2014 New season, new chances Issue 15, January 2014
Season’s preview: Teams, Cars and Drivers
ERC: WRC: Rallye Monte Carlo Jänner Rally
Monthly News Wrap-up
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Rally-eMag
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Rally-eMag January 2014 / Contents
NEW SEASON, NEW CHANCES
This Month
We’re at the start of a new season, always a time to look ahead, for opportunities and threats. Lets start at the WRC promoter. At last they become visible. If you’re living in Great Britain and you are a WRC fan you must be quite happy because there seem to be several broadcasters who found room in their busy schedules to present WRC events. Motors TV is back and serving other parts of Europe as well. And we go live. In Monte Carlo there was a problem with the live stream from the service park. It was the intention to plant camera’s in every team area. The constructors were not happy with that fearing privacy issues. A solution will have to be found because one static camera at the entrance of the service park will not attract enormous amounts of spectators. But the intention is good, just like the live coverage of three stages during Monte Carlo. The promoter couldn’t help it the weather was so atrocious, making it difficult to see who was passing through the rain on the PowerStage that looked much like a night time powerboat race. Oliver Ciesla, head of the WRC Promoter promised he has a three year multi million euro’s programme to further promote WRC. At the beginning of this year he also presented the new WRC website. There was a lot of criticism. But it looked like a good start. Especially as the site is now more friendly to mobile devices. There are a lot of details that need some attention however. (Results are somewhat hard to find, archives seem to have disappeared etcetera) But we give them the benefit of the doubt and will follow them closely. The most important part being transparent communication because that still seems to be a problem. A very good thing happening at this moment is there are heroes again in WRC. The promoter already said this is essential to get global public attention. The first hero is of course Robert Kubica who came to WRC as a second choice after his Formula 1 life. But he picks it up really seriously and is fast although he needs some more experience. Winning the Jänner Rallye was a good example of his dedication. Another hero we welcome, especially for the people of Great Britain is Kris Meeke. Since his podium finish in Monte Carlo even mainstream British television discovered WRC or more accurately Kris Meeke. Let’s hope the Brit will continue his sensible approach to rallying and who knows, perhaps he will be able to challenge the other hero Sebastien Ogier! Enjoy reading! Harry van Veenendaal / Co-Editor
Rallye Monte Carlo -
Jännerrallye
Season’s Preview -
The Teams, cars and drivers Page 10
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Kubica impresses evryone
Page 29
Anna’s Inside View - I’m busy right now, but I’ll be back
Page 26
Our conclusion
Bas’ FmF
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What we think about the season’s start
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Bas Romeny shows his special selection “For my Friends’
Page 21
Page 36
Who made it? Publisher: Rally-eMag Words: Steven van Veenendaal, Harry van Veenendaal. Photography: Bas Romeny.
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Unpredictable Monte Page 17
Who helped?
Who we thank!
How to reach us?
Logo design: Minse Blom
PR Photography from: Peugeot Sport, Hyundai Motorsport, Citroen Racing, FIA ERC.
Email: info@rally-emag.com Web: www.rally-emag.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ emagrally Twitter: @emagrally Issuu: www.issuu.com/rally-emag
Distribution: Issuu.com Columnists: Anna Louise Rudd.
Rally-eMag January 2014 / News 9/40
This month’s wrap up
Ford dominates in Sweden
ERC NEWS
Traditionally the Jänner Rally is the first important rally on the international calendar. It was also the season’s opener for the FIA European Rally Championship. In this issue of Rally-eMag you can read about the exceptional performances of winner Robert Kubica and his opponents. About a month later the ERC contenders travelled to Latvia for the Rally Liepãja. In next month’s issue we’ll come back to this action- and snow filled rally. We can already tell you that Esapekka Lappi in his Skoda was the winner. There is bad news for the next round the Sibiu Rally Romania. It was due to take place at the end of February but the Romanian meteorological institute forecasts heavy snowfall in the high altitude stages, making it impossible to run a safe event. The organizers are now working on a new rally on an all-asphalt route of 220 kilometres – including a stage on part of the Transfăgărășan highway! If ERC promoter Eurosport Events and the FIA Rally Commission agree the new event would be run from 9-11 October. Image: Timo Anis
In Sweden Fords make up half the starting field in the WRC class. Apart from the usual drivers Hirvonen, Evans, Kubica and Prokop, there are a whole lot of other drivers who make the trip to Karlstadt in an M-Sport backed car. The first one will be Ott Tanak who starts his WRC comeback in Sweden in a WRC. Later on in the season he will continue in an R5 of the same brand. But in Sweden a full spec Fiesta RS WRC. On the starting list we then find he Pole Solowow. A former WRC legend is next on the list: Henning Solberg. For this event he secured enough sponsorship to do what he wants most: driving a rallycar on snow. Next to him we find Ilka Minor, who is between jobs now that Evgeny Novikov is not in the WRC anymore, Pontus Tideman will try his Images: M-Sport WRT
luck in a Fiesta WRC too. Peugeot ERC factory driver Craig Breen has no ERC duties in early February and so found himself some money to drive a Fiesta!
The other teams At Hyundai as expected Juho Hänninen is behind the wheel of the second i20 WRC. At Citroën Khaled Al Qassimi is doing his first stint in the team. For the rest we only find the regular drivers in the factory teams.
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
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Images: Citroën Racing
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season
For a long time the rally world feared that Citroën would drop out of the championship. With Sebastien Loeb leaving for touring car honours rally fans thought Citroen’s love for rallying would leave with him.
was the issue of sponsorship.
That problem being out of the way, Matton could focus on item two on his preferred drivers list, Robert Kubica. Negotiations went well until there
Second driver is Mads Østberg who competed in Neuville’s shadow last year. Third driver is Khalid Al Qassimi, the constant factor in this year’s Citroen team.
Kubica’s personal sponsor, Polish oil company Lotos, was not prepared to play second fiddle to long time Citroën sponsor Total and ended the negotiations. The marriage between the team and Hirvonen had never been a happy one nor was However with the three-year Abu Dhabi contract still in place they at least had a financial base. Like the one with Sordo, so Matton started to shop Malcolm Wilson, Citroën Racing’s teamboss Yves elsewhere. Kris Meeke has proven to be fast and although he also tended to be crash prone, he was Matton was faced with the same problem: Thierry given the benefit of the doubt. Not in the last place Neuville and where would he sign? In an early because the British driver is a real hero in his stage the Belgian made clear he wouldn’t sign for home country. Citroën.
Kris Meeke
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From: Northern Ireland Birthday: 2-07-1979 Co driver: Paul Nagle (IRL) First WRC event Wales Rally GB 2002 Starts 40 Wins 0 Podiums 1 Titles 0 Best rally result 3rd (Monte Carlo 2014) Best Championship result 11th in 2011
Kris Meeke started his career as a technical designer working for or M-Sport. But it did not take long before he took the steering wheel in his hands. After some practice in all kinds of cup series he first went to the WRC in 2003. In his initial years in the JWRC he struggled with a lot of technical problems but in 2005 he changed to the Citroën C2 S1600. It was there he met Dani Sordo for the first time. Sordo was faster than his friend and colleague Meeke and won the junior championship. Meeke ended as third behind Guy Wilks. In 2009 and 2010 he struggled in the IRC series where he eventually finished third in the 2010 championship. His big chance seemed to come in 2011 when he was called by Mini to drive one of their World Rally Cars. He became teammate to Dani Sordo. Unfortu-
Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team
nately the Mini project was only short lived and in 2012 he was partially side lined because of a lack of funds. In 2013 he got two chances in a factory backed Citroën in Finland and in Australia. In Finland he drove a very good rally until the infamous Ouhninpohja stage trapped him. He went off and out of the rally. In Australia he replaced Sordo but went off twice. “This is the end,” everyone thought, Meeke included. But Yves Matton thought differently and asked the Northern Irishman to join his team. Which obviously Meeke did quite happily.
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season
In 2013 Mads Østberg got promoted to be a full works driver. He was thankful for the opportunity as he told us at the beginning of the season. “Especially the amount of testing I can now do is completely different form what I’ve been used to and if I ask for some technical chance, I simply get it...” A year later now it is clear that this has not been his season. Thierry Neuville managed to get all attention and Østberg just had a lot of misfortune. “I’m not afraid of my teammate,” he confided to us mid season. “I know what went wrong and mostly it has not been my mistake.” But at the end of the season he jumped for the chance Citroën gave him. The Norwegian who started his WRC career at the age of nineteen, is still young and can still develop a lot. He scored his first points in 2007 and conSheikh Khaled Al-Qassimi
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From Born 1st WRC Event Starts Wins Podiums Titles Best rally result Best Championship result
United Arab Emirates 18-02-1972 Greece 2004 45 0 0 0 5th (Australia 2011) 12th (09, 10)
tinued doing so the following years. His pace kept improving and he completed his first full program in 2011. The next year was his real breakthrough year. In Portugal he took his first win, though it took the disqualification of Mikko Hirvonen for him to do so. Eventually he finished fourth overall in the championship just behind Jari Matti Latvala, the leading driver of the official Ford team. Further development in 2013 did not seem to come however. Consistency is the key to winning championships. Formerly he could bring that, but in 2013 this ability seemed to have left him. But Yves Matton remembered the earlier performances and gave him another chance. If he can get back the consistency and up his pace a bit this year, he could actually be challenging for the top spots.
Al Qassimi is the man who in 2014 still provides the sponsorship essential to the Citroën team. Sheikh Khaled Al-Qassimi is the chairman of the board of Abu Dhabi Racing. The company is responsible for bolstering the emirate’s presence in global motorsport. From this company the majority of the funding of the Citroën teams stems. Don’t think he is only there because of the money though. Al-Qassimi learned the craft of rallying by starting at the bottom and driving his way up through various cars and local championships before embarking on a global campaign. In the early zeroes Al-Qassimi began competing in group N cars in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) before switching to Ford to compete on WRC level. By now the UAE’er has finished in the points on
Mads Østberg From Norway Birthday 11-11-1987 Co driver Jonas Andersson (SWE) First WRC event Rally Sweden 2006 Starts 65 Wins 1 Podiums 7 Titles 0 Best rally result 1st (Portugal 2012) Best Championship result 4th in 2012
various rallies and made a name for himself as one of the most spectacular drivers out there. This makes him the perfect ambassador for the sport in his country (ok, his good looks and smooth talk don’t hurt either!) This ambassadorship is one of his most important tasks in the championship as Abu Dhabi racing is also very keen on developing rally talent from the Arab region. Apart from the WRC teams, the deal with Citroën also includes a program for young talented drivers. Al Qassimi will only compete in selected events. His programme consists of Sweden, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Furthermore he’ll compete in the complete Middle East Rally Championship.
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season 13/40
M-Sport World Rally Team Malcolm Wilson wanted to be early this year in announcing his plans. He did not succeed, as one of the last teams he presented his plans early December, only days before the official launch of the Citroën team. His
unspoken excuse was he had to wait for his star driver Thierry Neuville. When the young Belgian presented his plans to move to Hyundai, Wilson knew what he had to work with. One driver was not a surprise. Mikko Hirvonen
came back to the Cumbria outfit. Let’s hope he’ll find back his old brilliance of the early Ford days. At least as Malcolm Wilson indicated: “He’ll be a good mentor to Elfyn Evans, the new young recruit of the Ford team!
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season
“I hope to bring back the smile on Mikko’s face”, said Wilson. Making clear in one sentence the situation with the Finn. Hirvonen was not happy at Citroën. For whatever reason he has not been able to convince the rally world that he was the true leader of the Citroën team. What was more important, he has not been able to convince himself.
His first year at the Citroën squad he played it cool and followed his own path again and near the end of the year, his first victory for ‘The Red Army’ came in Sardinia.
So this year he comes back on the spot where he started some time ago when took over as lead driver for Ford when Marcus Grönholm retired.
“2013 should be Hirvonen’s year to shine.” we said last year and he agreed with us when we met him in Monte Carlo. However 2013 did not shine. His famous cool seemed to have left him. He Over the last six years Mikko Hirvonen has didn’t record one single win. And his team did not claimed the runner-up spot in the WRC four times. like him that much anymore. It soon became clear While many expected him to falter under the pres- he was not on their wish list. Malcolm Wilson soon sure Hirvonen kept his cool. But the Ford team told the world he was willing to bring back his proended up in heavy weather and could not guaran- tege. With Wilson, we hope it will bring back his tee Hirvonen a whole lot contract-wise. proverbial smile! The second seat in the M-Sport team’s Fiesta RS WRC, has been reserved for Elfyn Evans, one of the most promising up-and-coming young talents in the world of rallying. Evans comes from ‘a good family’ as he is the son of the ‘fastest busdriver on earth’ Gwyndaff Evans. But although he might have the good genes, he made it on his own. His breakthrough came when when he showed a remarkable speed in WRC2. This, together with his outstanding performance in Sardinia eventually promoted him to the top of WRC competition.
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Consequently he switched teams to Citroën where he had to replace the highly talented Ogier and play a support role to the great Loeb.
In 2014 Malcolm Wilson trusts him enough to offer him a full works team seat in a competitive world rally car so now he joins the elite group of M-Sport. He will work closely together with the experienced technical whom he learned to know during his former outings for the team.
Furthermore both Elfyn and his co driver Danel Barritt wil thus get the opportunity to benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience of their team mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinnen. This togehther with his undoubted talent will give him an excellent chance to grow further, hopefully for a long stint with the Cumbrian firm.
Mikko Hirvonen From Finland Birthday 31-07-1980 Co driver Jarmo Lehtinen First WRC event Finland 2002 Starts 132 Wins 15 Podiums 66 Titles 0 Best rally result 1st (15 times) Best Championship result 2nd (08, 09, 11, 12)
Elfyn Evans From Great Britain Birthday 28-12-1988 Co driver Daniel Barrit First WRC event Wales GB 2007 Starts 18 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Titles 0 Best rally result 6th (Sardinia and Germany 2013) Best Championship result 12th (2013)
Rallye-eMag /The Teams of the 2014 season 15/40
Robert Kubica started his career as a Formula 1 driver. Between 2006 and 2011 he drove for BMW Sauber and Renault when in early 2011 he crashed in a rally car during the Ronde di Andora Rally. He got seriously wounded and no one thought the Pole would ever be behind the wheel of a racing car again. But they did not know Kubica because in September 2012 he came back and won a minor rally. In 2013 he drove the ERC and WRC2 championships for Citroën, en passant winning the WRC2 title. As a token of his appreciation Yves Matton offered hima full WRC drive during Wales Rally GB. He did well but lack of experience caused his exit from the rally. Still everyone was impressed by the speed with which the Pole adapted tot the difficult world rally car. It was generally assumed the Pole would join Citroën for the next season, although Kubica doesn’t rule out
a new F1 future. But at the end of last year it became clear that there would be no Citroën marriage. “I have to be loyal to my private sponsor Lotos,” The Pole explained. Lotos on their turn were not prepared to play second fiddle in a Total sponsored team. This time Matton couldn’t do anything, he wanted to stay with Total so Kubica had to look elsewhere. Malcolm Wilson had already made clear he wanted Kubica so a deal was quickly made. The Fiesta was adapted in such a way that Kubica could operate the car with his injury and by winning the Jänner Rallye in an M-Sport backed car he thanked Wilson.
Robert Kubica From Poland Birthday 7-12-1984 Co driver Maciej Szczepaniak First WRC event Portugal 2013 Starts 9 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Titles 0 Best rally result 5th Germany 2013 Best Championship result 13th 2013
Image: M-Sport
Image: M-Sport
Rallye Monte-Carlo / Overview
Rallye Monte-Carlo
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Based in Monte: Carlo Date: 22-25/01/2014 Number of stages: 15 Shortest stage: Sospel-Breil sur Roya: 16.55 km Longest stage: Vitrolles-Faye: 49.03 km Total stage distance: 383,9 (actually run: 360,49 km Surface: Asphalt Image: Bas Romeny
Rallye Monte Carlo / Rally review
Unpredictable Monte As Mikko Hirvonen once told us: “I absolutely hate it, but I also love it…” That is how many drivers think about it. They love it for its unique mix of beautiful scenery, both in the Sea Alps and the picturesque city of Monte Carlo. They hate it for the unpredictability, especially of the weather. This year the weather did exactly what people generally hate about it. Therefore it was a very good Monte again. Nothing was sure until the finish, although the winner looked quite familiar……
Words: Harry van Veenendaal
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Images: Bas Romeny
Rallye Monte Carlo / Rally review
Latvala carefully selecting the right tyre
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Changes Rallye Monte Carlo always is different from other WRC events. This time the rally again had a different format from all other WRC event this year. On Monday there was a ceremonial start in the heart of the famous town near its harbour. The rally started on Thursday however. For the first time in a long time this start was in the Alps, rather than in the Ardeche. This meant the rally center was based in Gap for the first two days. On Friday evening the whole WRC family moved to Monte Carlo for the final day. This final day did not start until the second half of the afternoon. Consequently the finish was late on Saturday. Prize giving was on Sunday. To put it shortly everyone spent a complete week in the area.
Former Monte winner François Delecour was one of the vicitms of stage one.
yet is the fact that it is the championship opener. All teams have been working very hard in the offseason between the last rally (Wales) and the first of the new season. What did they achieve? Where are the teams in relation to each other? How good are the new drivers?
This year, like last year, there was Hyundai, the ‘new kid on the block’. So all eyes were focused on them. And everyone was impressed. The new livery of the i20’s was already known, but the home of the Korean manufacturer was not. To say one thing about it: it is huge! The team build a large two-floor structure featuring access for the fans. “We want to bring the sport as close as possible to the fans, so they can come in and look at the work done by the mechanics, Anticipation from the second floor so that they are not in the An aspect of the Monte that we did not discuss way of our hard working crew,” commented team
principal Michel Nandan. Everyone agreed the team looked very mature. Would their cars be the same? Apart from the fact that quite a few drivers changed teams there was not very much news. Volkswagen changed its livery to ‘a more dynamic design’ But you need a trained eye to see the difference. Though this year is a year of ‘frozen homologations’ Volkswagen changed some things that were already in their 2013 homologation. Some changes in the aerodynamics and in engine mapping. Let’s go race! Ice crews had to get up very early to look at the notes. Nothing much was found. There was quite some rain, so the roads were wet, but that was it. Tyre choice was accordingly, so no studs or heavy snow tyres. And then it started snowing! The rally drivers were not yet aware of that.
Rallye Monte Carlo / Rally review
They started their journey in the pouring rain but while climbing the meandering mountain roads things changed. Ogier confessed: “in one of the first serious corners I skidded of the road and ended in a brick wall.” The super soft slicks were clearly no match for the conditions. By the time he actually hit the wall the Volkswagen had already slowed down considerably, mainly because the initial speed was not that fast. Thierry Neuville, next on the road, was fastest after the first split, but not very much further he encountered similar conditions to what Ogier found. He under steered from the road and in a desperate attempt to over steer the skidding Hyundai the rear of the car met with a telegraph pole. The bodywork was redesigned and the telemetry of the rear wheels was revised in such a way that continuing was out of the question. And one of the peculiarities of Monte being that they don’t allow Rally 2, this meant that after less than 10 kilometres Neuville’s first quest in the Hyundai was over. The rest of the morning was completely dependant on the individual decisions as far as tyre choice was concerned. Obviously lady luck also played her part. Surprises Robert Kubica was the biggest surprise. He won the first two stages and amazed the whole WRC world with his speed. On the third test however
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Mads Ostberg quickly adopted to his new machinery and finished on a respectable fourth place on his maiden outing in the Citroën DS3
privateer Bryan Bouffier in an M-Sport backed Fiesta passed Kubica. He fitted a snow tyre on a front wheel and diagonally opposite it on the rear he did the same. This strange mixture proved to be the right thing as he was not the only one who raced to the top of the leaderboard. Kris Meeke adopted the same strategy and ended up as runner up. More than most people expected of the Irishman. Another revelation was Elfyn Evans, scoring a second spot on the third stage. Meanwhile Dani Sordo was doing well also. In his brand new Hyundai he simply mingled with the top drivers and was in third spot of the leaderboard halfway through the day. But en route from stage four to stage five he suddenly had to park his car next tot the road. All electricity was drained from his battery. There was an alternator problem that could not be solved on the roadside. So before the end of the day both Hyundai were out of contention. A big pity, because now we don’t know where they are compared to the competition. Both cars seemed fast enough but in the crazy circumstances of the Monte this is really hard to judge. Two other important teams, François Delecour and Martin Prokop did not make it to the end of day one...
Kris Meeke surprised everyone by driving a very solid run. It once again showed he is fast, but now it also shows he can adapt his driving style to the circmstances.
Rallye Monte Carlo / Round-up 21/40
Round-up Volkswagen The Monte lived up to its reputation completely. It is unpredictable. Still it doesn’t mean everyone can win, with the right kind of luck. Though Ogier did have his share of luck when he slipped off the road in the very first corner he did not win because of luck. He was able to read the road. Better than anyone else. Notes are essential but translating these notes into the actual situation is a gift. Jari Matti Latvala’s performance was better than his fifth place indicates. He is coming to grips with driving on asphalt. And also he now knows how ‘to read’ his car. Still we have to say he probably will not be able to beat his teammate at the end of this season. Not because the Finn is not good enough, but simply because Ogier is in a league of his own. M-sport One other man seemed to have this gift: Bryan Bouffier. With the help of private sponsors he has been able to rustle up the funds needed to get him a good ride. He found this ride in Dovenby Hall where Malcolm Wilson did not hesitate to provide him this ride. And he was happy about it. “I hope we can see more of Bryan, he said.” Not (only) for the money that a return of the Frenchman would bring to M-Sport, but also because he recognizes the talent. And the M-Sport boss is an expert in that. We have seen that again in his acquisition of young Elfyn Evans, who proved he could drive quite sensibly by ending
in sixth place in his maiden WRC outing in the Principality. Another acquisition is Robert Kubica. He too proved to be fast. Not so experienced yet in ‘reading the roads’ he did not make it to the end but he is very fast and is eager to learn the trade. Mikko Hirvonen could play a part there. He might be an educator for his two less experienced colleagues. His speed however seems to be lacking a bit at this moment, but then again he has to re-adapt to the Fiesta and Monte was never his rally. Citroën In the Citroën camp they cannot be unsatisfied. Their two new drivers performed as instructed. And to be honest we are a bit surprised Meeke did such a good job. We know he is fast, but his performance last year did not make clear he could actually ‘sit and wait.’ But this time he saw his chances and drove an immaculate race that ended on the podium. If he can continue this manner we see big things coming for him. For the sport this would be a tremendous thing while it is often said the sport needs heroes. Well everywhere in the world but especially in Great Britain he is a hero. The amount of attention the British media gave his achievement was promising. Mads Østberg also performed well. His fourth place showed he feels at ease in his new car. Asphalt not being his favourite surface this is quite an achievement. We are curious to see him perform on the Swedish gravel paths covered in snow and ice.
Rallye Monte Carlo / Round-up
Round -up
Hyundai
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The Koreans have not been very lucky. The tricky conditions trapped their lead driver who perhaps a bit over eager, slipped off the road after setting the fastest split time on the very first split of Hyundai’s maiden rally. Bad luck we hope. That Dani Sordo was deprived of a good result by a simple wire that came loose is a typical case of ‘sh*t hap-
pens’ Sordo too was fast, but it is still a bit early to really see where Hyundai is. But one thing we can say. We are impressed by the professional way the Korean constructor presents itself. It shows a proper involvement that we can use very well in our sport.
Rallye Monte Carlo / Final result
Final result
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1. Ogier - Ingrassia 2. Bouffier - Panseri 3. Meeke - Nagle 4. Latvala - Anttila 5. Ostberg - Andersson 6. Evans - Barritt 7. Mikkelsen - Markkula 8. Melicharek - Melicharek 9. Gamba - Arena 10. Protasov - Cherepin
VW Polo WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Citroen DS3 WRC VW Polo WRC Citroen DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta WRC VW Polo WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Peugeot 207 S2000 Ford Fiesta R5
3:55:14.4 +1:18.9 +1:54.3 +3:53.9 +6:08.3 +8:37.4 +11:42.3 +21:56.2 +23:50.7 +25:43.1
Rallye Monte Carlo Championship standings
Championship standings 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Sebastien Ogier Bryan Bouffier Kris Meeke Jari-Matti Latvala Mads Ostberg Elfyn Evans Andreas Mikkelsen Jaroslav Melicharek Matteo Gamba Yuriy Protasov
VW Polo WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Citroen DS3 WRC VW Polo WRC Citroen DS3 WRC Ford Fiesta WRC VW Polo WRC Ford Fiesta WRC Peugeot 207 S2000 Ford Fiesta R5
27 pts 18 pts 16 pts 13 pts 12 pts 8 pts 6 pts 4 pts 2 pts 1 pts
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Manufacturer standings 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Volkswagen Motorsport CitroĂŤn Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team M-Sport World Rally Team Volkswagen Motorsport II Jipocar Czech National Team Hyundai Shell World Rally Team RK M-Sport World Rally Team
37 points 33 points 10 points 8 points 0 points 0 points 0 points
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Rally-eMag January 2014 / The Inside View
The Inside View By: Anna Louise Rudd Images: M-Sport WRT
Anna Louise is the Press Officer of the M-Sport World Rally Team. She is the one who knows what’s going on with anyone in the team, from the drivers to the bosses, to the mechanics and the engineers. In her monthly column she gives you a peek behind the scenes of a world rally team. Being the press officer of a big team means a Well thanks Anna, we’re looking forward to your whole lot of work. Especially in the beginning of further contriburions. the season. Unfortunately this means you don’t always have time to do what you want. Even Harry van Veenendaal (editor) when you’re working flat out! It can mean you just don’t have time to write your column. So this month no Inside View for Rally-eMag. But don’t be too disappointed Anna will be back. Allthough there were mixed feelings, the team has been quite succcessful. After having lead Rallye Monte Carlo Bryan Bouffier ended up being the runner-up in a Fiësta RS. Elfyn Evans also proved to be another promising acquisition of Malcolm Wilson. Will the Welshman equal his Belgian predecessor? And last but not least Robert Kubica did a good job too. He was caught by one of the treacherous patches of ice the Monte is so famous for, but he too proved his speed. Mikko Hirvonen was very unlucky to strand with electrical problems in (almost litteral) sight of the harbour. We hope he will recover in Sweden, one of his favorite events as we know.
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One piece of good news is that Anna Louise will be back in the Rally-eMag pages. She promised us by E-mail: “I would love to continue the column and I would certainly like to be involved if it’s possible.”
ERC: Jännerrally / Overview 29/40
Internationale Jännerrallye
Image: FIA ERC
Based in: Freistadt Date: 4-5/01/2014 Number of stages: 18 Shortest stage: Arena Königswiesen – 7.79 km Longest stage: Bad Zell - Tragwein - Aisttal– 25.00 km Total stage distance: 245,6 km Surface: Tarmac
ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review
Kubica’s Austrian Battle The first weekend of January traditionally hosts the opener to the European rally year, the Internationale Jännerrallye. The infamous rally takes place in the Austrian mountains around Freistadt and boasts some tough winter conditions. The rally features not just as the opening round of the European Rally Championship but also of the Polish and Czech championship, resulting in an impressive start list.
Words: Steven van Veenendaal
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Images: FIA ERC
ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review 31/40
It’s very hard to see where the ice is” thought Raimund Baumschlagr
Preparing Robert Kubica featured regularly in the European Championship last year and despite being a bit inconsistent proved his worth. The ex-F1 star impressed many with his outings in the ERC and WRC and earned himself the backing of Polish oil company Lotos to do a full season in the WRC this year. That means new challenges for the fast Pole, the WRC opener Monte Carlo being just one of the new rallies he has to come to grips with. The Monte obviously is a very special event with twisting asphalt stages that can dry, wet, icy or completely covered in snow. There aren’t a lot places to prepare for that, but the Jännerrallye happens to be one of them. The rally features similar changeable weather conditions and provided Kubica with the chance to drive on snow studded tyres for the first time in his career. Undaunted, Kubica went fastest through the qualifying stage. “We are here preparing and testing
Consani moves up a step and now drives a Peugeot 207
for Monte. WRC rallies are my main goal for this year. It’s the first time I have driven with the studded tyres in a rally car this morning and I was a bit cautious and I was taking it a bit easy. Okay, this morning was a very short stage but I found a good feeling straight away which was important. It was also the first time with my new co-driver for this event. Many new things, new car, new conditions, new co-driver, new rallies, new stages, a lot of new things for the new year!” Moving up Firm opposition was to be expected from his fellow countryman Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the experienced local hero Raimund Baumschlager and Czech front runner Vaclav Pech. Two ERC drivers move up a step this year. Both Roberto Consani and last year’s Production Cup winner Andreas Aigner start the season in Peugeot 207 S2000’s, seizing the opportunity to step up to a
top level car in the series. Consani was cautious before the start though “For me the Peugeot Super 2000 is more easier to drive but this rally is complicated for me because it is my first time driving on the ice. I just hope to finish the rally.” Consani and Aigner got to grips with their new cars on the qualifying stage setting 7th and 10th fastest times respectively. Behind Kubica, Kajetanowicz was second fastest ahead of the surprising Beppo Harrach who powered his group N Mitsubish Lancer Evo IX to third. Let’s get this party started The first stage of the rally brings us right into the thick of things. As expected, tricky conditions make the going very tough. After the first stage, the responses from the drivers vary between: “It’s very difficult to see where the ice is “ (Baumschlager) “There was a lot more ice than expected!” (Kajetanowicz)
ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review
“There was a lot of gravel” (Kubica). A little bit of everything then! Many drivers were in trouble early on as Gryazin, Aigner and Cerny al reported offs. Thankfully none of them went down for the count just yet. The first two stages go to Kajetanowicz who opens up an early on the second stage. Baumschlager is penalized ten seconds for a jump start while Kubica suffered what is reffered to as ‘a moment’ and dropped around ten seconds as well. As the opening three stage loop comes to a close though, Kubica hits back with a stage win narrowing the gap to Kajetanowicz. There will be some serious competition ahead. Changes The second loop of stages brought some fireworks up front. First it was Raimund Baumschlager who stunned the opposition on stage four. He won the stage and moved up into the
lead of the rally. As the sun broke through and temperatures rose, the choice of tyres became even more difficult, working to the advantage of the experienced Baumschlager. Most drivers stuck to their studded tyres but as the snow and ice started to melt, regular winter tyres proved much better suited to the conditions. Baumschlager was the only one to take the gamble and was rewarded for his courage. Both Pech and Kubica were on the studded tyres losing a lot of time to Baumschlager. To make things worse for Kubica, a puncture near the end of the stage dropped him back even further. On the next stage Kajetanowicz was more than eager to pick up the challenge and hit back with a win, closing the gap to Baumschlager. After another fast start on stage six, things went wrong for the Pole though. He went off and damaged the rear of his Fiesta so severely that he was not able to continue the event.
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Kubica gets some expert advice...
Switching gears Despite leading the rally, Baumschlager was not happy with his Skoda, feeling his gearbox ratios were too short. He changed the setup for stages seven and eight but was even more disappointed, now feeling a lack of power was costing him. Czech ace Vaclav was the main beneficiary as he snatched the lead. Rigth behind him was Kubica who found the conditions very difficult, but was also learning a lot. “There is a lot of gravel on the road. It’s very strange to switch from icy roads with studs to a dry set-up and dry tyres.” When the light goes out To add another aspect to already impressive line of difficulties associated with the Jännerrallye, the final stages of the opening day were held in the dark.
Andreas Aigner like Consani now drives a Peugeot too.
ERC: Jännerrally / Rally review
Pech battled hard to hold on to his lead but saw Kubica clawing back time on every stage. He blasted through the stage over eight seconds faster than anyone else and moved into the lead, becoming the fourth leader of the rally. Pech and Baumschlager remained within striking distance though, just six and twenty seconds down respectively. Trouble for Kubica Things did not get off to a good start for Kubica on the final day. Brake problems cost him time and jumping the start of stage twelve didn’t help either. Pech opened up a ten second lead that he slightly increased as the day progressed. Behind the two up front Raimund Baumschlager felt happy enough to be right up there with them. “It was really good driving I guess for my age, I am 54 now!” He had pushed just a bit too hard though and after three ‘moments’ he decided enough was enough and backed off, settling for third rather than pushing and maybe not finishing the rally at all.
Final stage thriller After another day of close competition, filled with numerous small moments for all front runners, Vaclav held a 11.8 second lead over Robert Kubica going into the final stage. As darkness set in again it was another tough tyre choice. Most drivers opted for winter tyres or slicks as most of the ice had disappeared. Kubica though took a different approach and fitted his car with two studded tyres. Nobody really expected this gamble to pay off though. Coming through the stage unscaved, Pech was happy enough to complete the difficult event, but he wasn’t among the fastest drivers and Kubica was still in the stage behind him. Kubica blasted off into the darkness with his diagonal tyre set-up and quickly ran into trouble. After a couple of kilometers he just hit a little pole that snapped one of his lightpods. The strong lamp dangled along at the front of the car and at times shone straight into Kubica’s face. This caused a minute lack of focus and Kubica instantly found himself skidding though
a field at high speed. After this wake-up call Kubica really dug in. As fireworks lit the area around the roads Kubica pushed like there was no tomorrow. He completed the stage a massive 25 seconds quicker than Pech. At the stage finish there was even some doubt as to whether the timing was correct, he couldn’t have gone that fast right? Well, he actually did. When the confirmation came and Kubica was jubilantly congratulated on his spectacular final stage performance and first ERC win, he remained cool, very cool “Yes thank you, it was OK”. Adding later “For sure it’s very nice to be here as a winner but our priority was to get as much experience and information from this rally as possible.” It seems Kubica is a fast learner, gaining experience and immediately applying it to win rallies. As impressive as he was, it leads us to one final, rather scary question: Just how fast will this guy go once he is done learning?
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Vaclav Pech did not make life easier for Kubica, but in the end had to bow his head to Beppo Harrach surprised everyone by powering his group N Mitsubish Lancer Evo IX to the determined Pole. third.
ERC: Jännerrally / Final Result 34/40
Final result 1. Kubica - Szczepaniak 2. Pech – Uhel 3. Baumschlager - Wicha 4. Harrach - Welsersheimb 5. Tarabus - Trunkat 6. Aigner - Watzl 7. Gryazin - Chumak 8. Odlozilik - Turecek 9. Consani - Landais 10. Neubauer – Ettel
Ford Fiesta RRC Mini JCW S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX R4 Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 207 S2000 Ford Fiesta S2000 Ford Fiesta R5 Peugeot 207 S2000 Subaru Impreza STI R4
2:26:42.4 +19.9 +1:38.9 +3:00.3 +3:39.6 +4:33.4 +6:27.4 +7:17.3 +9:42.2 +11:39.6
ERC: J채nnerrally / Standings 35/40
Championship standings 1. Robert Kubica 2. Vaclav Pech 3. Raimund Baumschlager 4. Beppo Harrach 5. Jaromir Tarabus 6. Andreas Aigner 7. Vasily Gryazin 8. Roman Odlozilik 9. Roberto Consani 10. Hermann Neubauer
Ford Fiesta RRC Mini JCW S2000 Skoda Fabia S2000 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Skoda Fabia S2000 Peugeot 207 S2000 Ford Fiesta S2000 Ford Fiesta R5 Peugeot 207 S2000 Subaru Impreza STI R4
39 pts 30 pts 24 pts 20 pts 17 pts 12 pts 7 pts 5 pts 2 pts 1 pts
Bas’ ForMyFriends
Bas’ ForMyFriends
Bas Romeny travels the world to watch the WRC. Between his eyes and the rest of the world he usually holds a camera. You can see the results of that throughout this magazine. During events he often he sees ‘other things’ than rally cars going over crests. He decided to send a selection to his rallyfriends. And now he shares them with all his friends at Rally-eMag. In this section he wants to share these visions with you… 1
Here he shows you his observations and his thoughts at the moment he made the pictures
2
1. Look what a shiny car I have... 2. I must take a picture!
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3. Pom, pom, pom... 3
4
4. Oh you already started?
Bas’ ForMyFriends
Ford Skyline...
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View from my hotel just behind Ford, and no that’s not Mt. Fuji...
RedBull gives them wings...
Colours....
Nicely matching lipstickolours, Becs....
Quite an accurate app!
Bas’ ForMyFriends
The competition was impressed Perhaps Hyundai pushed a little too hard Relaxing for shakedown
Ford tried to smoke out the competition
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Nailbiting before shakedown
Bas’ ForMyFriends
I counted 33 gendarmeries and marshalls at the Turini (not counting the firemen). That was sufficient to keep the hooligans quiet.
France is a bit a weird country
Just a hungry cat..
Stop or else...
Ciao, Bas
Mon Général, can you tell me who won?
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Snowchains in the colours of the French flag..
Always good to meet happy friends...
Big trees catch a lot of win (as we say in Dutch...)
Next issue, late February, with Rally of Sweden, Rally Liep達ja and much more. See you there!