ready to begin production of the first vehicle.

Construction of the first shell should be completed this week and will allow building of the exciting new rally car to commence.

The design and development of the Fiesta S2000 rally car at M-Sport’s Cumbrian base has been making good progress and is being completed according to schedule. Since the announcement of the project in April work has been steadily increasing and for the last month a team of ten designers and engineers have been working around the clock on the project.

The vast majority of the design has now been completed and the new rally car, based on the top-selling Ford Fiesta road car, has been confirmed as the vehicle which Ford will use to campaign the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship.

The manufacture of S2000 rally car parts is already ahead of schedule with many components already delivered to M-Sport and the remainder in advanced stages of production.

The design team, led by M-Sport’s award-winning Technical Director Christian Loriaux, has applied the same design philosophy that was behind the record-breaking Ford Focus RS WRC. The knowledge gained from the development of that car has gone into the design of the new Fiesta S2000 rally car, whilst still working within the new technical regulations laid out by the FIA. Refining the design to work within the new parameters, which include a ban on the use of high-cost materials like titanium, Kevlar and carbon fibre, the team at M-Sport has concentrated on developing the best possible weight distribution for the car.

One of the first areas to be finalised was the roll cage. Stricter definitions of the roll cage geometry have been laid out by the FIA in order to improve safety and more basic requirements, like an increase in the size of the tube used to construct the roll cage from 38mm to 50mm, have been included in the compulsory guidelines.

The first engine is due for installation into the car at the end of August and then work on the construction of the first vehicle will begin in earnest. Once that phase is complete engine tests will be run to measure performance and reliability.

The design team at M-Sport have worked closely with the Ford B-Car team to take advantage of the computer-aided design technology embraced in the development of the new Fiesta road car and to integrate many of its kinetic design principles.

The FIA sporting regulations allow the car to have a maximum width of 1820mm. This has enabled designers to make significant changes to the aerodynamic design of the narrow Fiesta base car. A comprehensive aerodynamic study has been undertaken on the updated design which has produced a dynamic and aggressive looking vehicle.

M-Sport Technical Director Christian Loriaux said: “M-Sport is a proven leader in roll cage design concepts, and we have put into practice all of our experience in the design for the new M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car. All of the design has now been completed and our excellent in-house facilities at Dovenby Hall have allowed us to challenge our theories through live testing. All aspects of the new car are progressing according to schedule and we are very pleased with the progress so far.”

M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson OBE said: “The Fiesta S2000 rally car is really starting to take shape now. We have been spurred on by the announcement last week of Ford’s two-year commitment to the FIA World Rally Championship and the introduction of the Fiesta S2000 as its car to campaign the 2011 series. Next year sees the introduction of the World Cup for S2000 cars within the WRC and will give privateers and teams alike a real chance to challenge for victory in a new car which has been built with all our technical expertise and experience.”

- Credit: m-sport.co.uk

More than 40 different roll cage options were studied, with the priority on increased safety but also taking into account weight distribution and the stiffness of the roll cage, to maximise the S2000’s handling abilities.

Nearly all of the varying roll cage options were tested on M-Sport’s test rig. This ‘live’ testing method significantly reduced the amount of time it took for the team at M-Sport to determine the best design solution for the new-look roll cage.

The result is a cage that is 5 per cent stiffer than the current Focus RS WRC design – delivering increased safety without incurring a weight penalty.

Construction of the engine, being undertaken by Pipo Moteurs, has progressed well and the dyno development work has now been completed. The comprehensive dyno testing programme has shown that the new engine compares favourably against its rivals and the team at M-Sport is happy with the proposed performance of the engine. As per the regulations, the engine will have an 8500rpm rev limit and a maximum valve lift of 12mm.

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VOS AND PITCHFORD TAKE CHARGE OF TITLE FIGHT

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Victory on the Sun City 400 has placed the Donaldson Nissan Navara of Duncan Vos and Ralph Pitchford at the top of the Production Vehicle and Class SP championships in the ABSA Off Road Championship.

The Sun City 400 win was victory number four in five starts this season for Vos/Pitchford, and gave them a 65 point lead at the top of the overall championship. With three events left on the calendar, the Nissan pair are all but home and dry in both the overall and premier Class SP stakes.

The Sun City race again lived up to its reputation as one of the blue chip events on the ABSA calendar. The event drew a record entry of 110 vehicles in national and regional championship categories, and again earned high praise from competitors from an organisational point of view.

The win by Vos/Pitchford also gave the Donaldson Nissan team a clean sweep in all five events run so far this year. The other victory went to veteran former SA champion Hannes Grobler and Juan Mohr on the Nissan Sugarbelt 400.

Behind Vos and Pitchford, however, there is a terrific battle developing. Only seven points separate three crews and there is going to be a dogfight over the last three events of the championship.

As matters stand two other Donaldson Nissan crews, Ivar Tollefsen/Quin Evans, and Grobler/Mohr lead Chris Visser/Japie Badenhorst (RFS Toyota Hilux). Also in the equation in the driver stakes is Gary Bertholdt (Atlas Copco Toyota Hilux), who is only five points behind Visser.

There are also some good battles developing further down the SP Class. Only five points separate Christiaan du Plooy/Henk Jansen van Vuuren (RFS Toyota Hilux), Terence Marsh/Pieter Groenewald (Regent Racing Nissan Navara) and Anthony Taylor/Robin Houghton (Castrol Toyota Hilux) in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively.

Taylor/Houghton led both the Nissan Sugarbelt 400 and the Sun City 400 before being forced into retirement. Hein Lategan/Chris Birkin, in the second Castrol Toyota Hilux, drop to 10th after two non-finishes and sandwiched between the two works entries are Pikkie Labuschagne and Rikus Erasmus who lead Class E in the 4x4 Megaworld Toyota Hilux.

The first of the Ford runners are privateers Kobus van Tonder and Riaan Guelpa in the Uni Freight Ford Ranger. The Ford

Racing works team, however, will have been encouraged by a solid third place at Sun City for Neil Woolridge/Kenny Skjoldhammer in the new twin-turbo diesel Ford Racing Ranger, which is still under development.

Anomalies in the off-road points scoring system sees a slightly different picture in the premier SP Class. Here Vos and Pitchford also have a comfortable lead over Tollefsen and Evans, but Visser/Badenhorst move ahead of Grobler/Mohr by just two points.

Cliff Weichelt, despite a second non-finish in a row on the Sun City 400 in the N1 4x4 Toyota Hilux D4D, stays on top of the Class D driver championship.

A return to form in the Pilanesberg has consolidated second place in Class D for Dewald van Breda/Johann du Toit in the Northam Toyota D4D. They now have a 14 point lead over Heine Strumpher and Hendrik van der Linde (Micaren Exel Toyota Hilux) who were among the Sun City 400 casualties.

A Class E deadlock was broken at Sun City when Pikkie Labuscagne and Rikus Erasmus finished third with 4x4 Megaworld Toyota Hilux team-mates Deon Venter and Ian palmer falling by the wayside. The two teams were level pegging going into the Sun City race, but Labuscagne/Erasmus now have a 13 point lead.

The non-finish has also put Venter and Palmer under pressure from reigning champions Jannie Visser and Joks le Roux in the RFS Toyota Hilux. Fourth place at Sun City moved Visser/le Roux to within two points of Venter and Palmer.

A good performance by Nissan at Sun City where Coetzee Labuscagne/Johan Gerber (Raysonics Nissan Hardbody) and Leeroy Poulter/Rob Howie (Ferodo Nissan Hardbody) won Class D and Class E respectively, saw them close to within 18 points of Toyota in the prestige South African Manufacturers Championship.

The next round of the Absa Off Road Championship, will be the Highveld 400 at Carnival City on 28 and 29 August.

- Credit: www.saoffroadracing.co.za

OSRAM RALLY

ACTION TO LIGHT UP MOUNTAINS

The 2009 OSRAM Rally to be held on 21 and 22 August in the Barkly East and Lady Grey area will once again be a major test of the skills of the competitors.

The event, the 6th round of the Sasol National Rally Championship, will be a one-day rally consisting of seven stages over 180km of special stages. It is being organised by the Sports Car Club of South Africa (Bloemfontein Branch).

“It is not a car breaker”, he said. The rally finishes with a short spectator stage in the Barkly East golf club Saturday afternoon.

Fred Vroomen, the clerk of the course, said that the OSRAM rally will live up to its reputation as one of the most challenging and testing events in the country. Vroomen said that the Saturday start will be in Lady Grey. “It is the first time ever that we will start in Lady Grey”, he said. “It will also return to its one-day format to help competitors save costs”.

“It may only be 1,5km in length, but it may surprise some of the competitors”, he said. He added that the attraction of the OSRAM Rally lay in the fact that it has magnificent stages, but that some of the competitors loved it and others hated it. “It is definitely not a rally for sissies and through the years we have found quite a few competitors who chose not to enter the OSRAM because the roads scared them”, Vroomen said.

Vroomen added that this year’s event will include the Joubert Pass, one that has not been used in many years. “It is a typical 40km mountain pass that is probably one of the top ten rally stages in the world. It will test the skills of the drivers to their utmost, but if you put a foot wrong you may find yourself falling off the mountain,” he said.

Entries closed on Friday 7 August, but late entries will still be accepted until 13 August. “I expect all the top teams in the country to enter and to ensure that we once again have an exciting OSRAM Rally”, he added. The prize giving will be held immediately after the finish of the rally.

- Credit: SUPPLIED.

Another challenge will be the 30km Clanville pass. Vroomen said that is the one event on the national rally calendar where the drivers can compete on good smooth gravel roads.

MENZI WINS TRICKY

RALLY DE TUCUMAN IN ARGENTINA

Claudio Menzi proved to be the fastest driver this past weekend in the Rally de Tucuman, claiming his first victory of 2009 Rally Argentina season.

Menzi powered his way to the top of the timesheets to beat his team-mate Gabriel Pozzo and World Rally Championship competitor Federico Villagra.

This victory also meant a great success for the Subaru Baratec team, which clinched its second one-two result of the season, WRITES PABLO MACHI. Rally Argentina’s organisers new bid fulfilled all the expectations, as this event offered a challenge for the drivers to overcome: an adventure of driving on asphalt with a gravelspecced car using the Pirelli Scorpion tyres.

On Day One of the rally, the drivers faced tricky roads. AS cars cut into the corners, the last two stages of the afternoon loop of stages proved difficult as gravel was brought onto the asphalt making the surface very slippery. However, Federico Villagra and Claudio Menzi managed to drive through the tricky stages, and Villagra (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X) was able to open up a 2,9sec lead.

After the incredibly close battle for the lead of the rally on Day One, the gravel stages of Day Two changed everything! Menzi attacked Villagra, and on SS10 took the lead of 4,7sec. In SS11 (a 20,48km-long stage), Menzi was 20sec quicker than anyone else, and thereby tipped the scales in his favour.

Villagra hit a rock in SS12, destroying his left front wheel and brake system and ending his event. This gifted Menzi’s teammate Ponzi second place, and moved the rest fo the field up one place on the leaderboard.

Luciano Bernardi, Villagra’s team-mate in the VRS Team, finished in third place.

“It was an amazing victory in a really tough moment for us. After being excluded in the previous rally, in San Luis, I doubted about Barattero’s brother’s capability. However, after this race they prove to work very hard and seriously, and all that happened in that event was nothing but a human mistake.

Now I am bearing in mind fighting for the Championship”, said Menzi who clinched his seventh victory in 77 races.

In the championship standings, Villagra still holds a 2,5 point lead over Nicolas Madero. (Madero retired on Day One of this rally).

The next round will be held in the southern city of General Roca, where it will take place in the traditional Vuelta de la Manzana, for the 39th running.

FINAL Rally de Tucuman CLASSIFICATION 01) Claudio Menzi (Subaru) 1.26.05,1 02) Gabriel Pozzo (Subaru) + 31,0 03) Luciano Bernardi (Mitsubishi) + 58,2 04) Alejandro Cancio (Mitsubishi) + 1.15,0 05) Marcos Ligato (Mitsubishi) + 1.18,1 06) Juan Marchetto (Mitsubishi) + 2.04,4 07) Juan Gil de Marchi (Mitsubishi) + 3.28,4 08) Miguel Baldoni (Mitsubishi) + 4.18,4

- Credit: Pablo Machi - www.rallyreportnews.com.ar

ALL TAR ACTION

SHAKES UP CAPE RALLY SCENE

This past weekend’s Dayco All Tar Rally provided a great rallying spectacle.

With invited entries from the Powerflow GTi Challenge and Indy Oil Clubmans categories, the list of entries ballooned to 35 cars, WRITES PATRICK VERMAAK. IMAGES SUPPLIED BY FRANK PEY. With the entire event taking place at the Killarney Motorsport complex, spectators enjoyed a rare treat as a single advantage point allowed them to watch an entire rally! This was round five of the 2009 Western Province Rally Championship, presented by the Cape Car and Motorcycle Club Western Province Senior Rally Championship contenders Mike Nathan and Derek Jacobs claimed overall honours in their AWI S3/A6 CPMCC Toyota Corolla RXi after their regular steed, their AWI S5/N4 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX holed a piston. They entered their Corolla in the same class, so as not to spoil other

championship bids. Despite not winning a single stage, their strong result on SS1 was enough to clinch them the victory this past weekend.

Western Province Junior Rally Championship leaders Thorsten Pey and Mark Palmer followed the Corolla home by just two seconds on SS1 and as always the Winning Business Solutions/ Forsdicks S4 BMW 325i performed faultlessly to claim second place overall, despite a broken right front shock absorber.

Sixteen year old Ashley Haigh-Smith and co-driver Hilton Auffray made sure that the Junior Championship remained

interesting, by achieving a career-best podium result in the Team REACT S2/N2 CPMCC Mitsubishi Lancer GT. Ashley will be turning 17 on 15 August. Still very much in contention with the Pey/Palmer BMW, this could still be an interesting result come the end of the season.

Fourth overall went to the returning Hollandse Motors S3 CPMCC Volkswagen Golf MkII GTi 1800 of Rupert van Zyl and Marius Rudolph, and celebrated a class win.

Ettiene du Toit and Patrick Vermaak enjoyed a mixed event, as disappointment and pleasure in their Ugly Duckling Filmset S3/N2 WBMK Toyota Corolla RXi finished in fifth place overall. With mechanical woes in SS1 robbing them of precious time, the pairing attacked every stage thereafter. Had their problem in SS1 been ignored, they would have won the event overall by 14 seconds! Finishing second in Class S3 and fifth overall was certainly not as disappointing as it looks on paper, as they managed three satisfying overall stage wins (GTi, Clubmans and Rally cars combined) en-route to a good result.

Sixteen year old Paul-Hendrik Franken made his rally debut with Jody Eadie navigating in their S2 WBMK VW Golf CSL. Celebrating his 17th birthday on 14 October it is most encouraging to see another young talent in local rallying.

Kes Naidoo and Daniel Blaser kept the MSA Environmental Officer, Arlene Brown, busy until the end of the event by going undercover on their way to seventh overall in their Freightmore S3/A6 CCMCC Toyota Conquest RSi. Not even their new colour scheme could be appreciated as they moved around Killarney enclosed in their personalised smoke screen. They did receive a great welcoming in the pits, though!

Dirk Kruger Snr and his son need no introduction amongst the gravel enthusiasts, as Snr is a multiple SA Oval Racing Champion and regular Clubmans and Gymkhana contestant. As always, they combined forces in the rapid Toyota Corolla to win the Clubmans section convincingly. Their total time would have placed them second overall on the combined final results.

Keith Wilson and Speedy Webb placed their Volkswagen Jetta second, while long-time rallyists Salvan and Rishay Moodley came third in their E30 BMW. Dwayne and Ian Hepburn grew in confidence in their Midas Toyota Conquest, whilst Peter van der Poel and Ernest Leite survived much fun and games to finish fifth in their Midas Opel Kadett GTE. Raymond Johnson and Ian Erasmus made the GTi category their own, and posted impressive times on their way to a category victory in their Volkswagen CitiGolf.

Second place went to the green CitiGolf of Paul and Graham Fox. Andrew Goslett and George Thompson also enjoyed themselves to finish third, while Ian and Christopher Long finished in fourth place in their category.

The demanding pace saw a high attrition rate amongst all the categories, and notable retirements on the rally front included Abduraghman Amlay and Ysuf Ganief (who broke the crown wheel and pinion on their Amlay Motorsport S4/N3 CCMCC Toyota Run X RSi on SS4). Stefanie and Willem Hugo entered a two-door Wiel/Select Cars S5 WBMK Subaru Impreza, but found the going tough with little time to learn the intricacies of their new car and retired after SS4. Derrick Benjamin and Garth Ritsch returned in their S4 CCMCC VW Polo, but a broken water pump sidelined them after SS3. Warren Scholtz and Justin Gay shed some weight off their S3 CPMCC VW Polo and retired on SS3 with the front-end somewhat adjusted. Clinton and Keenan Sassman are credited with the SS1 victory in the overheating S4 CCMCC BMW 325i, but could continue no further while the SAC S4 CPMCC TDi VW Golf IV of Llewellyn Jones and Craig Gray munched yet another turbo on SS1. Andre George and George du Toit found themselves with a broken crown wheel and pinion after SS1 in their S3/A6 CPMCC Toyota Conquest RSi.

The Dayco All Tar Rally once again proving to be a huge success with both competitors and spectators alike planning a similar series of four events at Killarney in 2010. A special word of thanks to supporting sponsors Fix-a-Smash Racing, M&L Panelbeaters, G&A Motorsport, Amlay’s Auto Spares and Murway Motors. The current event will remain as part of the Western Province Regional Rally Championship with the active rally clubs each presenting a round (CCMCC, CPMCC, WBMK, SWMC). There may just be another event before the end of 2009...

PASTRANA TAMES

X GAMES 15 WITH 15th MEDAL

IMAGES BY SRTUSA

Subaru Rally Team USA driver Travis Pastrana captured his 15th career X Games medal in this past weekend’s ESPN X Games 15 Rally competition at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles where he won the silver medal.

Pastrana, driving a BFGoodrich Tyres-shod 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally car was the clear favourite after winning Gold at last year’s edition of the event. However, Pastrana’s bid for a second straight Gold was halted midway through the Gold medal race when he clipped a cement barrier with his right front wheel, nearly ripping the wheel from the car, thus handing former Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack the Gold medal. Pastrana’s X Games medals count now include nine gold, four silver and two bronze. Four of his 15 medals have been awarded in the Rally competition.

The premiere action sports event in the World, ESPN’s X Games 15 features a variety of action sports including BMX, Skateboarding, Freestyle Motocross and Rally car racing. The X Games rally event featured a large dirt gap-jump as the centerpiece of the approx 1,9-mile/3,1km course laid out at

the Home Depot Center Stadium in Los Angeles. The course included a dirt section within the stadium while the bulk of the course is a serpentine loop through the paved parking lots and access roads outside of the stadium.

Pastrana graciously acknowledged that his driving error in the final was a result of pushing hard to win against a very determined Kenny Brack, a former winner of the Indianapolis 500. “If Kenny [Brack] wasn’t so fast it would have never happened. I was really impressed by him,” said Pastrana. “On my first lap it seemed like we were dead-even, but I knew I could drive smoother and faster, so I tried to take a clean tight line through the very narrow turn that enters back into the stadium for the second lap. I just apexed too early and clipped the inside cement barrier with my front right wheel, I would have kept going but I had no steering and knew I wouldn’t

make it over the large jump. It was a wild event as always and Subaru again provided me a perfect car that worked so well everywhere.”

Pastrana entered the X Games Rally Car final bruised and battered after attempting a seemingly impossible backflip with a 360 degree rotation in the Freestyle MotoX competition on Friday night. Pastrana landed hard on his right arm and hip leading to painful swelling. “As long as I can physically drive, everything is OK. The pain just goes away when I get in my Subaru, it didn’t slow me down,” explained Pastrana.

Pastrana’s Subaru teammate Ken Block was well on his way to winning his quarter–final match against Freestyle MotoX legend and Off-Road Truck racer Brian Deegan before a small mistake cost him the win. With a sizable lead on Deegan after the first lap, Block slid wide and hit his right rear wheel on a cement barrier. As Block powered through the turn and headed for the daunting 70ft-gap jump at the centre of the stadium, he noticed the car was not getting power down to the ground. (Block would later learn the impact had broken the right rear wheel and driveshaft.) With just a split second to decide if he could gain enough speed to clear the gapjump, a potentially dangerous situation for himself and the ESPN commentator riding along inside the car, Block decided against going over the jump. Instead Block swerved around the jump and went on to continue his lap with an ailing rear wheel, eventually finishing ahead of Deegan. ESPN however disqualified Block for going off-course around the jump. “I had less than a second to make a decision, I didn’t know what was wrong with the car but I knew I hit that wall and I suddenly had trouble accelerating toward the jump,” explained Block.

“I had an ESPN commentator riding in car and I just didn’t want to potentially hurt her; I would probably have gone for it otherwise.”

Subaru Rally Team USA’s third entry was BMX legend Dave Mirra, driving an identically prepared 2009 Subaru Impreza

WRX STI to those of Block and Pastrana. Mirra was paired against eventual Gold Medal winner Kenny Brack in the quarter–finals. In a tightly fought match-up, Mirra drove smooth and mistake free but Brack edged him out for the win. “The course was a lot of fun and I’m glad I made a clean, mistake free run, but it was Brack’s day and his smooth driving style really worked well on this type of course,” said Mirra.

Mirra didn’t leave the X Games empty handed. The BMX icon won a Bronze medal in the BMX Freestyle Big Air competition, bringing his lifetime X Games medal count to 22. Mirra is this most decorated X Games athlete with 14 gold medals, four silver and four bronze “Although we fell just short of winning X Games Rally, the heightened competition certainly helped fuel this year’s spectacle,” said James Han, motorsports marketing manager for Subaru of America, Inc. “I’m proud that every member of Subaru Rally Team USA including our three drivers worked tirelessly to meet the challenge, and leaving X Games unfulfilled makes us even more determined for the following year.”

Pastrana and his Subaru Rally Team USA teammates Ken Block and Dave Mirra all entered the the X Games driving the same production-based 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX STI rally cars that they utilize in the 2009 Rally America National Championship. Pastrana is well on his way to earning his fourth consecutive Rally America National Championship after winning four of the six rounds run thus far in 2009.

Subaru Rally Team USA is proudly supported by Subaru of America, Inc., Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Subaru Performance Tuning (SPT), DC Shoes, BFGoodrich Tyres, DiRT2, RECARO, Alpinestars, Motul, Exedy, GReddy, and Vermont SportsCar. For more information on Subaru Rally Team USA, as well as exclusive photo and video galleries visit rally.subaru.com and for the latest news follow the team on Twitter: twitter.com/srtusa.

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